The LED backlight units (BLUs) penetration in notebook PCs will be about 10%, and is expected to rapidly grow to reach 28% in 2009, according to a market-researcher and consultant firm. So such portable devices have become more energy-saving and slim.

LEDinside forecasts that LED-BLU models would account for 30% of the overall notebook PCs produced in 2009, while the rate would climb to 60% by 2010. Another market-research firm said the penetration rate of LED BLUs in the hot netbook application is expected to be as high as 100%. In addition, global shipments of notebook PCs are forecasted to grow by 17.19% to reach 150 million units by 2009, with major growth momentum coming from rapidly increasing sales of netbooks, replacement of desktop PCs by notebook PCs.

A senior analyst pointed out that the price falls of LEDs and the upgraded light-guide technologies have helped to raise the penetration of LED BLU in notebook PCs. Some major vendors, especially Acer, Dell etc., have announced to continue raising the use of LEDs, hence driving the trend in the business.

Fierce underselling rivalry among Taiwanese LED makers, the increasing application in notebook PCs, and huge demand from mainland China for illumination and signage applications. It’s expected to raise global LED production value by 15.7% in 2009 to reach a record US$8.68 billion.