Lately, Taiwan's lighting industry is in the process of making five new smart lighting standards, expecting to spur the creation of a highly integrated supply chain and improve its competitiveness in the fast growing LED sector.

To maintain technological edge and overall value
Approved by Taiwan's six major lighting associations and two state-funded institutes, the Institute for Information Industry (III) and the Industrial Technology Research Institute, the five intelligent lighting system standards cover the areas of system functions, wide area networks, field area networks, design guides for field area networks, and lighting device specifications, and will promote badly needed integration in the country's lighting supply chain.

Gary Tsai, a research director at the institute, pointed out that “To maintain our technological edge and overall value, Taiwanese companies need to develop higher-value smart lighting systems and improve product compatibility based on these new standards.”

Tsai said that the next step for Taiwan's LED industry is to apply to the government to have the standards accepted as national norms, which could help Taiwan expand its role in negotiations on setting international lighting standards. Before then, by bringing about greater industry integration, the new norms could help address the lack of balance between the domestic LED industry's output value and volume.

Threat comes from Japan and South Korea
In the same time, Tsai also showed his concern, “Our volume is higher than that of Japan and South Korea, but our output value has lagged behind them.”

According to the Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association (PIDA), Taiwan’s output value of LED components is forecast to reach US$4.59 billion in 2012, down 1.7 percent from the US$4.67 billion recorded in 2011.

It’s noted that Japan will surpass Taiwan to become the top LED component manufacturing country in 2012, with output value estimated to rise 12 percent to US$4.86 billion in 2012 from US$4.33 billion in 2011.

What’s more, South Korea is another aggressive player in the global LED industry, as the country's output value of LED components is expected to total US$3.48 billion in 2012, up 4.6 percent from US$3.32 billion in 2011.