On December 24, more than 30 Taiwanese LED manufacturers have formed LED Lighting Industry Alliance, aiming at facilitating information exchange among member firms and offering suggestions to the government regarding the industry.

Everlight, Lextar, Formosa Epitaxy Inc, Unity Opto Technology and Delta Electronics are among the participants.

The alliance was previously known as the LED Street Lighting Industry Alliance, when it was established in 2011 by Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

“We have made our first step in standardizing and advancing the industry’s streetlight products and are now moving toward promoting LED lights for indoor use,” the director of ITRI’s Environmental Research Laboratories, Tung Chien-hsiang, said at a press conference.

Tung said about 35,000 mercury vapor street lamps have been replaced with LED lights since December in 2011, and there are still 320,000 lights to be replaced over the next two years.

According to the institute, the LED lighting industry’s compound growth rate could reach 32 percent between 2010 and 2020. By 2020, the global LED lighting market could be worth as much as 55 billion euros (US$72.74 billion), while LED lighting devices’ penetration rate could reach 50 percent and the LED lighting devices systems’ market value could total 36.6 billion euros.

Supported by government policies and ongoing economic development, China will be the biggest LED lighting market, he added. The ITRI said the output of Taiwan’s LED industry accounts for 19 percent of global production making it the third-largest LED supplier.

The alliance remains upbeat for the future, “We forecast the macroeconomy will turn positive and the LED industry’s sales performance will improve next year,” Formosa Epitaxy chairman’s office assistant, Chien Yu-mei said.

Tan Chang-lin, chief executive officer of TSMC Solid State Lighting Ltd, also forecast that the LED lighting industry will grow rapidly next year, driven by commercial lighting and the solid-state lighting businesses. Regarding LED backlighting, Tan said growth is slowing, and even if LED TV shipment grow next year, demand for LED-backlit LCD displays will decrease.