LED chip manufacturer Epistar’s Chairman B.J. Lee during the company’s year-end dinner on the 18th announced that the company is currently the largest LED chip manufacturer globally and hopes to become a first-class company in the future, according to Economic Daily News. The company’s LED lighting shipments have doubled this year and Epitar anticipate 2014 to be a better year than 2013 for the company.

2013 marked the first year of the LED lighting era, said Lee. There are currently 500 million LED bulbs globally, and that number is anticipated to increase substantially in 2014 with the opportunity to double in size. Epistar 2014 performance will be better than in 2013, with infrared ray and ultra-violet ray applications showing strong growth. Infrared ray applications are used in automobiles, night vision goggles, and safety control systems while ultra-violet applications are used in industrial rubber.

Epistar’s three factories located in the north, central, and southern regions of Taiwan all have effectively uniform operations, said General Manager Zhou Mingjun. Huga Optotech, subsidiary of Epistar which produces display panels, has improved. Epistar’s original business made a profit last year and subsidiaries also showed good performance compared to in 2012.