By Lowy Chang

Philips Lumileds: LED Innovations in Next Generation Lighting

Following the speech of Shuji Nakamura, Ph.D. (the inventor of GaN LED) on the first day of LEDforum, the second day kicked off with the speech of Philips Lumileds’ SSL Fellow and the inventor of yellow LED, Dr. George Craford. He addressed the LED innovations in the next generation lighting. Dr. Craford is an IEEE fellow and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. His research focus on several compound semiconductor materials and LEDs with visible light. In the early 1970’s, Craford garnered recognition from his achievement in  GaP:N LED research. After joining Hewlett-Packard, Dr. Craford became the pioneer in developing AlGaInP LED, launching a number of AlGaInP and InGaN products.

Osram: Driving Force for Future Optimization in Solid State Lighting
Kai-Chong Cheng, the Marketing Director of OSRAM Opto Semiconductors Asia Ltd., addressed the topic of “Driving Force for Future Optimization in Solid State Lighting.”

OSRAM, which owns a number of world-leading patents and has provided numerous world renowned constructions with lighting products and solutions, is not only one of the major lighting companies in the world but also an innovative LED lighting company.So far, OSRAM’s LED products have made their ways into car, signal light and building markets. OSRAM already began dedicating to the development of new light source since the last century and prided itself in being one of the first companies to launch white light LED products. Currently, OSRAM’s products have made their ways into car, signal light and building markets. The sizes of wafers OSRAM manufactures have become bigger, from 2-inch, through 6-inch, to 8-inch. The first batch of OSRAM’S 6-inch wafer has gone into production. OSRAM states that the popularization of LED in lighting applications is still at the nascent stage, because presently, most of the LED applications are street lamps or for specific usages, which account for a mere portion of sales in the lighting market. It is expected that LED will take up a bigger share in the household lighting market in the future.

Henkel (China): Innovations in Assembly Solutions for LED Lighting
Kent Lu, the LED Sales Manager of Henkel (China), dissected the LED assembly material market and the LED assembly solutions of Henkel. He introduced not only the construction, the global capacity, partners, breakthroughs, quality and efficiency of Henkel, but also Henkel’s solutions in the LED lighting supply chain. The solutions include materials of LED chip packages, conductive materials, thermal dissipation products such as heat conductive adhesive, thermal pad, phase change material which are crucial to LED lighting products, encapsulation and protection of LED driver and light bar, and low-pressure and low-temperature molding technology and products. Henkel’s technology in the LED sector is an integration of that of Ablestik, Emerson & Cuming, Hysol and Loctite, which is proficient to provide the market with total solutions of LED package and lighting product assembly.

Delta Electronics: Tactics of Taiwanese LED Manufacturers to Obtain a Global Presence
Calvin Wang, Director of Lighting Power Business Unit of Delta, presented the tactics of Taiwanese LED manufacturers to obtain a global presence. He addressed topics including the development of LED lighting products, the basic structure of the lighting market, the strategies of global major makers, and market position of Taiwanese manufacturers. In regards to the lighting market structure, he compared the global market, consumer-based market and local market and explained the relation between upstream and downstream channels and the impacts of LED. He believed that Taiwanese manufacturers should obtain new clients by displaying high-quality products at exhibitions. As for Taiwanese LED makers, the product life cycle, target market and the timing of market entrance are the key factors to be taken into account when establishing strategies. As for channel strategies, self-own channels and OEM/ODM are crucial.

EverLight: New Prospects of LED End-Market Applications
Dr. Ilkan Cokgor, Vice President of Global Marketing at EverLight Electronics, provided analysis on the new direction of the LED end-market based on a market review and forecast, the proportion of LED lighting versus other light sources, etc. Dr. Cokgor believes that Japan’s earthquake-induced nuclear scare has increased global awareness on the importance of nuclear safety. Germany has decided to shut down 7 of its nuclear plants, while Switzerland, China, India, and Korea are reevaluating their nuclear development plans. However, decreasing power consumption reduces cost more than the development of a new energy source. At present, LED technology is capable of providing energy savings. Dr. Cokgor indicated that 60W bulbs are currently the most popular type; furthermore, energy saving begins to decrease above 80 lm/W specifications. As LED accounts for 35-40% of LED lighting system cost, lowering LED cost will have a large impact on total lighting system cost. Additionally, Dr. Cokgor also presented numerical analysis on electricity consumption, LED bulb return rates, LED parameters, etc.

Miniwiz: LED Lighting in Global Green Building Applications
Arthur Huang, the Founder and Managing Director of Miniwiz, addressed the innovative applications in green buildings and the future trend in his presentation. Miniwiz is a company dedicated to developing green-energy products. Mr. Huang focused on rechargeable products and green building solutions. He believed that LED plays an integral role in modern buildings. Numerous successful examples around the world are a testament to the importance of LED lighting. LED’s ability of reducing cost largely contributes to LED’s wide adoption in green building. In addition, he illustrated a number of green building projects including Super Dragon Technology Co., Singapore’s zero-carbon National Park and EV charging stations, with abundant visual aides.

Philips Lumileds: The Success and Challenge in LED Lighting Component Industry
Sean Zhou, Regional Marketing Director of Philips Lumileds Lighting Company, shared the successful experience of Philips Lumileds and also analyzed the current challenges for the LED indoor lighting sector. Mr. Zhou provided a detailed analysis on the LED market in different sectors such as hotel lighting, office lighting and LED replacement light, and then he pointed out the key element in indoor lighting and explain the LED bin code and thermal dissipation issue from a professional perspective. He believed, as far as indoor lighting is concerned, even though the LED penetration rate in the office lighting sector seems limited at the moment, it also shows great promise: lighting applications account for 30 to 50% of the total orders from commercial buildings. In the future, the new office buildings will put more accent on lighting in order to meet the energy-saving requirement, which will in turn increase the popularity of T-LEDs.

LEDinside: Analysis on Global Major LED Markets and Chinese and European Lighting Markets; Price Outlook on Global LED Lighting Market
As the highlight of this year’s LEDforum, LEDinside’s analysts jointly presented their analysis and market forecasts for the global LED industry. LEDinside’s Green Energy Division Research Director Roger Chu provided an outlook on the LED industry development trends in 2012; Research Manager Simon Lo covered China’s LED market; Analyst Renee Liao discussed the European LED market, and Research Manager Doris Yang presented global LED price trends and market expansion.
 
Mr. Chu provided a review and outlook on the LED industry, LED supply and demand forecasts, and discuss how corporate competition and cooperation will affect LED industry trends in 2012. He expected that the proportion of LED lighting applications on the HB LED market will increase from 24% to 52%, becoming the fastest growing sector in the next 5 years. In 2012, the LED backlight market will be affected by weak demand and lower than expected LED penetration rate. Furthermore, as China’s currency policy will have an impact on local government and company loans, LEDinside believes that Chinese chip manufacturers will suspend expansion plans in order to reduce capital expenditures.

Mr. Simon Lo elaborated even further on the outlook for China’s LED market. He estimated that China’s government subsidies have spurred LED industry development, with more than 70 LED chip manufacturers, the current market value is approaching US$625 million. Product value China’s over 3 thousand lighting and backlighting products has reached US$19.6 billion. From the perspective of the global lighting market, China accounts for US$12.2 billion, 15% of the market. Mr. Lo also  provided a cost analysis outlook.

Ms. Renee Liao believed that as the global economy slowed in 2011, the scope of the worldwide lighting industry will only increase by 5.6%, to US$8.39 billion. The European market plays an important role in the LED lighting market, with 27-28% market share. Ms. Liao expected the combined growth rate to be 47% in the next 5 years. Indoor lighting will show the most rapid growth from 2010 to 2011.

Due to the number of brands and varying efficiencies, it can be difficult to do a price comparison of LED products in different countries. Ms. Doris Yang compared product pricing of the 6 major brands, and provided analysis of 40W and 60W bulb price trends in Japan, Britan, Korea, and the U.S. Additionally, she used statistical data to discuss global LED market price trends and market expansion.

Panel Discussion: Strategies to Enhance Product Competitiveness in Oversupplied LED Market
Due to the recent surge of global LED capacity and the weak demand in the market, the LED market is currently under the oversupply pressure. As a result, enhancing product competitiveness becomes the pressing issue for numerous companies. The panel discussion centered around this issue, and the panelist offered their own insights from a professional perspective.
Yi-Jen Chan, Ph.D., Vice President & General Director of Electronics and Optoelectronics Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute, hosted the panel discussion, including panelists such as Sean Zhou, the Regional Marketing Director of Philips Lumileds, Ilkan Cokgor, Ph.D., Vice President, Global Marketing of Everlight Electronics, Co., Ltd., Gary S. Sheu, Ph.D., the CTO of Genesis Photonics Inc., and Vincent Cheng, the Associate Vice President of Lighting Biz Div, Lextar Electronics.