Upstream Taiwanese LED chip manufacturers including Epistar and leading downstream LED manufacturers Everlight and Lextar were upbeat about the industry’s growth in 2015, with most forecasting at least 20% growth, reported UDN.

There will be many new products released on the LED market in 2015, for instance Samsung’s high-end TVs will all be using flip chips, which is projected to benefit Epistar and Everlight. Small-pitch indoor LED displays growing demands are also expected to benefit Everlight, and Epistar will be receiving related orders. Manufacturers have benefited from doubling LED lighting demands, and international manufacturers have prioritized the introduction of high color index performance Wide Color Gamut (WCG) products into flagship smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. It is projected, more consumer electronic brands will be featuring WCG backlight in growing number of product models in 2015.

Products for LED lighting, small pitch LED display, and flip chips are expected to become the company’s major growth momentum for 2015, said company Chairman B.J. Lee. The global LED lighting demands will reach about 1 billion to 1.5 billion PCS in 2014, and is expected to escalate to 2.5 billion PCS in 2015. Epistar is expected to benefit the most with its large global market share.

In the small-pitch LED display market, many products distance is down to 1.2 mm, which enables 100” LED displays to achieve HDTV effects. Epistar client demands will grow exponentially from 200 million PCS in 2014 to 5 million PCS by 2015.

The effects from Cree’s investment in Lextar is expected be reflected in 1Q15. Lextar’s gross margin from Cree’s OEM orders are projected to surpass other international manufacturer orders, leading to the Taiwanese manufacture’s soaring gross margins in 2015.

Lextar will be adding four U.S. and between eight to ten European lighting clients in 2015. LED bulbs are expected to have the highest growth, followed by LED tubes and panels. LED bulb shipment volume are projected to more than double to reach 40 million to 50 million in 2015.

Everlight’s three major growth drivers will also be from indoor small pitch LED displays, LED lighting, and LED TV backlight, said Everlight Chairman Robert Yeh. After Everlight expanded production capacity, the company’s monthly production grew fivefold from 100 million LED PCS per month to 500 million LED PCS.

Most LED manufacturers showed good profitability this year, said Unity Opto Chairman Ching-huei Wu. LED applications are expected to grow in 2015, thus further boosting manufacturers’ performances next year. Unity Opto has received additional LED bulb orders from large U.S. retailer, with monthly shipment surging from 20 million PCS to 50 million PCS.

(Editor’s Note: UDN’s outlook for Taiwanese LED revenue market in 2015 does not represent LEDinside’s view point.)