Last year, Taiwanese LED packaging company EVERLIGHT registered a lukewarm annual earnings with a YoY decline of 6.6%. In face of looming threats from Chinese competitors, EVERLIGHT adjusts its product mix in hope to push up its revenue in 2018.

Robert Yeh, Chairman of EVERLIGHT, and his wife awarded for their philanthropy (Image: LEDinside)

The influence of Chinese LED makers in the backlight and general lighting markets has grown strong. More and more overseas lighting corporations choose to outsource some of their production to Chinese OEMs. Prices of related products have been slashed far down, making it hard for companies from other countries, including Taiwan, to compete with them.

Robert Yeh, Chairman of EVERLIGHT, said the company will continue the adjustment of its product mix in response to the situation. EVERLIGHT will be focusing more on high-margin applications, such as IR LED, automotive lighting, LED signage, and Mini LED.

Yeh revealed that IR LED in 2017 contributed to approximately 25% of the overall revenue. IR LED has become one of EVERLIGHT’s core businesses. The company expects a 2-digit growth in the segmental revenue of IR LED in 2018.

EVERLIGHT’s IR LED products has currently been used in applications such as home appliance, security and recognition devices, and smart speakers.

EVERLIGHT is also developing Mini LED and plans to put it in mass production in 3Q18 when its display maker clients start their projects. As the volume of Mini LED production will not be large at the beginning, it will only be introduced to the high-end display market. Once Mini LED enters that space, it should stand a chance to compete against OLED, said Yeh.

Automotive lighting is another business highlight of EVERLIGHT in 2018. At NEPCON JAPAN 2018, it showcased a series of automotive LED lamps. Yeh said that the new plant in Tongluo, Taiwan, will be manufacturing products only for automotive lighting. The Tongluo plant is anticipated to hit a capacity utilization rate of 70-80% this year.

EVERLIGHT plans to launch more advanced LED packages for production of LED displays as well. It has launched 1010, 0808, 0606, and 0505 LED packages that can be used in fine-pitch LED displays. In the near future, it attempts to further downsize the package size to create displays with higher resolutions.

On the other hand, the company will keep reducing the production of backlights and general lighting products to a certain level in order to dodge fierce competitions.

In addition, EVERLIGHT seeks to expand its presence in emerging markets such as India. “We see great business opportunities in India,” commented Yeh. More investments will be poured into EVERLIGHT branches outside Taiwan, such as the site in Monterey, California, while the company is raising its market share in Europe and the United States.