Industry experts share their insights on LED market and technology trends at LEDforum 2014, and strategies manufacturers are adopting to cope with the increasingly competitive market environment. Many manufacturers have highlighted the potential of the residential LED market to become a main driver, but expect market maturation to slow down growth. Flip chip and emerging 3D LED chip technologies will become key technologies manufacturers develop to further lower product prices.

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar’s has showed steady revenue growth, accumulated revenue as of September 2014 has reached last year's total annual revenue of US $750 million, and it’s future revenue outlook remains positive. The company's merge with FOREPI is expected to further drive annual revenue growth to reach the $1 billion target soon, said Epistar Deputy Director of Marketing Center, Dr. Chiu-Lin Yao at LEDforum 2014 in Taipei, Taiwan last month.

Levent Touter, Senior Field Marketing Manager of  Aixtron discussed innovative MOCVD solutions and developments at LEDforum 2014, hosted by LEDinside last month in Taipei, Taiwan. The German MOCVD manufacturer's  R&D investment reached nearly US $100 million annually, and has recently sealed a deal with China’s top LED manufacturer San’an Opto to sell 50 MOCVD equipment.

Manufacturers, who hope to leave the fiercely competitive Chinese lighting market and other mature lighting markets, are turning their attention to emerging Southeast Asian markets or even Russia, said Roger Chu, Research Director of LEDinside at LEDforum 2014 which took place in Taipei, Taiwan last month.

After releasing Pad Extension Chip (PEC) in 2013, LED chip manufacturer Epistar, has improved the technical and support system for the product, and now the product is applied in direct-type LED TV backlight, lighting and flash lights. Epistar’s PEC chips will be applied in large volumes in direct-type LED TV next year, with target products being 32 inch to 45 inch LED TVs. The company’s orders are mainly from China and South Korea, said Epistar Deputy Director of Marketing Center, Dr. Chiu-Lin Yao while attending LEDforum 2014 held in Taipei, Taiwan on Oct. 24, 2014.

Philips decision to spin-off Philips Lumileds, automotive lighting and later lighting business in mid-2014 was mainly caused by emergence of Chinese LED manufacturers, and rapid market changes, said Roger Chu, Research Director of LEDinside at LEDforum 2014 held in Taipei, Taiwan on Oct. 24, 2014.

Philips Lumileds and Philips automotive lighting business will be rebranded under a new company name in 2015, said Sean Zhou, Regional Marketing Director, Asia, Philips Lumileds at LEDforum 2014, which took place on Friday in Taipei, Taiwan.

Smart lighting emerged in recent years as a promising technology that has attracted investments from many institutes and LED companies, but further R&D is required before the technology can become truly human centric, said Pei-Ting Chou, Manager, Electronics and Optoelectronics Research Laboratories, ITRI, at LEDforum 2014, which was held on Oct. 24, 2014 in Taipei, Taiwan.

Increasing workforce wages and commercial real estate rental fees in main cities of China has led to the emergence of e-commerce, which has the upside of saving about 60% of operating cost. The importance o the E-commerce trend in China can no longer be ignored. In 2013, online shopping accounted to approximately US $300 billion of e-commerce market in China, and is estimated to reach US $445 billion this year. China’s lighting e-commerce business models are gradually shifting from Customer-to-Customer (C2C) to Business-to-Customer (B2C), according to Analyst Figo Wang of EnergyTrend, a division of global market intelligence firm Trendforce, while attending LEDforum 2014 held in Taipei, Taiwan, on Oct. 24 2014.

The age of LED lighting is here. LED lighting has overtaken the lighting industry in recent years, and become a beacon of hope for the lighting industry. This is the result of collaborated efforts from the top to downstream manufacturer, the industry supply chain, and now it’s the time to embrace the “golden age” of LED lighting, said Chinese LED packaging manufacturer MLS General Manager Ji-Liang Lin while attending LEDforum 2014 held in Taipei, Taiwan on Oct. 24, 2014.

Cost effective communication solutions are important for long range smart streetlight applications to make it acceptable to potential clients, said Gary Tsai, R&D Director, Institute for Information Industry (III) at LEDforum 2014 last Friday at Taipei, Taiwan.

Price competitions are affecting almost every aspect of the LED industry, and are observed in manufacturers chip technology developments, such as the emergence of Chip Scale Package (CSP) LEDs.

The role of phosphor powder in LED applications is increasingly important to lower LED production costs and meet higher light quality demands, said Calvin Yeh, Global Strategic Marketing Manager, Lighting/PV Business Field, Merck Display Technologies, at LEDforum 2014 hosted by LEDinside on Oct. 24, 2014 in Taipei, Taiwan.

One of Osram’s ongoing projects to overcome LED efficacy limitations is the development of microrod 3D LED technology, said Michael Schmitt, Regional Market Director, Asia-Pacific, Osram Opto Semiconductors at LEDforum 2014 which was hosted by LEDinside on Oct. 24, 2014 at Taipei, Taiwan.

The LED segment might have made significant technology advancements that have driven down costs, and made the bulbs more affordable to most households, the office lighting sector remains a difficult segment for LED manufacturers to tap into, said Michael Schmitt, Regional Market Director, Asia-Pacific, Osram Opto Semiconductors at LEDforum 2014, which took place in Taipei, Taiwan last Friday. 

LED prices will continue to fall over the next few years, but this is a phase that will probably pass, said Sean Zhou, Regional Marketing Director, Asia, Philips Lumileds at LEDforum 2014, which took place Friday in Taipei, Taiwan. Manufacturers aiming to improve profits will be increasingly turning towards cost-effective technologies, such as flip-chip LEDs.

Global LED trends show backlight applications are in decline, and that lighting will remain the major market driver, said Sean Zhou, Regional Marketing Director, Asia, Philips Lumileds at LEDforum 2014, which took place Friday in Taipei, Taiwan. In terms of regional market performances, LED market growth in Japan has waned compared to other regions.

As lighting consumption continues to increase, solid state lighting will become a major driving force for LED lighting growth that is expected to grow for several years, said Micheal Schmitt, Regional Marketing Director at Osram during LEDinside’s LEDforum at Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition (GILE) on June 11, 2014.

LEDforum 2014, organized by LEDinside, Cnledw.com and Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition, will be held on June 11, 2014. Top executives from the first-tire international manufacturers like Philips Lumileds, Osram, Samsung, Seoul Semiconductor, Toyoda Gosei, LED chip giants such as Epistar and Sanan Optoelectronics, China leading LED enterprises like Honglitronic, Refond and MLS Lighting will be invited as speakers, dissect the current situation of LED industry on the theme of LED market trends and the development strategy, to create an audi...

LEDforum 2014, organized by LEDinside, Cnledw.com and Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition, will be held on June 11, 2014. Top executives from the first-tire international manufacturers like Philips Lumileds, Osram, Samsung, Seoul Semiconductor, Toyoda Gosei, LED chip giants such as Epistar and Sanan Optoelectronics, China leading LED enterprises like Honglitronic, Refond and MLS Lighting will be invited as speakers, dissect the current situation of LED industry on the theme of LED market trends and the development strategy, to create an audi...

In 2014, LED industry ushered in golden period of development, the competition and integration between enterprises kicked off. LED industry faces both opportunities and challenges: under the urging of the localization process, the upstream chip companies optimize capacity utilization, to compete with each other in technology. Flip chip technology breaks in full fury, which has attracted more and more attention of lighting and backlighting market gradually, becoming the most important developing item in this year. As the global LED lamp replacing tide comes, LED bulb and tub...