AIXTRON, a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced today that Epileds, a leading supplier of LED chip products, has qualified the Company’s AIX R6 tool for LED epitaxy mass production.

Veeco Instruments announced today that KaiStar Lighting, based in Xiamen, China has ordered multiple TurboDisc® EPIK700™ Gallium Nitride (GaN) Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) systems. KaiStar, a joint venture between Epistar Corporation and Shenzhen Kaifa Technology Co., Ltd., will use the EPIK700 systems to ramp production of light emitting diodes (LEDs) for the general lighting market.

HC Semitek announced its arm in Suzhou received RMB 49.60 million (US $7.94 million) worth of LED equipment subsidies from Zhangjiagang Economic and Technological Development Zone’s management committee.

Veeco Instruments announced that the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Solid State Physics IAF, a leading German compound semiconductor research institution, has purchased a TurboDisc® K465i Gallium Nitride (GaN) MOCVD System. 

It will take some time before the effects from MOCVDs and other LED chip equipment acquired in 2014 will become evident, but it is expected the new equipment will make significant contributions to this year’s revenue growth, announced Chinese LED manufacturer HC SemiTek recently in an investor relations statement.

Another challenging year awaits Taiwanese manufacturers as major Chinese LED chip manufacturer San’an Opto acquires a total of 100 MOCVD reactors in September and December and have said that the company will continue to headhunt Taiwanese experts, according to a report of China Times.

“When I check my phone, there are always a lot of messages from LED manufacturers,” said ETI Chairman Wang Donglei, while pointing to his phone.

San’an Opto is expected to fully benefit from the growing LED market value, according to a report from China Finance Media.

San’an Opto was granted RMB 230 million (US $37.11 million) subsidy by Torch Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone Committee for 50 MOCVDs the company recently purchased, according to a news report from China Securities Journal.

Veeco Instruments introduced the Propel™ Power Gallium Nitride (GaN) Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) system, which incorporates single-wafer reactor technology for outstanding film uniformity, yield and device performance. This new 200mm MOCVD system and technology enables the development of highly-efficient GaN-based power electronic devices that will accelerate the industry’s transition from R&D to high volume production.

On November 6th AIXTRON presented its latest generation of MOCVD reactors for HB-LED manufacturing at the SSL China conference. The advanced feed-back control capabilities of these reactors are based on two fully integrated LayTec OEM metrology sub-systems (Inside MiniR and Inside TTC) with typically seven metrology heads in total. Emissivity corrected susceptor surface temperature and double wavelength reflectance is provided by the industry proven LayTec in-situ metrology. As additional options also wafer bow and GaN surface temperature can be measured by Inside MiniRC and Inside P400 (OEM version of LayTec’s Pyro 400). Aixtron’s and LayTec’s engineering teams worked closely together in order to provide this market leading in-situ metrology solution for both our customers in the LED industry.

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.

AIXTRON, a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, today presented its next generation MOCVD system at the China SSL international trade fair. The new AIX R6 has been designed for the production of LEDs based on Gallium Nitride (GaN) and can be delivered in 12x6-, 31x4-, 121x2-inch wafer configurations. Equipped with numerous technical innovations the new tool will lower operational costs significantly while simplifying usability and process control.

AIXTRON, a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, received the “Award of Outstanding Achievement for Global SSL Development” from the International SSL Alliance (ISA) in the context of this years’ China SSL. The ISA jury recognized AIXTRON for its role in providing key foundations for the initiation and growth of the global Solid State Lighting (SSL) industry.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq:VECO) announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2014. Veeco reports its results on a U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) basis, and also provides results excluding certain items. Refer to the attached table for details of the reconciliation between GAAP operating results and Non-GAAP operating results.

China based Elech-Tech’s Yangzhou subsidiary has begun mass production of LED wafers. Equipment used at its Yangzhou factory are mainly 14x4” MOCVD wafer production units from U.S. manufacturer Veeco. The company currently has 12 units in operation with a yearly production capacity of 190,000 pcs, which can then produce 50,000 chips. 

Taiwan-based manufacturers Epistar and FOREPI today announced merge plans. Through conversion of shares, FOREPI will become a 100 percent fully owned subsidy of Epistar. The trend of acquisitions within the LED industry will continue in 2014, observed LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce. Epistar’s merger with FOREPI will improve production capacity, cost management, as well as client and product integration. After the merge, the two companies will also be able to jointly resist market threats from Chinese LED chip manufacturer San’an Optoelectronics (San’anOpto). 

Elec-Tech Chariman Wang Donglei faced disgruntled investors during the company’s investor conference discussing the company’s 2013 annual financial results on May 12, 2014. Although ElecTech has made it into the LED supply chain, net profit growth has yet to be seen. Wang first discussed the benefits the company recived from their aquisition of NVC Lighitng. Wang next tackled questions by investors regarding wafer expansion. 

Aucksun Jiangsu Co. announced recently that People’s Government of Qinghe District, Huai’an has granted a RMB 15 million (US $2.4 billion) technology subsidy to the company’s subsidiary Huai’an Optoelectronics (Huai’an Opto) . The subsidy is related to importing MOCVDs and associated equipment. 

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014. Veeco reports its results on a U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) basis, and also provides results excluding certain items. 

Martini Tech has started to offer its customers a new GaN deposition service on sapphire substrates by MOCVD (metalorganic chemical vapour deposition) for LED (light emitting diode) applications.

GT Advanced Technologies announced that it has acquired exclusive rights from Kyma Technologies, Inc. for its plasma vapor deposition (PVD) process technology and know-how. The PVD of nano-columns (PVDNC™) technology developed by Kyma deposits a high-quality growth initiation layer of aluminum nitride (AlN) on wafers prior to gallium nitride (GaN) deposition. 

The Chinese government first began providing LED lighting businesses with subsidies in 2009 which lead to explosive growth within the industry. However, at the time there was a lack in chip manufacturing technology so Metal-organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) units needed to be brought in from abroad. 

GAAP Results ($M except per share data)             Q4 ‘13         Q4 ‘13         Revenues     $106.8    ...

The Chinese government LED equipment subsidy policies lead to a global increase of more than 1,000 MOCVD equipment in 2011, which is the root to the industry’s oversupply situation, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. Manufacturers have yet to fully install and utilize all the units purchased.

Leading chip manufacturers including San’an Optoelectronics (San’an Opto) and HC SemiTek Corp. (HC SemiTek) have been turning from 2 inch to 4 inch epitaxial wafers, which industry insiders anticipated to be the upcoming trend in 2014.

Chinese LED chip manufacturers are conservative towards expansion, according to the Commercial Times. Forepi and Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI) have temporarily stopped introducing new MOCVD units for 2014 and are aiming to increase efficiency instead. However, Taiwanese manufacturer Epistar has continued to increase MOCVD units to meet lighting client demands, due to insufficient production during peak season.

The supply and demand situation for the LED industry has affected LED prices.  Foreign investment firm Goldman Sachs in the most recent global LED industry report pointed out that due to lowered demand expectations from Japanese, Korea, North American and European LED manufacturers, MOVCD equipment volume increase for 2013 has been lowered.

San’an Optoelectronics recently announced it had received RMB 32 million (US$ 5.23 million) subsidiary from People’s Government of Siming, Xiamen.

On July 29, Veeco announced that KaiStar Lighting Co., Ltd., a China-based joint venture between Epistar Corporation and Shenzhen Kaifa Technology Co., Ltd., ordered multiple TurboDisc MaxBright M MOCVD Systems in the second quarter of 2013. The systems will be added to KaiStar's current installed base of Veeco MOCVD systems as part of their 2013 capacity expansion plan. Mr. MJ Jou, President of Epistar Corporation, said, "This latest capacity expansion is based on our customers' growing demand for LEDs for backlighting and gener...