Ripple effects from volatile Chinese stock market has directly impacted LED capital market, shaking many companies’ management structures. Up to 18 managers in listed LED manufacturers have resigned as of Aug. 25, 2015, nearly double the number of senior managers that retired in 2014.

China’s LED package market grew 19% Year-on-Year (YoY) to US $8.6 billion in 2014, according to LEDinside’s 2015 Global Sapphire and LED Chip Market Report. The lighting market has been the major growth momentum for the industry, as the LED commercial lighting and residential lighting market penetration rates soar, it has continued to stimulate market growth.

Honglitronic announced on Christmas the company’s LED lighting subsidiary, Ledia Lighting’s, patent application was authorized by China’s State Intellectual Property Office, according to a report by Securities Times.

A common scenario since the emergence of e-commerce has been consumers jotting down product serial numbers and brands they like, only to purchase them online at a cheaper price. Online the same merchandise sold in a physical retail shop is often marked at a lower price. Thus, price has remained the main factor taken into consideration.

On Sept. 5, 2014, Chinese LED manufacturer Honglitronic announced it signed an “investment partnership agreement” with Nanchang City government in Jiangxi Province, China, and is currently constructing a new LED manufacturing base in the city. The investment was approved by the company’s board of trustees in a recent meeting, according to a Securities Times report.

Taiwanese lighting manufacturer Everlight has released a statement that clearly shows the company’s aim of developing the Chinese lighting market, the statement also assured investors recent restructures were made to meet challenges ahead. The notice outlined the company’s intent to attract more distributors in the future.

China is researching on LED lighting subsidies and policies at the moment, according to a report from Chinese-language Yancheng Evening News. Manufacturers interviewed indicated Chinese government’s new subsidies were “highly likely” to further promote the generalization of LEDs. Competition among manufacturers have advanced from single product technology to the next level involving systems.

Bridgelux announced a major expansion of its China operations, significantly increasing its investment and capabilities in China. To better serve its rapidly growing customer base in China, Bridgelux has opened a major R&D center in Xiamen dedicated to supporting the development and manufacture of new solid state lighting products, including extensions to its best in class V Series Chip-on-Board (COB) product line.  In addition, Bridgelux will be opening an applications lab in Shanghai’s Hongqiao district to assist its China customers with the design and enhancement of lamps and fixtures that integrate Bridgelux’s highly regarded LED light source products.

The lighting industry in China is not short of standards, but emerging new standards in various regions is seriously wasting resources. “China has put too much focus on LED product standards, while overlooking basic standard systems,” said Chen Yansheng, President of China Association of Lighting Industry. “This has been the root of confusion within the Chinese lighting industry.” 

In a further move to strengthen its leading position in the market for LED, Osram today officially opened its LED assembly plant in Wuxi, China. The factory has a floor area of about 100,000 square meters and will employ as many as 2,100 people by 2017. Osram is investing a low three-digit-million euro amount to set up the plant.

China’s LED package industry market scale reached US $7.2 billion in 2013, up 20 percent from the year before, according to the recent “2014 China Package Industry Market Report” from LEDinside, a green energy research division of TrendForce. China has become the largest manufacturer of LED products. Rapidly increasing LED lighting penetration rate is driving up LED component demand volume, making China the most contended market among LED package manufacturers.

Third tier manufacturers sell products, second class companies build brands, but leading companies set standards. Recently, NVC Lighting became the pioneer in China’s LED industry with the sales of 200,000 LED products with Advanced Union Technology Standard (ANT’S) labelling, according to Guangdong Solid State Lighting Industry Innovation Center (GSC).

Whether walking on the streets or driving around the city, people are surrounded by outdoor LED displays. They are known as the fourth type of screen, after TVs, computers, and mobile phones. So what do outdoor LED displays mean for city dwellers?

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Tyntek has ended investment in LED upstream chip manufacturer Alpha Plus Epi Inc (Alpha Plus Epi) with an estimated recognized loss of NT $1 billion (US $33.4 million) for 2013. The company however does not plan to completely back out of the LED chip market. Instead, the company is shifting focus from the Taiwan market to China. Tyntek through a joint venture with Fujian Electronics & Information established Fujian Prima Optoelectronics in 2010. This new epitaxy factory is projected to begin mass production in 2H14.

China based LED package company MLS Lighting 2013 performance for packaging components and lighting products was good. The company expects to reach the target of RMB 3 billion (US$ 492 million) for 2013. MLS is actively pursuing discussions for cooperation between U.S. market dealers and channels.

The market is focused on the moment that LED industry can leave oversupply behind. China LED chip manufacturers growing number of new MOCVD equipment in 2014 will no doubt put pressure on the LED industry demand and supply. China’s large LED chip manufacturer San’an Optoelectronics, and vertically integrated Elec-Tech International Co. (ETI) both have expansion plans, while Nationstar Optoelectronics Co. is planning to invest in a second phase LED chip expansion project. 

China has a huge market demand for conventional lighting. The country’s market for incandescent light and CFL in 2012 reached 1.18 billion lamps and 1.27 billion respectively. Fluorescent tube light market demands reached 830 million, while circular fluorescent lamp market demand was at 800 million. In addition, the nation’s halogen lamp market demand was at 755 million. If all these lights are replaced with LED luminaire products, it would be a massive market. Cree CEO Charles Swobodo once made a statement that the company’s goal is to replace every single incandescent light bulb.

In order to seize the upcoming New Year and Lunar New Year holidays’ market share, it’s reported that first-tier vendors such as Sony、Sharp etc would cut price to promote LED-backlit TVs in the China market. The market estimated the average price drop of foreign brand TVs was about 22% in 2010, while price drops of local brand TVs was about 16%.

To learn more about Cree’s plan in the China market, LEDinside has recently visited Guoqing Tang, Cree’s General Manager of Business Development in China. During our interview, Tang emphasized that Cree pays great attention to the local China market and that “Cree chips for China” will be an important localization goal in 2010.

At the festivities, in keeping with China's push for futuristic technologies, tiny chips made in Durham will light up the Beijing Olympics. When the games open tonight, an estimated 4 billion people worldwide will watch dazzling, computerized light shows centered partly around the iconic Bird's Nest and Water Cube buildings, those buildings' lights were built using more than 750,000 red, blue and green LED chips made at Cree's factory in Durham.In addition, Cree LEDs will illuminate massive video boards in Beijing and TV kiosks throughout the Olympics complex.