Following international lighting giants Philips, OSRAM, and GE shift towards LED lighting, local manufacturers from various countries followed suit. CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets most recent report showed a good outlook for LED lighting market development in 2014 and believes that LED lighting demands will be the driver for LED manufacturing capital expenditures in 2014. They predict that global numbers for new MOCVD units in 2014 will increase compared to 2013, reaching an estimated 390 units.

Taiwan LED wafer manufacturer Epistar announced more good news for its market layout in LED lighting. According to a report by global financial service firm Morgan and Stanley, Epistar’s infiltration into CREE’s supply chain, controlling production of high efficiency red LED chips and mid-to-low watt sapphire wafer orders, lighting proportion within the company will continue to rise for 4Q.

Taiwan wafer manufacturer Epistar consolidated revenue for August 2013 is NT$1.97 billion with a 2.85 increase month-on-month, .39 percent higher than August 2012. Epistar president Li Bingjie pointed out that although lighting demands for 3Q are continuing to move higher, they have felt affects from decrease in TV backlighting demand. 3Q revenue is predicted to be either level with or less than 2Q and Citibank estimates that Epistar 3Q revenue will decrease 5 percent.

Following the expansion of the LED lighting market, Epistar president Li Bingjie during an interview on September 4th pointed out that once LED lighting permeability broke 10 percent, usage rate increased exponentially. LED lighting wafer usage by 2015 is estimated to equal that of backlight usage. Epistar’s lighting market strategy is therefore focused on increasing market share.

LED wafer manufacturer Epistar’s president Li Bingjie revealed that with the company successful entrance into supply chains of European and Asian based automotive makers, their next target is the Korean automotive supply chain.

A mature LED market has seen a surge in demands this year. Upstream die manufacturers one by one are transforming their market strategies in response to continual decrease in prices. Chinese manufacturer Hong Hai has been dropping prices rapidly in the mid-to-low range LED market. Taiwanese wafer manufactures have turned to the mid-to-high range LED market in order to maintain their gross margin performance. Flip Chip technology has become this year’s new battle ground with companies like Epistar and Genesis vigorously racing to start production.

Epistar has received orders from Japanese automobile manufacturers making it the first Taiwanese chip maker to enter into the automotive industry. The company plans to begin shipments at the beginning of next year. They have also received qualifications by the Korean manufacturers Samsung and LG for TV chips which will also begin shipment 1Q of next year.

According to reports, Epistar won orders of Japanese LED car lights, it is the first time for Taiwan-based LED chip manufacturers to enter into high-threshold and high-profit car lights supply chain. It is expected to begin a small shipment early next year. Meanwhile, Epistar also won Samsung's and LG's new TVs certification; also they will be shipped in Q1 of next year. Legal persons pointed out that Epistar has accessed to the Japanese car supply chain and received orders of brake lights and turn signals, the major markets are in Asia, mainly focusing on J...

The oversupply of LED die still exists; however, the demand for LED lighting fixture is expected to achieve explosive growth in next year under the great support of lighting equipment factories in the mainland China, highly anticipated next year. Taiwan-based Lextar has officially completed one-stop production line in its mainland-based plant, Epistar also restarts its expansion plan. Epistar and Lextar are expected to start new LED epitaxy production capacity in the fourth quarter of this year, and volume shipments will be conducted in the first quarter next year. 

Chinese banks’ recent credit crunch has impacted the LED industry. More than 100 LED manufacturers have defaulted as a result in Eastern and Southern China this year. Taiwanese LED manufacturers have emerged as the beneficiaries of the industry restructuring, as foreign investors purchase stock from industry leaders Epistar and Everlight.

Advertising.my is a reputable agency that has been advocating the use of new technologies in this industry. As part of its new offerings, Advertising.my will be bringing High-Resolution and Flexible LED displays for the industry in light of its recent partnership deals. Advertising.my recently signed a partnership deal with Epistar of Taiwan, one of the leading global manufacturers of LED components which will launch P3 indoor LED displays in the country. With that, Advertising.my will now be able to provide affordable and cost-effective options for advertisers to better...

Intermolecular announced on the 17th that it has signed a collaborative development program (CDP) and royalty-bearing IP licensing agreement with Taiwan Epistar, in order to jointly improve power of LED devices and reduce production costs of the latter. The engineers from Epistar and Intermolecular will take the advantages of Intermolecular's highly productive combination (HPC) technology platform based on this agreement to vigorously promote the development and manufacturing of advanced new materials and processing technology for LED products. "After a r...

Epistar chairman Biing-Jye Lee, said that global shipments of LED light bulbs in 2013 may reach up to 600 million units which is three times as much as that in 2012. The growth rate will surge to 300%. However, Lee thought that this figure is still small, if the growth rate can stay around 300% per year, the global shipments of LED light bulbs are likely to rise to 2 billion units. Lee added that when global shipments of LED light bulbs rise to 1.8-2 billion units, it will need 300 MOCVD equipments to meet the output. Considering the demands for LED tubes and oth...

According to reports, Bingjie Li, the chairman of Epistar stated on June 9 that Epistar considers terminating the cooperation with Luminus Devices purchased by Sanan at $ 22 million a few days ago. In recent years, Epistar has being faced major challenge from Sanan, it not only dugs talents from Epistar, it also follows the steps of Epistar in the layout of blue LED products. The action that Saman entered AlGaInP LED from the blue LED has become a topic the industry discussing on the competition between Epistar and Sanan in the past year, especially when ...

It is learned from the earnings report recently released by Epistar Corporation that its consolidated revenues in May reached 2.223 billion NTD, a growth of 15.85% over last month, also an annual growth of 19,42%. In view of the company's operation, Jye Lee who is the Chairman of Epistar Corporation said that the market demand for LED blue chip has started from March, while the demand for LED AlGaInP Chip in the initial stage has been weak, but in May, the market demand for LED AlGaInP chip increased significantly, which has become the main reason for ...

Demand for LED backlighting rebounded in the first half of 2013, Taiwan-based LED chipmaker Epistar believes demand for LED lighting will show strong growth in the second half of 2013 and lighting applications may account for 35-40% of its total revenues. LED firms said judging from past experience, international tier-one TV makers usually slow down procurement in July-August with only China-based makers continuing to procure products. However, as China's energy-saving appliance procurement subsidies are set to end soon, demand for TV backlighting products in th...

Epistar, recently pulled aside the curtains to reveal a hint of its next big-time product late this year to boost revenue, with industry insiders guessing the new launch to be automotive LEDs. Other major LED companies in Taiwan, including Everlight, Lextar, Unity Opto Technology, Formosa Epitaxy, are all reportedly aggressively developing business in this lucrative field with low profile. Epistar's high-voltage LED successfully tapped into Philips' supply chain in 2012, and the company has been aggressively trying to widen the gap with its mainland Chines...

As demand for LED lighting products is heating up amid the improving global economy, Epistar is expected to see its gross margin rebound this quarter after posting a record loss last year. Due to oversupply in the LED market, which resulted in a drop in product prices, Epistar’s performance fell short of analysts’ expectation last year, JPMorgan Securities said in a note on Tuesday last week. Because of a decreased utilization rate and continual price decreases, Epistar last quarter posted a net loss of NT$1.11 billion (US$37.18 million) after booking a...

The Taiwan International Lighting Show 2013 took place at the Taipei World Trade Center on March 26, 2013, gathering most of the Taiwanese LED manufacturers as well as experts and scholars in the LED field. Numerous excited exhibitors implied the importance of this annual event, and a variety of innovative lighting products also suggested a maturing LED industry.  The lighting products displayed at the exposition can be divided into three categories: power drivers, dimmers, and light bulbs. Almost all of the products, however, were highly efficient and innovative. TESS, for example, introduced a series of disposable light bulbs as well as innovative modularized power engines that could be applied to different light sources. They emphasized that with the combination of high efficiency power engines and energy-saving light bulbs,......

Taiwanese manufacturers that set significant booths at Lighting Japan 2013 including Everlight, OPTOTECH, Genesis Photonics Inc., and Ledlink Optics, as well as exhibitors of the Taiwanese pavilion have all acquired numerous orders at this exposition.  Genesis Photonics Inc. announced that they have acquired an order of 100,000 of their patent candle light bulbs. LED chips produced by the company are applied to these bulbs that share several features of incandescent light bulbs, and mass production is expected to take place in the second half of 2013.......

As the world's economy stages a rebound, the global LED industry is expected to ride the wave of an uptrend in demand, in particular for lighting applications. According to some industry experts , since the beginning of 2013 sales in LED lighting has expanded at a quicker-than-expected pace. As the peak season for the LED industry will arrive in the second quarter of this year, momentum is expected to continue, leaving behind a slow year of 2012, which was partly impacted by the financial turmoil in the eurozone. LEDinside: global LED industry is expected to rise ...

Veeco has received an order for multi- and single-chamber TurboDisc® MOCVD Systems, including the new MaxBright® M™, from KaiStar Lighting Co., Ltd., a joint venture between Epistar Corporation and Shenzhen Kaifa Technology Co., Ltd., which is based in Xiamen, China and began LED production in 2012. The systems will be added to KaiStar’s existing fleet of Veeco MOCVD systems as part of their 2013 capacity expansion plan. MJ Jou, President of Epistar Corporation commented, “This latest capacity expansion in Xiamen i...

Nan Ya Photonics Inc., a joint venture by Taiwan’s Epistar and Nan Ya Plastics Corp., recently has completed its first automatic production line and targeted to scramble for orders from international brands such as GE and Philips. Nan Ya Photonics’s chairman Wilfred Wang noted at a press conference held earlier that the addition of the advanced production line will enable the company to achieve maximum monthly output of 500,000 LED bulbs for sale at home and overseas. The president B.J. Wu confirmed that his company is vying for orders from GE, P...

Epistar recently was granted its 1000th patent. This number will continue to grow as there are about another 1,000 applications pending worldwide. Since its establishment in 1996, Epistar has firmly believed that technology innovation is the foundation for being a leader in the industry, and that acquisition and strategic deployment of intellectual property rights, such as patents, is a key to success. In Epistar’s extensive patent portfolio, ITO technology is one core technology that Epistar’s founders developed while they were at ITRI (Industrial Technolog...

Epistar has announced that Toshiba has granted a patent license regarding certain AlGaInP LED technologies and sold certain AlGaInP LED patents to Epistar. As part of the agreements, Epistar also licensed certain AlGaInP LED patents to Toshiba. The agreements recognize the value of Toshiba’s AlGaInP LED patent portfolio, and are expected to bring benefits for Epistar’s product development and enhance its patent portfolio furtherwithin the field of AlGaInP LED technologies. The exact terms of the license will not be disclosed unde...

Despite Nichia planned to enter into LED markets in China and enlarge its market share there, it has been foiled by simmering anti-Japan sentiment in China due mainly to the Diaoyutai island issue, so is considering to cooperate with Taiwanese enterprises for further development. And two Taiwanese companies, including Hon Hai Group and Epistar, will be part of the joint venture. According to senior Nichia executives and based on positive outlook towards widespread use of LED lighting, the firm focused on the ample business potential in China, having invested at le...

Epistar and Azzurro have jointly made breakthroughs on developing GaN-on-silicon based LEDs utilising Epistar’s HB LED structures and Azzurro’s technology for 150mm GaN-on-silicon in just 4 months. The firms transferred Epistar’s existing LED structures built on sapphire to the GaN-on-silicon material system, marking GaN-on-silicon one step further towards implementation in mass production. GaN-on-silicon growth is often associated with many technological challenges. But the use of templates with unique strain‐engineering technology from A...

B.J. Lee, chairman of Epistar,at a shareholders’ conference held late September, estimated 2013 would remain a tough year for the LED industry as a whole, constraining the manufacturers’ revenue climbing at least until 2014. He projected most of the manufacturers to maintain 2013 revenues at their 2012 levels at the best. Overcapacity still haunts LED backlight suppliers Lee felt that overcapacity will still haunt LED backlight suppliers into 2013, at which time he estimated LED penetration on backlight market would hit peak. LED’s lighting ...

Taiwan’s LED industry has benefited from simmering anti-Japan sentiment in China, due to nationalization of the Diaoyutai islet. Formosa Epitaxy Incorporation (FOREPI) and Epistar to see booming revenues in September, because many LED-related orders diverted from Japan to Taiwan. According to insiders, rising sales of color TVs in China drive demand for LED-backlit chips; while anti-Japan there has moved many Chinese LED TV factories and system providers to transfer chip orders from Nichia to Taiwan’s Epistar, FOREPI, Unity Opto ...

Recently, LED chipmaker San’an Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. from mainland China is attempting to lure customers away from Taiwan’s suppliers with fairly low price, however, contracts are still flooding to Taiwan’s LED chipmakers Epistar and Formosa Epitaxy Inc. for Q3. San’an has risen quickly over the past two years to prominent position in the LED chip making sector by poaching engineers from Taiwan’s chipmakers, including Epistar and FPI. Although the mainland Chinese chipmaker has sent samples to Taiwan’s assemblers for v...