Focusing on the technology trend of Micro LED and its manufacturing limitation, this year in Micro LEDforum, LEDinside has invited worldwide experts to dissert and reveal the solutions of Micro LED applications. 

LEDinside, a division of the global market research firm TrendForce, held LEDforum 2016 at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) International Convention Center on September 30. This conference, which focused on micro-LED as the next-generation display technology, featured presentations by industry and research heavyweights including Epistar, Trillion Science, hTC, PlayNitrides, OSRAM Opto, Macroblock, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), X-Celeprint and CEA-Leti.

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

Shuji Nakamura, a former speaker at LEDinside’s LEDforum and a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2014, along with Isamu Akasaki and Hiroshi Amano on Tuesday in Sweden. Their breakthrough work in blue LED semi-conductors in the early 1990s put an end to a three-decade technology stalemate. Emergence of blue LEDs finally made white light achievable by combining blue, red and green LEDs.

This is the year of the flip chip, according to Dr. Guoqing Tang, Samsung LED China General Manager and Sr. Vice President who presented at LEDforum 2014 at Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition on June 11. 

LEDforum 2014, organized by LEDinside, Cnledw.com and Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition, will be held on June 11, 2014, it brings together global famous enterprises and professional analysts from LEDinside. The seminar at the LEDforum will dissect the current situation of LED industry from technology, market demand and other perspectives, and forecast the future market trend on the theme of LED market trends and the development strategy. International LED Giants Gather to Create a Brilliant Show LEDforum 2014 will be held during Guangzhou...

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 in full fury, which has attracted more and more attention of lighting and backlighting market graduallty, becoming the most important developing item in this year. With the prevalence of "environmental protection and energ...

LED manufacturers that attended the forum explore and analyze advanced LED technology from the perspective of upstream material, equipment, and epitaxy market to give attendees understanding over latest industry and commercial challenges. 

     The LED industry is shifting. With competition increasing, falling prices, and continued developing in technology, LEDs are quickly surpassing incandescent and other forms of lighting, securing a stronghold in the industry. Among the many manufacturers in the lighting industry rushing to secure a position for themselves, MLS Lighting is one that has come out on top this year.

When asked about his views for the LED industry in the next few years, B.J. Lee Epistar chairman said during an interview at LEDforum 2013 that he expects to see steady revenue growth for the company and the continual restructure of the LED industry.

The increased demand for sapphire substrates in non LED applications including for smartphone camera lens caps plus home button covers, the supply and demand situation has had a turnaround.

4K UHD TVs are unquestionably a market highlight this year. QD Vision and Sony have joined forces to work on QD technology to reach higher color rendering and a wider color spectrum by using high pressure technology to seal quantum dot and phosphor into glass tubes, paired with blue LED chips. Aside from Sony, the company is also discussing cooperation opportunities with other panel manufacturers, said John Ho, Advanced Development Manager, QD Vision.

The 3Q performance for the new Harvetek Hsinchu factory profits were driven up due to rising utilization rates, said the company Chairman Billy Wang. The company expects 3Q results to make a turn for the better and ultimately affect 2013 annual performance. Taiwan LED packaging manufacturer Harvatek chairman Billy Wang attended LEDforum Taipei 2013 conference held by global market intelligence provider Trendforce Corporation.

LEDforum 2013 Taipei will be hosted by LEDinside on October 16th-17th, 2013. Aside from inviting International and local Taiwanese big named manufacturers to the conference, China LED wafer manufacturer San’an and LED packaging manufacturer MLS Lighting will also be in attendance. With the recent rise in Chinese LED companies becoming supply chains, after securing its top position in the Chinese market, San’an has aggressively sought out partnership with Taiwanese and downstream manufacturers branching out its domain. MLC likewise has obtained a fair portion of market shares through aggressive price competition. During the conference, San’an will discuss the technology development of the LED wafer and MLS Lighting will focus on commercial lighting. This will be the first time for both manufacturers to participate in LEDforum.

Apple has yet again swept the market with the launch of the new iPhone 5S and iPhone 5C. The new cell phones have acted as a propeller for sapphire substrate manufacturers and LED manufacturers with the introduction of new fingerprint recognition technology. This has significantly increased the demand in sapphire substrate.

LEDforum 2012 Taipei is a two-day event organized by LEDinside and will be held on November 1st and 2nd at National Taiwan University Hospital International Conference Center. The agenda for the first day features the latest LED market trends in upstream component, manufacturing equipment and LED chips, while the agenda for the second day covers other important areas such as package and lighting applications. Focused on the future direction of LED industry, LEDforum is an advanced conference to grasp new market trend and future opportunities.

On the 2nd day of LEDforum, LEDinside will conduct a panel discussion on the strategies to enhance product competitiveness in an oversupplied LED market. The discussion will be led by Vice President & General Director of Electronics and Optoelectronics Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Yi-Jen Chan, Ph.D., panelists includes Sean Zhou, Regional Marketing Director Asia from Philips Lumileds, Ilkan Cokgor, Ph.D., Vice President of Global Marketing from Everlight, Gary S. Sheu Ph.D., the President from Genesis Photonics Inc. and Vincent Cheng, the Associate Vice President of Lighting Business Division from Lextar Electronics. 

Today, LEDforum Shanghai 2011 commenced at Jumeirah Himalayas Hotel Shanghai with a full house. Executives of the world’s leading companies not only presented the latest and highly relevant information regarding product designs, technologies, end-market applications, market trend of the LED industry, but also provided an in-depth analysis and a cutting-edge report on the global LED industry. Today was the first day of LEDforum Shanghai 2011, which consisted of the opening ceremony including major manufacturers around the world, the keynote speech, and a complete an...