Upstream Taiwanese LED chip manufacturers including Epistar and leading downstream LED manufacturers Everlight and Lextar were upbeat about the industry’s growth in 2015, with most forecasting at least 20% growth, reported UDN.

As the global LED lighting demand kicks off, patent wars are becoming the inevitable. There are, however, tricks in patent applications. U.S. LED manufacturer Cree for example cast an encompassing network with its proposal of “my patents include all light emitting products.” In comparison, Taiwanese LED manufacturers have been too conservative in their approach, which can easily be avoided.

Flourishing development in automotive lighting has grabbed the attention of many LED manufacturers. Last week, Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight announced that it has already secured orders from large European and Japanese automotive manufacturers. It is the first Taiwanese manufacturer to break out of the after-sales market and ship directly to automotive manufacturers. 

Embattled Taiwanese LED packager Everlight and Japanese manufacturer Nichia both published press releases on Nov. 6, 2013 regarding their latest YAG patent dispute in China. The two companies ongoing patent wars has rekindled LED industry interests on patent issues. Aside from potential patent disputes from Nichia, Taiwanese manufacturers should also pay attention to Philips patent alliance formation, said Hsieh Chia-fen, Engineer for Electronics and Optoelectronics Technologies at Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). 

China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will be releasing a new energy policy, according to LED industry sources. Starting from Nov. 2013, bids for China street light construction projects will be divided into three phases. Most of the projects are aimed at second tier and third tier cities. Scale of the new project is expected to be three times larger than the first phase of more than 100,000 streetlights in 10 cities. Due to the new LED street light bid specifications, Taiwanese LED manufacturers including Everlight, Delta Electronics, and Leotek that that already have street light bids in Taiwan received quality recognition for their products.

Affects from the termination of China’s Home Appliance Subsidiary Programs in 1H13 caused LED backlight market demands to ease in June and July this year, according to LEDinside, a green energy research subsidiary of global research institute TrendForce. However, some chip manufacturers have reflected a rebounding market, due to stable market orders in 2H13 and several TV manufacturers inventory restock demands. In 2H13, the LED market might show signs of moderate growth during peak season in 3Q, and off-peak season in 4Q will deliver a solid performance.