LG Display of South Korea has exhibited an LCD panel whose color gamut was expanded by using quantum-dot LEDs for the backlight at SID 2010.

LED Price Trend in 1Q10 According to LEDinside's price trend report, LED supply and demand are fairly stable in the first quarter of 2010. There is a seasonal proce erosion of 2-5% across backlight applications. For LED lighting application, the QoQ price erosion of high power LED appeared to be more servere, over 10%, due to invantory adjustment.

China’s color TV market is booming and the market growth potential of local Chinese brands is phenomenal. This is because the reputation of local Chinese brands is increasing, with lower prices, as well as the rapid upgrades of the CCFL-backlit LCD TV and the LED-backlit LCD TV, these products are very attractive for consumers who have not yet purchased a color TV.

In early 2009, after Samsung invested a large budget in promoting the new concept of LED TV, the market witnessed a surge in the replacement of new generation television. According to LEDinside’s latest market trend report, the total shipment of LED-backlit TVs in 2009 was about 3.5 million sets. Of that, Samsung was on the top with more than 70% share; followed by Sharp and LG. Notably, in the first wave of LED-backlit TV competition, shipment ratio of the two Korean companies accounted for 80% of the total.

TV brand vendors are highly optimistic about the shipments of LED TVs in 2010, indicated research institute LEDinside. The optimism boosts demand for LEDs and rapidly increases LED supply. Therefore, under the substantial expansion of LED manufacturing capacity, end-market sales of LED TV will be the determining factor in whether the LED industry will be able to sustain its growth momentum in the second half of the year.

According to LEDinside’s latest price trend report, the growing shipment in LED backlight and lighting application led to a shortage in the chip supply. As a result, the white LED prices remained flat in 4Q09: Prices for backlighting dropped slightly by 1-3%, while prices of high power LEDs remained stable.

As the market penetration rate of LED-backlit LCD TVs gradually picks up, LED makers from Japan, Korea, Europe, Taiwan, and China are implementing their strategies in LED chips and LED package modules for LCD TV backlights. As for TV vendors, Korea’s Samsung and LG are very optimistic about the outlook for the LED market. Their projections of LED penetration in TV backlighting reflect high LED consumption. Furthermore, these two companies have their own LED chip and package capacities, and they outsource the unmet portion to Taiwan manufacturers.

LED backlight was the limelight of the display industry in 2009, in addition to yielding positive results from its applications in NBs, LED backlight in TVs and monitors successfully gained foothold in the market for its slimness and energy-efficiency. In 2010, LED backlight products will continue to capture consumers’ attention, but the actual purchase depends on when its price will be more in line with the mainstream prices. With price reduction as the objective, the design of LED backlight module will improve and thereby optimize its cost structure. 

Semtech Corp., a supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, announced the SC652 and SC656 LED backlight charge pump drivers. As new members of the SC65x tiny charge pump platform, these devices are the industry’s first LED drivers to integrate digital low-pass filters that convert a PWM dimming signal’s duty-cycle into DC current for LCD backlighting with white LEDs.

ViewSonic® Corp. Monday expanded its green product line with two new Energy Star® 5.0 compliant monitors -- the VX1932wm-LED and VA705b.

Avago Technologies, a supplier of analog interface components for communications, industrial and consumer applications, announced an innovative ultra-thin, high brightness, light guide film (LGF) technology for backlighting mobile applications such as cell phones, handheld games and GPS applications. According to the company, the new light guide technology will help designers reduce the number of LEDs needed to illuminate backlit keypad applications without compromising brightness and light uniformity.

Mitsubishi Electric announces that it will reveal LED option for its Seventy Series range of cube displays at ISE 2010. The new LED cube engine is fully compatible with the existing Seventy Series cube chassis and hardware, offering users an easy upgrade path from conventional to solid-state lighting.

Taiwan’s Delta Electronics Inc. plans to close its cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) operations from March 1, 2010, due to the growing use of LED for backlights in applications such as LCD TVs, according to an article on Taiwan Economic News.

At the LEDforum 2009, Eric Chou, Optoelectronics BU Manager of WitsView, gave the attendees his insight into the LED backlight module section. With energy saving and slim design being the most emphasized features in laptop design, Chou estimates the penetration rate of LED backlight in large-size laptops will continue surging and reach 80% in 2011.

NEC Display announced Tuesday its first ever LED-backlit desktop monitor for business, education, government and healthcare markets, the 22-inch MultiSync® EA222WMe.

At the LEDforum 2009, AmTRAN Chairman & CEO Alpha Wu pointed out that LED-backlit LCD TVs, which boast many advantages such as low energy consumption, high image quality and slim profile, is gradually becoming the design trend of LCD TVs. Optimistic about the LED-backlit TV market in 2010, AmTRAN projects the market penetration rate of such TVs will substantially grow to 20%.

West of the Panasonic Group has recently decided to shut down its cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) factory in the Southern Taiwan Science Park, as LED backlight is gaining ground for various applications including LCD TVs, the Taiwan Economic News reports. According to industry executives, the closure of the CCFL factory indicates the trend of LED quickly replacing CCFL as backlights in LCD TVs, laptops and monitors.

The South Korean electronics giant LG has chosen Thailand as the first Asean production base for its latest range of televisions.

Samsung introduced its "world's thinnest" 3.9mm-thick 40-inch LCD TV based on LED technology at FPD International 2009. The new design uses LED based edge-lighting along with new optical film manufacturing process to spread the light evenly behind the screen. The luminance, contrast and frame frequency of the panel are 400cd/m2, 5,000:1 and 120Hz, respectively.

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced its financial results for the third quarter and nine months ended September 30, 2009. The third quarter revenue was $99 million, down 15% on $115.7m a year ago but up on $72m last quarter and well above the guidance of $80-88 million.

AU Optronics Corp. today announced that its new cutting-edge innovative display technologies will be exhibited at FPD International 2009, held in Yokohama Japan, from Oct. 28-30.

Even though ‘LED TV’ is simply marketing buzzword, its advantages outweigh its drawbacks An increasing number of TV vendors, including Sony, Sharp Samsung, and LG, are launching their so-called "LED TV" products on the market. But in fact, LED TV is not a completely different product to LCD TV – it is, in essence, an LCD TV that adopts LED backlighting technology.

Popularity of LED TVs has driven up the demand for LED backlighting, leading to the wave of integration in Taiwan’s LED industry. And the island’s largest LED chipmaker Epistar recently said it is to purchase shares of Tekcore Co through a private placement deal. This trend of vertical and horizontal integrations seen in the industry can help keep the companies’ gross profit rate up, boost their capacities, as well as guarantee the supply to the customers, analyzed the industry research firm LEDinside.  

The new LED-based BeoVision 10 from Bang & Olufsen is a slim, fully integrated TV solution with a classic Bang & Olufsen identity developed specifically for wall placement.  

Lite-On Technology and Everlight Electronics, two of the major LED providers based in Taiwan, are reportedly to be supplying SMD LEDs to Korea’s Samsung and LG from the fourth quarter this year. The two companies will supply LEDs mainly for backlights of 46/47- and 52/55-inch TVs to the two Korean TV makers, according to the report.

Apple® updated its popular MacBook® with a new, durable polycarbonate unibody design featuring a brilliant LED-backlit display, a glass Multi-Touch™ trackpad and Apple’s innovative built-in battery for up to seven hours of battery life. Inheriting technology and design features from the MacBook Pro line, the new MacBook is an ideal consumer notebook for students and new Mac® users, and is available for $999.

Semtech Corp., a supplier of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors, today announced the SC654, SC657 and SC658LED backlight charge pump drivers for 6, 5, and 4 LEDs, respectively. Optimized for single-cell Li-ion battery applications, each part in this new platform is packaged in ultra-thin (0.6mm max.) 14-pin 2x2mm MLPQ package to provide the industry’s smallest solution in reliable and easy-to-handle plastic packaging.

NSI presents a new 106 key backlit “Duralight” keyboard. The keyboard has a multi-functional layout with separate numerical- and control keys pads and integrates a large 50mm industrial trackball.

Samsung Electronics America Inc., a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Corporation, the number one worldwide brand of LCD display products, recently announced the debut of its premium LED monitor, the SyncMaster XL2370. At an estimated street price of $299, the XL2370 produces picture perfect, HD quality in a sleek, aerodynamic design. It will be available at Best Buy starting October 12 and through distribution and retailers in late November.

Widespread application of LED backlight in LCDs has led to a short supply of upstream chips in 2009. As a result, chipmakers are actively expanding production capacity and making large-scale equipment purchases, witnessing industry-wide prosperity.