The flow of shipments, distribution deals, and retail purchases occurring at Snap Light, LLC headquarters is a clear indication that availability of their new LED Light Case, the SnapLight™ Case, has filled a welcomed gap in the tech industry’s cell phone accessories market. International demand including deals across three continents, orders from lifestyle and fashion giants and negotiations with top buyers from other notable big box tech retailers have placed the SnapLight™ Case among the tech industry’s 2016 must-have list and other top products: All in less than 30 days.

Another wave of industry restructuring is expected to occur in Taiwan and China as LED lighting penetration rates continue to rise, according to Chinese-language Apple Daily report. LEDinside and Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association (PIDA) both projected the large enterprises expansion trends is well established. Second tier LED die manufacturers are an important observation index in Taiwan, while in China it is LED package manufacturers.

IWatt Inc., a leading provider of digital-centric power management integrated circuits (ICs), yesterday debuted its new 8-channel LED backlight driver designed to deliver better screen performance and lower cost in next-generation 2D and 3D LCD TVs. The iW7019 gives designers a rich set of integrated features to improve picture quality and render a more lifelike viewer experience. These include both head and tail-mode pulse width modulation (PWM) dimming to reduce motion blur, and high-resolution, 12-bit local dimming to improve contrast ratio. The iW7019 also integrat...

Reportedly, Apple's iPad 5 will be up to 33% lighter than its predecessor. The tablet is rumoured to be going into production in July ahead of a September launch, with the Cupertino firm shedding a third of the iPad 4's weight for its latest model. The next generation iPad will keep its 2048 x 1536 Retina display by using a thinner 0.2mm piece of glass. Just one LED light bar will apparently be used for backlighting - the iPad 4 currently uses a 0.25mm glass substrate and two LED light bars. Supply chain sources in Taiwan told DigiTimes that the bezel ...

Manufacturers Form Alliances within the Industry as LED Market Becomes Over-Competitive Thanks to the replenishment demand from brand vendor in 3Q12, the production value for October has shown a respective performance compared to the same period of last year. According to LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce, total revenues for listed LED companies in Taiwan amount to approximately $NT 9.27 billion, a 16.8% growth YoY. With oversupply remaining an issue within the LED industry, many vendors have turned to strategic alliances and share exchanges for the sake of long term development. In the future, the role played by LED manufacturers is likely to expand beyond simply providing chips and components. Many are expected to begin making end products.

NDS Surgical Imaging (NDSsi) has launched new 24” Radiance® G2, 55” Radiance G2 and 24” EndoVue® monitors. The new products extend NDSsi’s leadership in visualization technology as the company advances its complete lineup of surgical displays to LED backlight. Focusing solely on the medical industry, NDSsi is the pioneer of LED technology for the healthcare environment, the first company to introduce LED in a surgical display, and the first to stabilize the LED backlight at 500 cd/m² for the life of the product with th...

Sumitomo Chemical Co Ltd showcased a light guide plate made with an ink-jet technology at FPD International 2012 from Oct 31 to Nov 2, 2012, in Yokohama, Japan. It is targeted at LCD panels using an LED backlight such as of TVs and monitors. The light guide plate was made by using an ink-jet technology to form a concave-convex pattern with an ultraviolet curable resin on the "Sumipex," Sumitomo Chemical's acrylic resin. The diameter of the pattern can be controlled between 30-70μm. Compared with light guide plates made by using an injection m...

LED has been penetrated into a wide range of applications such as lighting and TV, thanks to the rapid price fall and aggressive push among vendors. Despite the LED market is still growing steadily in terms of demand, corresponding market growth slows down amid excess capacity build. LEDinside expects the LED package industry to grow only 9.6% YoY at US$11.27 billion in 2013. In spotlight: iPad Mini, Android & Windows tablet PC The LED market value for backlight application is expected to be flat YoY at US$2.69 billion in 2013 with tablet PC con...

Taiwan LED maker Unity Opto Technology Co., Ltd. has targeted to snatch 50% of the non-Apple tablet PC backlight market in 2013. Unity Opto attributes its advantage outperforming other Taiwanese backlight manufacturers in revenue this year to increased shipments to TV makers and penetrating the supply chain of non-Apple tablet makers, including Asustek Computer Inc. and Google Inc. In TV backlight market, the company has squeezed into the supply chains of world’s top 10 brands. The company’s chairman, Alpha Wu, estimates global demand for LE...

Taiwan’s Unity Opto and Lextar have made good marks in revenue in September.Unity Opto’s revenue reach a new high of US$30 million in September while Lextar’s consolidated revenue of US$33.5 million for the month hit a hit a 26-month high. Unity Opto pointed out that its growth potential remains strong in October thanks to mainland China’s subsidization to LCD TV consumers and rollouts of touch-screen laptops by many PC makers. Both drive up demands for LED backlights, a major product at Unity and Lextar. In particular, Unity Opt...

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 ...

Benefiting from mainland China’s TV makers vigorously building up inventories for the upcoming high season, Taiwan’s LED makers Epistar, Unity Opto, Lextar, and I-Chiun Precision Industry Co., Ltd. have been inundated in contracts. The mainland’s top six color TV makers are energetically promoting LED-lit TVs in anticipation of lucrative demands from the mainland authorities’ subsidization programs, which are designed to further boost LED-lit TV penetration in the Chinese mainland to 80% from current 70%. Lextar increases product...

Provides unprecedented design flexibility and opens door to wide variety of new low-light applications Shapeable LED backlight is up to 97% thinner and 30% less expensive than alternative backlights Lumex announces the global launch of its first-in-the-industry QuantumBrite Shapeable LED Backlight. With the new shapeable LED backlight, holes can be cut into the backlight in virtually any shape (for example, to allow space for a switch or other component on the circuit board). This combination of flexible and shapeable LED backlight technology is unique in the indus...

Unity Opto’s global sales revenue in June have set up new record with a two-year monthly high of NT$7.1 billion (US$236.67 million), which mainly benefited from  the growing demand for LED TV and new production orders from its clients. The company is full confidence of its sales outlook for Q3, as its order visibility can last through the end of September for the moment. Its revenue is expected to grow strongly along with the steady increase in orders for direct-type LED TVs and tablet products, the surge in sales of LED lighting products in the domestic...

Taiwan LED manufacturer Unity Opto Technology Ltd. has exclusively supplied item’s LED backlight to “Nexus 7”, the first tablet computer jointly developed by Asus and Google, a renowned online search engine to be launched in America in July. A reliable source has informed that Nexus 7 uses touch-screen technologies of Hydis, a South Korea–based panel manufacturer, and uses LED chips from Formosa Epitaxy Incorporation (Forepi). And with Nexus 7 scheduled for launch this month, Unity begun shipping  LED backlights at least tw...

According to price surveys by LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce, affected by dwindling Q1 inventory and Q2 rush orders, LED package price for the backlight application quotes has eased in Q2, with a decline of approximately 3%. On the LED lighting market, 5630 packages were pulled from use in backlight applications, to be used in lighting instead. The sudden volume increase resulted in price slashing for this quarter’s low to mid power LED packages, with an average decrease of around 10%. Q1’12 LED Price Review Due to relatively high Q...

According to LEDinside, the LED research division of TrendFroce, the total monthly revenue of Taiwanese LED companies listed on TWSE reached NTD 9.23 billion in June 2011 (MoM-6.17%, YoY-10.9%). The LED chip manufacturers’ monthly revenue has decreased by 6.1% to NTD 4.34 billion, compared with that of last year (MoM-6.2%; YoY-6.1%). Furthermore, the LED package manufacturers’ monthly revenue has sharply dropped by 14.8% to NTD 4.89 billion, compared with that of last year (MoM-6.1%，YoY-14.8%).

The LED research division of TrendForce, LEDinside, indicates that there is no obvious increase in LED production in 2011. Although 2H11 is traditionally the peak season for the LED industry, doubt about oversupply spreads on weak market demand. LEDinside estimates that LED chip supply volume in 2011 is about 100 billion units and demand volume is around 89 billion units; an oversupply ratio reaches 12%. In addition, after LED chip makers’ capacity expansion comes online in 2012, supply will increase rapidly. It is estimated that oversupply ratio will then rise to 21%.

Lite-On Technology is the most experienced and largest optoelectronics supplier for the semiconductor industry. Since its establishment in 1975, it has been keeping the development and management of LED business, which is regarded as its core business. Lite-On has not only succeeded in enlarging its product scope but also presented remarkable performance in diversified LED application products. LEDinside is honored to have invited Hsiang-Jui Wu, General Manager of Advanced Lighting Solution SBU, Opto SBG, Lite-On Technology to share his experiences and achievements in LED package business of these years. 

Formosa Epitaxy is specialized in LED chip and wafer production, its product lines including blue, green, UV LED chips. Currently, Formosa Expitaxy is not only holding a significant role in the LED backlight market through joint-ventures with the downstream panel makers, but also actively tapping into the lighting market. Recently, it has further forged a strategic partnership with Mitsui&Co., LTD, one of the Japanese largest enterprises, receiving much attention from the LED market and industry. In the increasingly fierce competition in LED industry, Formosa Epitaxy has found out its outlets by means of joint venture and alliance.

  LEDinside: LED Perspective from President & CEO of Everlight, Robert Yeh Taiwan has built a strong LED landscape following the specialization model under the combined efforts of all LED makers. Everlight Electronics, the Taiwan-based leading LED package maker has not only successfully expand its product lines but also make remarkable achievements in the brand management and bidding markets. This is an honor for LEDinside to have invited Robert Yeh, President & CEO of Everlight to talk about the future development and strategies of Everlight.  

According to LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce, sales revenues of public listed LED manufacturers in Taiwan totaled NT$7.347 billion(MoM-9.22%，YoY+18.1%) in February, 2011. Sales revenues of upstream chip manufacturers reached NT$3.471 billion(MoM-7.9%; YoY+23%) in February, 2011, up 23% compared to the same month of 2010. As for Taiwanese downstream LED package manufacturers, suffering from fewer working days in February, sales revenues reached NT$3.876 billion(MoM-10.3%，YoY+14%) , down 9.22% on month, but up 18.1% compared to the same month of 2010.

Outlook of LED Industry Trend in 2011   Brief Review of 2010 LED Industry Development – LED Manufacturers Celebrated a Fruitful Year 2010 was a fruitful year for LED manufacturers. Not only did manufacturers overcome the gloomy market condition in 2009, most managed to grow their revenues at an exponential rate due to the robust demand for large-size LED backlighting.

Industry sources noted Everlight Electronics’ LED backlight products had entered the supply chain of table PCs, and the shipment for LED backlight products was expected to increase several times in 2011.

Thin, flexible LED backlight is up to 88% thinner and 80% less expensive than standard backlight technologies Lumex announces the global launch of their QuantumBrite Flexible LED Backlight technology. Completely customizable in any shape, size, and color, QuantumBrite Flexible LED Backlights are up to 88% thinner and can cost up to 80% less than standard LED backlight technology.

Traditional Slack Season Plus Chinese National Day Holidays Yet to Stimulate LED Backlit TV Demand, and Taiwanese LED Manufacturers‘ Revenue of October Dropped by 10% 



Based on the industry researcher LEDinside's analysis and statistics, in August 2010, listed LED manufacturers in Taiwan reported total revenue of NTD 10.593 billion, posting a 2.4% decline, compared with revenue of NTD 10.853 billion in July and a rise of 64% YoY. The revenue for LED chip manufacturers in August reached NTD 4.89 billion, down by 1.6% from July. The revenue for LED package manufacturers in August amounted to NTD 5.70 billion, down by 3% from July. The constant increasing momentum in revenue for nearly half a year ended in August in the LED industry.

American display manufacturer ViewSonic has released its newest display, the VX2250wm-LED, a 22-inch LED backlight display and announced that all of its PC displays will feature LED technology by early 2011. LCD monitors that use LED backlighting use about 40 percent less energy than displays that use CCFL. Because of the clear benefits of LED backlighting and lowering costs of production, more and more display manufacturers are turning to LED.

Recently, panel manufacturers have been concerned about the excess inventory, triggering uncertainty toward demand for LED TV backlight. LEDinside’s survey showed that Korean panel vendors have started to save LED inventory since the end of 2009. Therefore, when facing the slack season, they hit the brake for LED procurement in advance. Taiwan-based panel manufacturers have formally adopted large quantities of LED backlight products; AUO is the fastest of all at this stage, creating short supply for its LED plant Lextar.  

Based on the industry research LEDinside’s analysis and statistics, in May this year, listed LED manufacturers in Taiwan have total revenue of 9.65 billion NTD (~USD300 million, at USD 1: NTD 32.235), a 6.8% growth compared with revenue of 9.033 billion NTD (~USD280 million, at USD 1: NTD 32.235) in April, and 85.5% in annual growth rate. The revenue for LED chip manufacturers in May amounted to 4.273 billion NTD (~USD133 million, at USD 1: NTD 32.235) , which increased 6% compared to that of April.