Having survived oversupply in the LED industry, and endured a harsh winter, listed LED manufacturers have been leading the way in mergers and acquisitions in 2015. Listed companies mergers grew significantly this year to become a major trend on the market. Listed companies acquisitions and trade value have grown exponentially, reflecting features of listed companies merging with smaller companies. More than 37 merger deals were negotiated as of October 2015, and have continued to grow.

Was the company revenue performances only bad for the first half of 2015? Or has it been the case for three consecutive quarters? Only LED manufacturers know how they fared this year.“The (Chinese) LED industry is in deep waters, and only a few manufacturers will survive in the next few years,” said several industry insiders during recent interviews with LEDinside’s editorial team in China.

With growing worldwide demand for innovative lighting products, Osram established a second LED plant in Kunshan, China on Sep. 10 to further expand its production capacity in the district. The new LED plant will hire 500 employees in Kunshan City, Jiangsu Province, mainly to manufacture automotive lighting and display lighting products.

In December 2014, the Chinese government announced it would no longer be encouraging local governments to issue financial subsidies to LED manufacturers. The announcement which could have brought a sigh of relief to foreign competitors, had come perhaps a bit too late for some. Yet, it is probably too early to make the Chinese government as the scapegoat for the woes of the LED industry. Here’s why.

China’s LED industry has been hit with another wave of resigning managers in August, according to a LEDinside report. In the aftermath of the industry’s major manager turnover during March and April this year, more than nine senior managers have left in the last two months (from June 1 to August 5). Chairmen, vice CEOs, deputy general managers, interim member of the board of supervisors and others have stepped down, due to personal reasons. Below is a list of senior managers that have walked out.

As flash LEDs became a standard spec in smartphones instead of a market gimmick to sell phones, many LED manufacturers are vying after this potential market.

Up to 80% of the Chinese companies listed on the Over-the-Counter Bulletin board (OTCBB) reported significant revenue growth as of Aug. 3, 2015, according to LEDinside observations.

Chinese LED manufacturer Yankong Lighting announced Monday, it received RMB 91.88 M (US $14.80 million) subsidy from China’s Ministry of Finance.

Samsung Electronics has recently signed a LED lighting component and module partnership service testing agreement with China Certification & Inspection Group’s (CCIC) Korean branch, reported Qianjia.com.

Cree’s patent lawsuit against Feit Electronics and Unity Opto has sounded a warning bell for the Chinese LED industry, according to a ledsw.com report.

The Chinese LED package industry entered another production expansion peak in 2H14, with many large LED package manufacturers announcing production expansion plans.

China’s low LED prices have taken on a whole new definition in Zhongshan city located in Guangdong Province, where bulbs are being sold in a similar way to vegetables on the market, according to an Alighting.cn report.

Another founder in the intensely competitive Chinese LED industry has disappeared, according to a National Business Daily report.

Korean LED lighting industry characteristics can be summarized in two words, innovative and sustainable, said Guoqing Tang, President, LED Business Unit, Samsung, China, according to hqlednews.com. China’s LED lighting business development can be represented by three words: large scale, pragmatic, and herd mentality.  

Under the LED industry’s new restructure trend, statistics compiled by LEDinside found there has been at least 25 mergers in the Chinese market in 2014. Company leaders are greeting each other with “have you merged yet?” or “how is the acquisition negotiations going?” Companies that are missing out on the acquisitions have lost their excellent quality standard.

China based San’an Optoelectronics (San’an Opto) has signed a three year cooperative agreement with Honglitronics on June 24 in hopes of increasing domestic market share in the LED market. 

The transition of traditional lighting manufacturers into LED is speeding up as Compound Fluorescent Lamps (CFL) subsidies come to an end in China, according to a China Business Journal report. 

May 27, 2014---The Chinese LED market has seen a rapid rise in demands. Expansion plans by several LED chip manufacturers boosted sapphire substrate demands. Sapphire substrate manufacturers are speeding up Chinese market strategies, due to high tariffs and emergence of Chinese LED chip manufacturers, according to the latest “2014 Global Sapphire Substrate Market Report” by LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce.

How long can LED lasts? As product prices are reduced, are LEDs lifespan also becoming much shorter? Some in the LED industry have boldly stated: “A person only needs a single LED lamp through their entire life. But in this fast paced consumerism era, do we really need such long lasting products? This is an issue the LED industry has repeatedly encountered during its development, so should we not reconsider LEDs market positioning? Is one LED lamp per person that can last through a person’s entire life span suitable for a consumer product like LED?”