Expansion of production or fierce fighting? The biggest winner is LED who laughs in the end

[Cooperation]

Epistar has invested nearly NT$100 million in a Malaysian LED packaging factory

Epistar, a major Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer, recently announced that it will invest approximately NT$512 million (equivalent to approximately RMB 99.92 million) to purchase Malaysian LED packaging plants. Dominant Opto Technologies purchased 11 million common shares and acquired 10% of its shares. The company is one of the important suppliers in the LED automotive lighting market. Jingdian signed an investment agreement with Dominant Opto Technologies to actively expand the automotive lighting LED market.

Jingdron hopes to strengthen the layout of each other's business strategies through virtual cooperation by investing in Malaysian LED packaging factories. This will be quite helpful for Epistar to enter the ASEAN and European and American markets.

In the automotive lighting market, Dominant provides a variety of applications such as instrument panel backlighting, exterior turn signals, and interior lighting. It has been certified by international car manufacturers for a long time, so it has considerable confidence in the quality of its products. If Epistar’s LED chips can be adopted, it will be a long-term benefit for it in the automotive market.

【Fierce Battle】

Epistar joins hands with MLS to set up factory in India?

During National Day, some overseas media reported that Jingdian and MLS jointly established a factory in India. According to the subtitle of the report, "Epistar and Mulinsen joint venture in India plant to resist Everlight's switch to San'an." The report said: After Everlight announced the use of mainland LED chips, "Epistar, the leading Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer, is not to be outdone and will join hands with leading mainland packaging factory Mulinsen to set up a joint venture factory in India." , in order to seize the huge LED lighting business opportunities driven by India's policy, and appointed cadres from Epistar to serve as the general manager of Mulinsen's Indian branch. "

In this regard, Mulinsen's secretary-general Lai Aimei said that he was not sure, and the relevant person in charge of Epistar also said that he was not sure about the above report.

"Milinsen has set up a subsidiary in India to be responsible for local sales. There are no plans for a factory yet. But with the development of the market, it is not impossible to set up a factory in India." Lai Aimei said.

As for the chip procurement matters between Everlight and Sanan mentioned in the above reports, today Everlight Chairman Ye Yinfu also promptly came out to refute the rumors. At present, Everlight's purchase volume and amount of chips from mainland China are still quite low, and Everlight will definitely use Taiwanese chip factories such as Epistar as its main supplier. He also expressed his strategy of giving priority to supporting Taiwanese manufacturers to support the LED industry in Taiwan.

[Production Expansion]

Plessey spends NT$3 billion to increase the production capacity of LED production lines by 30 times

While Chinese LED manufacturers are increasing production, European LED manufacturers are also optimistic about the solid-state lighting market. British LED manufacturer Plessey is also ready with a silver bullet and is preparing to expand its domestic LED production line in Plymouth.

A total of 60 million pounds (NT$3 billion) was invested in the expansion of the LED industry this time, including a loan of 30 million pounds (NT$1.5 billion) from Commerzbank. Plessey announced that it will conduct a large-scale expansion of the LED production department in Plymouth to develop new solid-state lighting technology and product research and development. It is expected to increase the company's production capacity by 30 times and increase approximately 535 employees, which is equivalent to approximately three times the manpower. Combined with the above expansion, it is expected that Plessey will have a place in this growing solid-state lighting market worth billions of dollars.

Iain Silvester, Plessey's financial director, said: "Plessey will increase its annual production capacity from 100 square meters to more than 300 square meters of gallium nitride on silicon. In addition, Plessey's expansion also received 6.7 million pounds (NT$3.0) from the 2015 Regional Growth Fund (Regional Fund). 400 million). Subsidies for production tools and equipment will be received from the end of 2015 to 2017. During this period, 400 new jobs will be created. "

While Taiwanese factories are cutting production and laying off employees, Chinese and European and American LED manufacturers are able to raise funds to expand production lines. The difference is that Taiwanese factories are overly dependent on OEM orders and have been slow to develop new technologies.

【Recall】

The European Union requires the recall of a Chinese-made desk lamp from Spanish Condier

On October 2, 2015, the European Commission's Rapid Early Warning System for Non-Food Products (RAPEX) issued a mandatory recall of a clip-on desk lamp made in China by Spain's KDE. The notifying country in this case is Spain. The product notified this time is a color clip-on desk lamp (230V/50Hz), which is sold in a carton. The product's industrial classification code (OECD Portal Category) is 78000000 (electrical appliances), the product batch is 519245, and the barcode is: 8435147519245.

The casing of the above table lamp, including metal parts, may cause overheating burns. This product does not comply with the requirements of the EU Low Voltage Directive and the relevant European standard EN60598.

At present, the EU has taken compulsory measures to withdraw from the market and recall the above-mentioned products.

【Layoffs】

Sapphire Taiwan factory Fuyuancai laid off employees, and some factories reported sales

Recently, news has spread in the market that the layoffs of Taiwan's major sapphire manufacturer Fuyuancai Technology have been confirmed. The Taoyuan City Labor Bureau confirmed that it has received a severance notice, and a total of 130 employees at the Bayberry Factory will be laid off in two batches. In addition, the market has also reported that the company's Hukou factory is looking for manufacturers to acquire. The Yangmei factory is expected to sell equipment and factory buildings. Fuyuan is purchasing the three factories it originally owned. The remaining Hsinchu factory is still recruiting employees, mainly industrial safety engineers, factory engineers, equipment engineers, PSS foremen, etc.

Fu Yuancai previously entered the American supply chain for Apple and obtained orders for sapphire home buttons and lens covers. However, the market is changing rapidly. Chinese manufacturers are actively expanding factories, and the growth of LED lighting demand is not as expected, resulting in oversupply in the sapphire industry. According to data, the sapphire market price in September fell by more than 30% compared to last year. Competition in the sapphire market is fierce. More and more manufacturers are no longer content with the business model of specialized division of labor. Instead, they directly skip the layers of foundries and provide patterned sapphire substrates to LED chip manufacturers.

【Expansion】

GE sets up a new company, Current, to cover new energy businesses such as LED

It is reported that the multinational group General Electric (GE) announced on the 7th that it will establish a new company that combines GE’s LED, solar, energy storage and electric vehicle businesses with its Predix platform to select and provide customers with cost-effective and efficient energy solutions. The company will be named Current. Maryrose Sylvester, president and CEO of GE Lighting, will lead the new company.

Current will launch with over a billion dollars in revenue and plans to launch a new energy service that includes sensor-based hardware, software, implementation, production management and financing solutions.

By leveraging the Predix platform, GE will be able to detect energy consumption and use data reads to inform customers and make recommendations on improving efficiency. The solutions are expected to help customers save approximately 10-20% on energy bills and help public sector partners improve the way they manage their loads.

It is understood that the current company established this time will merge the business of commercial and industrial customers in the LED business, and GE Lighting will continue to sell LED bulbs to general consumers.

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