Highlights in the 2024 Annual Report: LED Automotive Lighting

The process of intelligence and electrification in the automobile industry has accelerated significantly in recent years, and this wave of change has also profoundly affected the development trend of car lights. Nowadays, the functions of car lights have been upgraded, and their importance is also increasing day by day. What is particularly noteworthy is that with the upgrading of demand for car lights, the penetration rate of LED technology continues to expand and has become the core light source technology in the field of automotive lighting.

According to TrendForce Consulting estimates, due to pressure from market competition and cost reductions, automakers are actively marketing advanced automotive lighting technologies as high value-added products, driving steady growth in market demand for car lights/automotive LEDs in 2024, reaching US$37.395 billion and US$3.445 billion respectively.

This trend is also directly reflected in the operating conditions of automotive lighting companies. Recently, a number of domestic and foreign listed automotive lighting companies have successively released their 2024 annual reports. According to the annual report disclosures, most companies have made significant progress in new technology research and development and market development, jointly promoting the progress and application of automotive LED lighting technology.

Nuggets in the automotive lighting market, LED industry chain companies competing for success

The continued development of the automotive industry has brought opportunities to vehicle lighting companies downstream of the LED industry chain. Benefiting from this, Xingyu Shares has achieved significant performance growth in 2024, with operating income reaching 13.253 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.32%, of which car lighting product revenue was 12.454 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.75%.

Currently, Xingyu Co., Ltd. is actively investing in the research and development and application of new technologies, such as iterative Micro LED smart headlights, Mini/OLED pixel interactive lights, innovative material smart digital grilles, lighting controllers, and sensing light self-closing systems, etc., and is committed to integrating styling aesthetics with smart interaction.

As participants in the automotive lighting field, Hongli Zhihui and Foshan Lighting have also shown growth in their automotive lighting business.

In 2024, Hongli Zhihui’s LED automotive lighting business will achieve revenue of 810 million yuan, accounting for 19.15% of total revenue, with a gross profit margin of 25.90%. The company continues to expand the domestic and foreign passenger car and commercial vehicle markets, and strengthens the research and development and promotion of ADB headlight and other technologies.

In the field of passenger cars, Hongli Zhihui has successfully obtained multiple new project appointments and achieved mass production, and has entered the supply chain system of many well-known domestic car companies. At the same time, its automotive-grade LEDs are expected to enter mass production in 2025. In terms of technology research and development, Hongli Zhihui has completed the production of prototypes such as ADB headlights and Mini LED taillights, and has jointly developed motorcycle ADB headlights with two-wheeler customers, which is expected to be implemented in 2025.

Foshan Lighting's automotive lighting products will achieve revenue of 2.107 billion yuan in 2024, accounting for 23.29% of total revenue, a year-on-year increase of 15.13%. The company actively develops customers for mid- to high-end car companies and promotes the implementation of 15 new model projects.

Debang Lighting focuses on the field of "vehicle lighting + vehicle controller". Its vehicle business segment will achieve revenue of 596 million yuan in 2024, a slight decrease of 4.43% year-on-year. Despite this, many of the company's projects have been officially put into mass production, and the total annual number of new designated projects has reached a new high, showing a trend of coordinated development of new and old businesses.

Turning their attention to the upstream companies in the automotive LED lighting industry chain, such as Nationstar Optoelectronics, Jinko Electronics, Ruifeng Optoelectronics and Jufei Optoelectronics, they are seizing the opportunities brought by the upgrading of the automotive industry and actively expanding the automotive LED market.

In 2024, Nationstar Optoelectronics successfully entered the new energy vehicle supply chain and obtained orders for car lights, ambient lights, HUD, etc. Its 10,000-pixel Micro LED light source module achieved high-density integration.

Jinko Electronics has achieved vertical integration of LED devices, modules and systems in the field of automotive intelligent vision. In 2024, this business revenue will reach 1.023 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33%. The company has established strategic cooperation with a number of OEMs and Tier-1 suppliers to provide product solutions including smart car lights, automotive-grade LED devices and modules.

Ruifeng Optoelectronics’ sales revenue from automotive LED products in 2024 will increase by 44% year-on-year. The company is actively exploring new customers and has launched new products such as ADB matrix light sources/modules, second-generation ceramic high-power technology, and diamond-based ultra-high power density packaging.

Jufei Optoelectronics has a comprehensive layout in the automotive lighting market and has entered the Tier-1 supply chain of OEMs and Tier-1 supply chains such as SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC-GM, Dongfeng Nissan, NIO Lado, Leap Motors, Valeo, Magneti Marelli, and Xingyu Auto Lighting. Its high-power products have also successfully entered the resource pools of SAIC Volkswagen, GAC, Geely, and Valeo, and have been adopted by brands such as Zhiji, GAC, Chery, and Changan in the field of automotive ISD.

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The transformation of the LED car lighting industry under the wave of intelligence

In summary, the automotive and automotive LED market will show steady growth in 2024, which is directly reflected in the performance of upstream and downstream companies in the industry chain. Whether it is vehicle lighting companies such as Xingyu Co., Ltd., Hongli Zhihui, Foshan Lighting and Debang Lighting, or LED packaging companies such as Nationstar Optoelectronics, Jinko Electronics, Jufei Optoelectronics and Ruifeng Optoelectronics, they have all benefited from the intelligent and electrified trends in the automotive industry to varying degrees, and have shown positive trends in new technology research and development and market expansion. However, this is just the surface. Deeper changes are being driven by the wave of intelligence, reshaping the pattern of the entire automotive lighting industry.

The evolution of the "new four modernizations" of automobiles is driving the automotive lighting industry to develop in the direction of intelligence, safety and interactivity. In terms of headlights, domestic LED suppliers are actively developing and applying adaptive high beam (ADB) technology. The number of pixels continues to increase, providing diversified solutions for vehicle lighting companies, and the application of Micro LED technology is expected to improve ADB performance.

According to TrendForce analysis, with the introduction of Micro LED Pixel Array into adaptive headlights, the number of pixels that can be accurately and independently digitally controlled will be greatly increased to 100,000 pixels. The more LED pixels there are, the more flexible the illumination area can be to increase driving safety, meet the needs of various regional market regulations, and help car light manufacturers reduce the costs required for the development, production and logistics of headlights in different regional markets.

Although the application of Micro LED technology in the field of smart automotive lighting is still in its infancy, some high-end models have begun to adopt it. For example, models such as the Porsche Cayenne, NIO ET9, Volkswagen Tiguan L Pro and Touareg top-end versions are already equipped with Micro LED car lights. In addition, the Buick Wildcat concept car also demonstrated the potential application of Micro LED technology in future automotive lighting.

In addition, the application of LED pixelated car lights and tail lights is becoming increasingly widespread, with information interaction functions, and the interior ambient lighting in the car is also developing in the direction of intelligence and personalization. With the advancement of autonomous driving technology, the importance of ADS identification lights has gradually increased.

While intelligence brings opportunities, it also faces challenges, such as the maturity and cost of Micro LED technology, the test of standards and regulations for smart car lights, and data security issues. Facing an era of coexistence of changes and opportunities, various automotive lighting and LED industry chain companies are actively investing in research and development and exploring innovative business models in order to occupy a favorable position in the future intelligent automotive lighting market. In the end, let us wait and see which companies can successfully overcome challenges, seize opportunities, and achieve sustainable development.