LED lighting demand is strong, Epistar is actively expanding production

LEDinside, a green energy division of the global market research organization TrendForce, estimates that the output value of the LED lighting market in 2014 will increase by 47.8% compared with this year, reaching US$35.3 billion, and the penetration rate of LED lighting will also increase to 32.7% next year. Optimistic about the market prospects, Taiwanese manufacturers such as Epistar, Everlight, Dongbei, and Edison are actively expanding production to meet business opportunities. Li Bingjie, chairman of Jingdian, once said that when LED enters lighting applications, it must seize market share, so it is necessary to prepare production capacity. Guo Zhihao, a senior analyst at the research institution, said that in order to meet the new market demand for LED bulbs and tubes in 2014, it is estimated that 250 additional MOCVD machine production capacities will still be needed. Judging from the capacity utilization rate of LED chip factories this year, the production capacity of first-tier LED chip factories in Taiwan and mainland China is at a high-end level. Although there are still a large number of unoperated MOCVD machines in the mainland market, most of these machines are in the hands of small factories. In a situation where market price competition is still quite fierce, it is too expensive for small factories to activate these MOCVD machines. LED industry research institutions predict that small factories will continue to withdraw from the LED supply market. Judging from the increase in demand for LED lighting in 2014, competitive LED chip factories still need to continue to increase production capacity in 2014. In addition to continuing to improve yield rates, machine operation days and operation times, it is estimated that major LED chip manufacturers may also acquire small factories in 2014 to acquire MOCVD machines to expand production capacity.