Sales in First Half of 2008 Jump by 16.1% to US$771.3 Million as High-Tech Lights Enter New Markets TAIPEI, Taiwan and SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 3
TAIPEI, Taiwan and SAN FRANCISCO, Sept. 3 /PRNewswire/ -- Taiwan's sales
of new energy-efficient lights soared during the first half of this year,
helped by the Beijing Olympics and higher energy prices that are encouraging
the use of lower-cost lighting. Taiwan's light-emitting diode (LED) makers
reported that their sales rose 16.1 percent in the first half of this year
from the same period a year earlier.
The companies' first-half 2008 sales rose to NT$24.2 billion (US$771.3
million) from NT$20.8 billion in the same period a year earlier, according to
information the companies provided to the Taiwan Stock Exchange. The LED
market is expanding, and demand attributable to the Beijing Olympics is
boosting sales, according to some analysts.
"New applications are increasing," said Ivan Lin, an analyst with market
researcher LEDinside in Taipei. "LEDs are increasingly used as backlights for
notebook computers, in street lights and for factory lighting."
The high-brightness LED market grew by 9.5% to $4.6 billion in 2007,
increasing from the 6% growth rate in 2005 and 2006, according to Strategies
Unlimited analyst Robert Steele. The use of LEDs for signs, cars, signals and
illumination together grew by 20% in 2007, with illumination applications
having the highest growth rate, he said. The overall high-brightness LED
market is forecast to grow at a cumulative aggregate growth rate of 20%,
reaching $11.4 billion in 2012, according to Steele.
Taiwan has the world's second largest LED industry with a 20 percent share
of the global market, according to LEDinside. Japan has the world's largest
LED industry with a 37 percent share of the world market. LEDinside forecasts
that Taiwan will have a 30 percent share of the market by 2010 as many of
Taiwan's flat-panel display makers prepare to enter the business.
People are switching to LEDs to save energy and cut electricity bills with
these lights, originally familiar to most people as decorations on Christmas
trees. LEDs reduce energy consumption by emitting light from a chip rather
than an incandescent filament in a light bulb or charged gases in a
fluorescent light tube. LEDs use about a tenth of the energy of an
incandescent bulb and can last a decade or longer. They also produce almost no
heat, thereby reducing fire potential.
Taiwan LED makers have been among the first to enter the high-brightness
(HB) segment. HB LEDs are a new generation of lights bright enough for car
lights, interior and architectural lighting, projection, flat-panel display
backlighting and signage.
The organizers of the Beijing Olympics used LEDs to illuminate the stage
at the opening ceremony for the games with 44,000 of the lamps in a 147 meter
x 36 meter screen at the venue. At least 36,000 LED lamps illuminated the
translucent exterior of the gigantic Water Cube where the swimming
competitions took place. The Olympics venue also had a gigantic LED screen
measuring 30 meters x 200 meters.
Opto Tech Corp. of Taiwan supplied LEDs for the screen, according to
LEDinside. The Taiwan supplier also won a contract from the Suzhou city
government to supply the lamps for a gigantic screen, LEDinside said on its
website.
Taiwan's LED makers include Arima Optoelectronics Corp., Bright LED
Electronics Corp., Epistar Corp., Everlight Electronic Co., Formosa Epitaxy,
Genesis Photonics Inc., Harvatek, I-Chiun Precision, Ligitek, Opto Tech and
Unity Opto Technology Co.
The high-tech lights have other advantages because they take up less space,
have no breakable glass or filaments, perform exceptionally well in cold
environments, require no warm up time, eliminate frequent replacement of
burned out bulbs and tubes and emit no harmful infrared or ultraviolet rays.
The lights are likely to take a larger portion of the multi-billion dollar
market away from light bulbs and tubes as the new technology becomes more
mature and manufacturing costs fall.
Taiwan's government aims to boost the domestic industry by replacing all
the island's incandescent-type traffic lights with LED lamps in three years.
Traffic signals that use LEDs consume 80-90 percent less energy and generally
last 5-7 years, compared to just a year for a comparable incandescent light
signal, according to the website of the Consortium for Energy Efficiency in
Boston, Massachusetts. The Consortium for Energy Efficiency (CEE), a nonprofit
public benefits corporation, develops initiatives for its North American
members to promote the manufacture and purchase of energy-efficient products
and services.
In 2001, the city of Portland, Oregon replaced nearly all its red and
green incandescent traffic signals with new lights using LEDs. The project
resulted in annual energy and maintenance savings totaling $400,000 and net
payback in less than three years. The Chinese government aims to exploit
various green technologies including LED and solar energy to help it reach the
goal of trimming 10% of electricity consumption nationwide by 2010.
Despite the downturn in the global economy, Taiwan LED packaging company
Ledtech Electronics continues to explore markets for new products, LEDinside
said, citing industry sources. The company is planning to work with
international partners to develop low-cost LED lamps and reading lights for
underdeveloped countries, the website said, citing market sources.
Opto Tech Corp.
http://www.opto.com.tw/about_who.aspx
Arima Optoelectronics Corp.
http://www.aocepi.com.tw/html/
Bright LED Electronics Corp.
http://www.brtled.com/
Epistar Corp.
http://www.epistar.com.tw/about-e.htm
Everlight Electronic Co.
http://www.everlight.com/normal.php?id=90
Formosa Epitaxy
http://www.forepi.com.tw/pages/about_company.htm
Genesis Photonics Inc.
http://www.g-photonics.com/eng/product.htm
Harvatek
http://www.harvatek.com/eng/index.php
I-Chiun Precision
http://www.i-chiun.com.tw/
Ligitek
http://www.ligitek.com/
Unity Opto Technology Co.
http://www.unityopto.com.tw/
LEDinside
http://www.ledinside.com/en
Please visit http://www.taiwantrade.org.tw or
http://www.brandingtaiwan.org for more information.
Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA)
The Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) was founded in 1970
to promote Taiwan's foreign trade and competitiveness in world markets. Over
the past 38 years, TAITRA has played a key role in the development of the
Taiwan economy. TAITRA is jointly sponsored by the government and commercial
associations and is viewed by all as the business gateway to Taiwan for the
international business community.
SOURCE Taiwan External Trade Development Council
