Taiwanese LED chip manufacturers adjust product structure and have no expansion plans
Taiwanese LED chip manufacturers have been actively reducing the proportion of traditional blue LEDs this year. Epistar’s quaternary LEDs have risen to 25-30% by the end of this year; the total of flip-chip packaging (FC) and wafer-level packaging (CSP) will exceed 10%, which is equivalent to the reduction of traditional blue LEDs to less than 60%; in the new century, due to the shift to automotive and wearable devices, the proportion of traditional blue LEDs will be reduced to 50% to 60%.
The chip factory stated that the application of traditional blue LED mainly refers to the blue light chip packaged in parallel wires. The price is still on the decline. Most of them are used in LED lighting and TV backlight. In particular, LED lighting accounts for 45% of the overall proportion. The low price is the pressure of the chip factory. However, the gross profit margin of blue light niche applications such as FC and CSP is relatively supportive, and it is an area that can be cultivated.
Epistar believes that CSP shipments are later than expected, and the market has taken off significantly this year. With TV manufacturers and high-end mobile phone flashlights successively using CSP chips, there is a chance to become mainstream next year. In the second half of this year, Epistar's total CSP and FC chips have exceeded 10%. As for quaternary LEDs, order visibility is still high. In addition, Epistar will start quaternary LED production expansion this year. It is estimated that the proportion of quaternary LEDs will climb from 20 to 25% to 25 to 30% by the end of this year.
In addition, blue-ray LED focuses on CSP and FC, and enters the automotive lighting market through group power. Lighting focuses on commercial lighting and mobile phone flashlights with stable prices. According to new century statistics, the proportion of traditional blue-light has been reduced to 50% to 60%, which has been significantly reduced compared to 80% to 90% in its heyday.
In addition, there are also chip factories that have all switched to quaternary LEDs. Huashang, for example, has retained its vitality and transferred all its production capacity to quaternary red and yellow LEDs, hoping to achieve a breakthrough in IR LED for iris recognition. The company believes that Chinese-owned and Japanese factories have less ambition to get involved in quaternary LEDs. They have small and diverse specifications and are less likely to fall into the price competition.
ANNA