In recent years, with the rapid growth of LED companies in mainland China, the pattern that used to be dominated by Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea and Taiwan has undergone fundamental changes.
Judging from the operating conditions in the first half of the year, a decline in the output value of LED epitaxial chips, packaging, and modules in Taiwan this year is unavoidable. The industry is also using strategies such as production reduction, factory consolidation, and product line adjustment, as well as the development of high-brightness quaternary products, invisible light UV/IR, automotive and other niche applications, to narrow the revenue decline and losses in order to survive the transformation process.
In the first half of 2016, the output value of Taiwan's LED epitaxial chip industry was approximately NT$17.2 billion (NT$, the same below), down 12%, while the output value of packaging and modules fell 6% to NT$41 billion.
In terms of revenue, net profit and capital expenditure of the top ten LED epitaxial chip manufacturers in the first half of 2016, the total revenue in the first half of the year fell by 12%, the loss expanded from 47 million to 4.287 billion yuan, and the capital expenditure also dropped significantly by 26% to 1.65 billion yuan. The leading factory Epistar has shown signs of gradually narrowing the decline in cumulative revenue month by month through production reduction, factory integration and product mix adjustment.
In terms of revenue, net profit, and capital expenditure of the top ten LED packaging and module manufacturers in the first half of 2016, the total revenue in the first half of the year fell by 5%, profit halved from 1.08 billion to 540 million yuan, and capital expenditure dropped significantly by 31% to 1.36 billion yuan. The leader Yiguangying remained flat, with a net profit growth of 4%, the best performance.
Judging from the operating figures of Taiwan's LED manufacturers in the first half of 2016, most of them continue to retreat. Capital expenditure projects, one of the long-term development indicators, decreased by 30% compared with the first half of 2015, indicating that the entire industry is still in a sluggish state. Only large manufacturers such as Epistar, Everlight, Lite-On, Lextar, and Rongchuang have the energy to invest in capital expenditures such as new technologies and equipment. Most of the other companies have experienced significant shrinkage, which is quite detrimental to long-term operational development.
ANNA