S. Korean, Chinese firms encroach upon Taiwan’s LED makers’ turf

HONG KONG (Yonhap News) ― Taiwan’s light-emitting diode industry is facing stiff competition from South Korean and Chinese rivals due to greater efforts by the two competitors to develop the sector, a Taiwanese industry report said Monday.

Taiwan’s Photonics Industry & Technology Development Association said Taiwan should not overlook the rapid development of the LED industry in South Korea and China.

“Mainland China has been expanding the scale of its industrial base with government subsidies and other strategies to strengthen the LED industry,” the association said in a statement.

“In recent years, the South Korean LED industry has risen rapidly, giving birth to three world-class manufacturers ― Samsung Electronics Co., LG Innotek Co. and Seoul Semiconductor Inc.”

The association added South Korea’s three players are among the world’s five largest LED manufacturers.

According to PIDA, China’s LED package and module market grew 8 percent on-year to $835 million last year, while South Korea saw its LED package and module market reach $2.84 billion in the same year.

LEDs are used in numerous applications, such as displays, street lighting, general illumination, traffic signals, flash lighting for handset keypads and digital still cameras and the backlighting of large-sized LCD panels in LCD TVs, laptops and other displays.

In 2012, Samsung and LG Innotek are aiming to generate revenues of $1.8 billion and $1.3 billion, respectively, from LEDs.