The 01/2009 Revenue of Taiwan LED Manufacturers Appears to Strike the Bottom, Demand of High Power LED Increases

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According to industry research institute LEDinside, the January 2009 total revenue of Taiwan upstream LED manufacturers is 2.743 billion NTD. With the lunar New Year influencing the total working days of the month, the revenue of January went on its dropping comparing with December, 2008 (MoM -15.9%，YoY -52.6%). The January total revenue of LED chip manufacturers is 1.025 billion NTD, slipping down by 21% comparing with last month; for the LED packaging manufacturers, the January revenue is about 1.718 billion NTD, falling down by 12.5% than last month.

Observing the whole chip industry, the January revenue continues its dropping trend down to 1.025 billion NTD (MoM -21%，YoY -57.6%). The upstream manufacturer revenue performances are in two opposing extremes, with some profiting better than expected owning to rush orders of medium and small size backlight. Taking leading manufacturer Epistar for example, under the influence of rush orders, its January revenue merely shrunk by a lower rate of 7.5% than expected.

Forepi was also favored by the rush orders of medium and small size, and had revenue of 53 million NTD, growing 28.5% comparing with December, 2008. As to Genesis Photonics who had kept an average monthly revenue of 100 million NTD in 2008, it had its January revenue of merely 36 million NTD due to the lunar New Year and the inventory adjustment of clients in China.

As to the downstream LED packaging manufacturers, the total January revenue is about 1.718 billion NTD (MoM -12.5%，YoY-49%) as the revenues of most packaging companies shrinking from less working days. Observing the revenue of single packaging manufacturer, the leading brand Everlight only got a 530 million NTD January revenue(MOM -13.9%), influenced by the overall demand dropping. For Bright and Harvatek, with the medium and small size backlight having a rather large proportion in the total revenue, it had an utilization decline and the monthly revenue slid down to 120 million NTD as a result of the decreasing demand of consumable electronic products.

Fugure 2: the January 2009 revenue ranking of LED packaging manufactures

Viewpoint of LEDinside

To view the 09Q1, due to fewer working days, it can be seen as a normal phenomenon for the January revenue to drop. Many LED manufactures have suggest that the February revenue would rise back gradually, thus January could be the revenue bottom of all year. Nevertheless, the visibility of current LED industry is still rather low, and the overall rising of the fundamental plane is still out of sight.

By observing the product proportions of many LED manufactures, LEDinside has found that the demands of high power LED lighting products are larger than other in the recent decline. As the rising unemployment rate influencing the global consumption demand, governments of many countries have been making efforts promoting infrastructure constructions to ensure the economy growth. The energy-saving and carbon-reducing green industries are supported especially in China and U.S. Under these policy supports, it appears that the LED illumination will be used more and more in government and business places.