TrendForce:Taiwanese LED manufacturers’ sales revenue in May sets a record high; order demand for backlight in June remains steady

As indicated by market research organization TrendForce's research division LEDinside, LED market demand was benefited from inventory demand and lighting market order demand. In May, 2013, Taiwanese listed LED manufacturers' total sales revenue increased to NTD10.96 billion (+6.8%MoM，+23.8%YoY). Meanwhile, Taiwanese listed LED chip manufacturers' total sales revenue reached NTD4.44 billion (+6.7%MoM，+10.9%YoY). Moreover, that of Taiwanese listed LED package manufacturers also increased to NTD6.52 billion (+6.9%MoM，+34.4%YoY).

Backlight market trend depends on the orders from Korea TV backlight, smartphone, and tablet; touchscreen notebook penetration rate is expected to reach 15% in 2H13

Based on the backlight market demand, stocking for TV backlight market will only last to the end of May. It's less likely for the Chinese government to announce new energy saving policies, thus TV backlight market demand will still mainly focus on Korea-based manufacturers. With NB market demand being crowded out by tablet and market acceptance towards Haswell new platform being restricted, it's expected for the manufacturers to release Ultrabook/Ultra-like notebooks with more attractive prices in the second half year. Furthermore, some manufacturers choose to release cheaper touchscreen notebook to stimulate market demand. WitsView indicates, touchscreen notebook is going to challenge to reach penetration rate of 15% in the second half year. However, whether manufacturers will choose to increase the number of usage volume or brightness is not certain yet. Overall, smartphone and tablet remain the product segments with better market growth.

Benefited from backlight market demand, the sales revenue for Taiwanese manufacturers such as Epistar, FOREPI, and GPI broke the record, reaching NTD2220 million, NTD480 million, and NTD350 million, respectively. Apart from the common factor – backlight orders from Korea and China, the overall sales revenue for Epistar's AlInGaP LED was outstanding due to the lighting market orders. Meanwhile, due to TPV's orders and the bid on light bulbs and street lights, Everlight's sales revenue reached NTD2150 million (+10.9%MoM，+48%YoY).

Global LED for commercial lighting market demand reached USD1059 million

Based on the commercial lighting market, LEDinside gold member report indicates that Japan, Europe, USA, China, and other emerging markets like Vietnam or Thailand have been greatly promoting LED commercial lighting market with a large amount of orders being released. In addition, the US lighting manufacturers have increased LED lighting market development this year and thus raised the penetration rate. If the market visibility in 2Q13 can extend to June and July, this year's LED lighting market momentum can be looked forward to. Global LED for commercial lighting market demand (including offices, retail stores, and hotels) in 2013 reached USD1059 million, which increased by 50% compared with that in 2012.

The result after Lextar and Wellypower being merged has started to show. In terms of lighting applications, new-generation tubes and lighting components were the main factors that triggered the growth in May. The monthly growth of LED component for Europe's lighting OEM orders doubled and high-end tube products and panel lights continued to ship to Japan and Europe. Lextar's sales revenue in May reached NTD1320 million (+6.6%MoM，+56%YoY), which made Lextar the second largest package manufacturer in Taiwan.