Santa Clara, CA—Business is booming in the high-brightness LED (HBLED) markets! Global sales of HBLED packaged devices jumped 93% in 2010 to reach a total of $10.8 billion according to analyst Ella Shum, who was speaking at this year’s annual Strategies in Light conference and exhibition. Shum opened the event with a review and forecast of the high-brightness LED market.
Shum, who is the Director of LED Market Research at Strategies Unlimited (Mountain View, CA), said that the rise of the HBLED business in China coupled with the “hyper growth” of display backlighting were the two primary market-growth drivers.
In terms of market segmentation, the two largest markets for HBLEDs are mobile appliances (39%) and backlighting for TVs and monitors (33%). Despite the current global interest in solid-state lighting applications, this segment currently represents only about 8% of total sales in 2010, Shum said.
China has made massive investments into this market, as well as being a major end-user of HBLEDs. Citing the $17 billion to be invested by China between 2010 and 2015 to beef up production and distribution capabilities with, for instance, the purchase of hundreds of MOCVD reactors and sapphire crystal growers, Shum noted that the scope of investment reflects the strategic importance both national and local governments are placing on this technology as an integral part of energy policy.
The display backlight market accounted for HBLED sales of $6.7 billion in 2010, with TVs (44%) and notebooks (27%) being the two the largest segments. The market for notebooks jumped 50% (units) while the LED adoption rate was up by 40% last year Shum said. Organic LEDs will also be “making a dent” in the display market very soon.
In other comments, Shum noted that 100 lumen/W white-light devices are now available, making solid-state lighting a commercial reality. And while this segment may currently represent only 8% of HBLED sales, the compound annual growth rate for soldi-state lighting is expected to be 39% between 2010 and 2015, with a jump in 2014 resulting from the global ban on incandescent lights.
For more information visit Strategies in Light
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Stephen G. Anderson | Director, Industry Development - SPIE
Stephen Anderson is a photonics industry expert with an international background and has been actively involved with lasers and photonics for more than 30 years. As Director, Industry Development at SPIE – The international society for optics and photonics – he is responsible for tracking the photonics industry markets and technology to help define long-term strategy, while also facilitating development of SPIE’s industry activities. Before joining SPIE, Anderson was Associate Publisher and Editor in Chief of Laser Focus World and chaired the Lasers & Photonics Marketplace Seminar. Anderson also co-founded the BioOptics World brand. Anderson holds a chemistry degree from the University of York and an Executive MBA from Golden Gate University.