Supply of LED Chips to Be Short of Demand Till 2nd Half of 2010

Taipei, June 15, 2009 (CENS)--With LED (light emitting diode) widely applied in TV, notebook PC and lightings, Robert Yeh, chairman of Everlight Electronics Inc., a leading Taiwanese supplier of LED chips, said at the Photronics Festival in Taiwan 2009, held June 10-12, that supply of LED chips is expected to fall behind demand until the second half of 2010, with prices to trend upward.

Yeh indicated that his firm has worked out various LED chips for large-sized LED-backlit notebook PCs, effectively pushing up its single-month gross profit rate to a level of over 30% in the second quarter of this year. In light of upcoming strong demand, the firm has doubled its output of SMD (surface mount device) LED ships to 1.2 billion units per month, and is expected to record new highs in its single-month revenues in the second half of the year.

Recently, downstream LED testing and packaging companies have been plagued by severe shortages of LED chips, causing prices of LED chips to rise. Yeh pointed out that despite downstream LED chip makers expanding their outputs, supply will likely still fall behind demand until the second half of next year.

Yeh is optimistic about industrial prosperity in the second half of this year through next year, stressing that demand from notebook PC, TV and lighting sectors has infused strong growth momentum into the LED industry. Particularly, he added, increasing popularity of LED-backlit LCD (liquid crystal display) TVs will serve as major growth drive this year.

Noteworthy is that Everlight unveiled its newest AC LED at the show, which can work without transformers and last for 50,000 hours, and is scheduled to start shipping the product in the fourth quarter of this year.