Delta Electronics Said to Have Won Osram's LED Light Bulb Contract

Taipei, Nov. 4, 2010 (CENS)--Delta Electronics Inc. has reportedly won Osram contacts for LED light bulbs using chipmaker Epistar Inc.'s high-voltage chip, an ideal solution to making LED luminaires adaptable to household 110-220V power outlets.

Without naming Osram, Delta Chief Executive Yancey Hai said the company had recently added a European buyer to its customer list and that buyer's contract would considerably boost capacity utilization rate at the company's factory in Dongguan of China's southern coastal province of Guangdong.

People familiar with Delta's LED-bulb plan pointed out that the company would ship five to 10 folds more bulbs next year than it will do this year, making the bulb the company's new growth driver.

It is understood that Delta has also secured Hitachi contracts for the bulbs, helping swell the company's shipments of the bulbs to one million a year. Industry executives pointed out that Hitachi demands Delta to use Japan-made chips in its bulbs contracted by Hitachi, making the contracts beneficial to no Taiwanese chipmakers.

Osram has signed an agreement to cross-license patents with Epistar, which has also has co-developed high-voltage chips with Delta. Accordingly, Delta has been considered to naturally build Epistar chips into its bulbs designated by Osram.

The Epistar high-voltage chip is said to be the world's most efficient chip of this kind, reportedly outperforming the one each developed by Cree and Philips Lumileds.

Epistar executives said their company has worked with Delta on the chip for awhile. But they said they have no idea of to whom Delta would ship its high-voltage bulbs.