Unity Opto Lands Hefty LED Lighting Orders From Europe

Taipei, July 18, 2011 (CENS)--Unity Opto Technology Co., Ltd. recently announced it has won around US$9 million worth of orders from several European lighting heavyweights for its LED lamps, raising market expectations that the firm's revenue for this year will double from last year to NT$3 billion (US$103 million at US$1:NT$29).

Unity Opto executives pointed out that the company will begin shipping the products in August, which are mostly indoor lightings such as light tubes and down lights.

They added that market demand for LED lights has increased sharply worldwide due to the March 11 Japan earthquake and Germany's decision to shut all of its nuclear power plants by 2022. Also, hiked electricity bills in Japan and Europe have fueled the demands. Currently, electricity rates in Japan and Germany are three to five times that of Taiwan.

Unity Opto Chairman Alpha Wu noted that the key to winning in the LED lighting market will lie in whether or not the suppliers have set up sound distribution channels. Wu said his company has recently set up distribution networks in Europe to sell LED lighting for offices and commercial buildings following its deployments of sales outlets in Japan, North America and mainland China.

Wu said strong market demand pushed up his company's lighting sales to account for 30% of its revenue in the second, up from 14% in the previous quarter, and raised its sales to cross NT$200 million (US$6.8 million) a month so far this year.

The company has introduced a 65-gram 8W LED bulb as replacement for 60W incandescent bulbs. The LED bulb is 75% more efficient than 60W incandescent and 45% more efficient than spiral-type fluorescent bulbs in terms of energy conservation performance. Also, the company has rolled out T8 LED light tubes that come with built-in driver and the tubes that come with external drivers. The light tubes feature 50% more energy efficient than fluorescent light tubes, wining it patents in many countries.