China's LED Industry Faces Bright Outlook

China's rapidly expanding LED (light-emitting diode) industry has been heartened by mainland China's plan to replace incandescent lamps with power-saving lamps within five years.

The National Development and Reform Committee has published a roadmap for the banning of sales of 100-watt and larger incandescent lamps from Oct. 1, 2012, followed by 60-watt and larger lamps from Oct. 1, 2014 and 15-watt and larger lamps from Oct. 1, 2016.

The roadmap shines a ray of hope on the Chinese LED industry, which has been plagued by overcapacity. Hundreds of LED enterprises with similar products have gone under this year due to acute price competition. Those that are still above water will have difficulty remaining so as long as the current difficult conditions continue.

One company that bodes well to remain viable is the Shenzhen Absen Optoelectronic Co., founded in 2001, which specializes in the production of LED screens for the Asian, European, North American, Latin American, African, and Oceanic markets.

The company established a lighting department in March 2010 to turn out interior lighting, outdoors lighting, and plant growth lighting. In response to an influx of orders, in March 2011 it set up a Huizhou subsidiary, to be located in a projected factory complex covering 230,000 square meters, mainly for the production of LED screens and LED lighting products.

After carving out a solid foothold in overseas markets, the company is now seeking to develop China's domestic market.

Vincent Li, the company's executive vice president, remarks “The development of LED lighting is related to a number of factors, including national policy, control of chip cost, certification, lighting-fixture design, and awareness among consumers. Our goal is to provide our customers with products having the highest price/performance ratio.”

During the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair in late October 2011, the company, which plans to list on China's Growth Enterprise Market in 2012, displayed LED its bulbs, LED projection lamps, and LED tubes.

The Lighten Light Co., set up in 2005, is focused on the production of LED lighting and combo LED-solar energy products. Its LED product lineup includes projection lamps, track lights, light tubes, street lamps, and lawn lamps. It also turns out solar-energy street and garden lights. The great majority of its products have passed CE and RoHS certification and are shipped to over 30 countries for use in museums, exhibition halls, hotels, commercial outlets, parks, and streets.

The company's smart control system for LED lighting is capable of smart lighting adjustment, turnoff of lighting at set times, and automatic emergency lighting. It can connect several LED lamps together into lighting networks for hotels, villas, restaurants, office buildings, commercial outlets, entertainment outlets, conference rooms, libraries, schools, and hospitals. John Jiang, general manager, says that the company can takes orders for tailor-made products.

Zhejiang Singbeeled Lighting Technology concentrates on the development of LED packaging, application lighting, and solar-energy lighting. It engages in technological cooperation with Peking University and now owns over 70 domestic and overseas patents that cover packaging, circuit design, and product structure and appearance. Its products, including LED outdoor lighting and commercial lighting, have passed certification by CE, CCC, RoHS, and ISO9000.

Lina Wang, the firm's general manager, comments that “Our aim is to turn out the best-quality light fixtures, so as to enhance the overall efficiency of lighting.” The company specializes in high-watt lights such as spot lamps and mining lamps

Zhejiang Singeeled ships its products to 75 countries around the world, with Europe being a major overseas outlet. Many of its clients in Europe are engaged in engineering work, and so offer steady demand. The company exhibited a number of new products at the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair in October and received a very good response, according to general manager Wang.