[Source: "High-tech LED - Research and Review" July issue GLII]
Since the beginning of this year, thanks to the rapid increase in demand for large-size LED backlights and lighting, the LED industry in Taiwan has gradually begun to pick up. Reflected in the local LED chip manufacturers, but a few happy.
In the second half of the LED downstream application market, the demand for the second half of the year is still unclear. Many LED chip manufacturers in Taiwan have expressed a conservative attitude toward the situation in the second half of the year.
Rising revenue
Since the beginning of this year, as Korean TV manufacturers pushed the new LED TVs to market, large-size LED backlight orders have taken the lead in warming up, which has led to a sharp recovery in the capacity utilization rate of LED chips manufacturers in Taiwan. The data shows that in the first quarter, 10 Taiwanese LED chip listed companies' revenues increased month by month, and they have successively stepped out of the fourth quarter of last year's revenue trough. Among them, the three companies in the wafer, the round and the new century benefited the most, and the capacity utilization rate reached 80-90%.
In the second quarter, due to the increase in demand for stocks in the LED lighting market and the consumer electronics market, the production capacity of manufacturers such as Jingyuan, Yuyuan, Kellett and New Century has reached full capacity. From the quarterly report, in the case of LED lighting and small and medium-sized backlight orders, in addition to Liansheng Optoelectronics, China's Taiwan LED chip listed company's second quarter revenue is better than the first quarter, including the new century, Guangcai, Guangxu Vendors' revenues grew by more than 40% quarter-on-quarter.
Even so, the revenues of many vendors in the first half of this year showed signs of recession compared to the same period last year. Only three of them showed a small increase, and seven of them experienced a decline, ranging from 10% to 42%. According to the quarterly data, from January to June this year, the total revenue of 10 LED chip companies in Taiwan was 4.92 billion yuan, down 16.5% from last year. However, as the market price of LED chips fell by more than 40% in the first half of the year, it can be seen that the shipments of chips have increased significantly year-on-year. This also reflects the increase in market demand from another aspect.
Judging from the quarterly reports released by various chip manufacturers, the only companies that maintained their revenue growth in the first half of this year were Jingyuan, Yuanyuan and New Century.
But whether it is the scale of sales or the average growth rate, the wafers are in the leading position. Driven by the dual demand for backlighting and lighting, the entry of the wafer into the second quarter is full of capacity, so that more orders are required to be commissioned.
Data show that in June, the revenue of the crystal unit was about 367.3 million yuan, which has returned to the level of the same period last year, an increase of 76% compared with January this year.
From the perspective of overall revenue, in the first half of this year, the total revenue of Jingyuan was about 1.8 billion yuan, which is about 44% of the total revenue of 10 listed chip manufacturers, which is four times the revenue of the second-ranked Yuanyuan. It is 24 times the tenth winning streak. (see picture 1)
Figure 1 Total revenue of major LED chip manufacturers in Taiwan in the first half of 2012
Source: Gaogong LED Industry Research Institute (GLII)
Actively adjust inventory
Affected by the surge in inventory in 2011, active destocking has also become the primary goal of LED chip makers in Taiwan in the first half of 2012. These manufacturers include Jingdian, Yuyuan, Guangjia, Taigu, etc. Among them, the inventory problem facing Taigu is the most difficult.
As of the end of 2011, the inventory of Taigu was about 0.9 billion yuan. In the first half of this year, Taigu continued to adjust its inventory strategy in the second half of last year. Among the products shipped monthly, the inventory products accounted for more than 50% of shipments. However, the yield of inventory is poor, it is difficult to meet customer standards, so the product return rate is higher. The first quarter of this year showed that the return value of Taigu in March was as high as 4.7 million yuan, accounting for about 13% of total revenue in March. In the first half of this year, the return and discount amount of Taigu was 11.09 million, accounting for 6% of the total revenue in the first half of the year.
At present, the inventory adjustment of LED chip manufacturers in Taiwan is mainly concentrated on small and medium-sized chips with large inventory. Under the pressure of grabbing market share and reducing inventory, manufacturers have chosen to ship at low prices, resulting in a decline in the average price of chips in the market in the first quarter of more than 20%.
The decrease in gross profit margin also greatly affected the profit performance of chip manufacturers in the first quarter. Judging from the quarterly reports released by 10 listed chip manufacturers, in the first quarter of 2012, only Guanglei and Guangxu made a small profit. After the inventory digest in the first quarter, the inventory level of LED chip manufacturers in Taiwan has dropped significantly. In addition, the market demand for LED lighting has increased. Therefore, the market price of LED chips in the second quarter has stabilized. For example, the gross profit margins of the wafers in April and May both exceeded 20%. According to the operational data in the second quarter, chip makers in the wafer, the round and the new century all hope to turn a profit in the second quarter.
Conservative view of the second half
For the market situation in the second half of the year, manufacturers generally said that they still did not see obvious market momentum. Especially in the field of LED backlights, whether it is TV, notebook, mobile phones and other products, due to market demand tightening, many downstream brand manufacturers have lowered the consideration of the second half of the shipping target.
For China's Taiwan LED chip makers, one of the revenue support points for the second half of the year is the large-size TV backlight order in mainland China. However, due to the stock market worries in China's TV market, the demand for the traditional peak season in September is still weak, not very clear. In addition, the average price of large-size backlights is still falling, so the growth momentum in response to chip makers' revenues has slowed down.
In this case, LED lighting will become a key product to boost operational growth. However, due to the downturn in the European and American markets, many Taiwanese LED lighting manufacturers that are exported to Europe and the United States are also facing the downturn in orders. As a result, chip makers’ visibility in the third quarter is unclear.
The only good news is that LED street lights are expected to become one of the growth drivers for Taiwan's local LED application market. Recently, Taiwan has introduced an LED street lamp replacement solution. From 2012 to 2014, 326,000 mercury street lamps were replaced with LED street lamps, including 53,000 baht in Keelung City, Hsinchu City and Chiayi City, 23,000 baht in remote and outlying areas, 250,000 in 11 cities and counties. Hey. Among them, 5 and 11 counties and cities and 250,000 cities are expected to complete the bidding process by the end of this year, and the implementation will be completed in mid-2013.
If the replacement of 250,000 street lamps this year is fully tendered, manufacturers such as Jingyuan and Yuyuan are expected to benefit in the fourth quarter. On the whole, in the case that the demand for LEDs is unclear, many LED chip manufacturers in Taiwan have expressed a conservative attitude towards the second half of the market. Whether it is the TV backlight or lighting market, chip manufacturers hope to spread customers by reducing the risk and increasing revenue by establishing new supply relationships and strategic cooperation models.
If you need to purchase lamps in bulk, please contact us.WOSEN is a professional manufacturer and supplier of Led Flood Light, Led Street Light, Led Solar Light, etc. For more information, please visit https://www.wosenled.com/ or contact admin@wosenled.com or WhatsApp +86-13425434349 
