LED Makers Making Foray into Automotive Lighting Arena

Industry sources say that LED lighting maker Laster Tech, LED device manufacturer Lite-On Technology, as well as LED epitaxial wafer and chip manufacturers Epistar and Genesis Photonics have made foray into the automotive LED lighting arena.

Reports say that the largest client of Laster Tech in China’s LED automotive lighting market is Great Wall Motors. The company has also obtained orders from China-based automotive part manufacturers and manufacturers in the supply chains of China-based automobile manufacturers. Sources noted that to date, Laster Tech occupies around 30 percent of the China market for LED headlights.

Meanwhile, Lite-On Technology, faced with huge decreases in LED lighting prices and weak demand for LED backlighting, has focused its LED operations this year on outdoor and automotive lighting. The company has embraced patent-protected LED chips produced by Philips Lumileds Lighting particularly for making automotive lighting products. Moreover, it has obtained orders for automotive lighting from around 10 manufacturers in the supply chains of US-and Europe-based automakers with shipments slated over the next two years, and targets to increase its global share from approximately 10 percent at present to 20 percent next year.

Through a stake investment in Malaysia-based LED packaging service provider Dominant Opto Technologies, Epistar has supplied LED chips to package automotive LED devices shipped to Great Wall Motors.

Genesis Photonics has forayed into car maintenance markets in the USA, Taiwan and China and become a supplier of automotive LED lighting for manufacturers in supply chains of Japan-based automakers.

However, Osram Licht AG will reportedly invest EUR1 billion (US$1.086 billion) to build a LED device plant in Malaysia, which is believed to bring competitive pressure on Taiwan-based LED manufacturers.