According to counters Jeff Shepard, president of Darnell Group, the impending displacement of cold-cathode fluorescent lamps by LED backlights in the laptop computer market is only one of the most visible indicators, and analyzed over 50 application sub-segments in detail to arrive at our growth trajectories. Growth in these applications will drive down the cost of LEDs is quite faster. And growth is accelerating in numerous market segments including video signs and billboards, automotive lighting, and others. A significant market uptake for LED lighting has identified and quantified a major inflection point for rapidly accelerating adoption of LEDs in general illumination applications in the next few years.

Besides, Darnell says the LED driver market is expected to go "full circle." The procession will be from driving a small number of LEDs in handsets today, to larger numbers of LEDs in the next stage of development in platforms such as automobiles and larger video displays. At the same time, the cost of LEDs will continue to drop dramatically until they finally become cost-effective for general illumination. The number of LEDs in a typical application will then drop back to where it is today, but for use in very-high-volume general illumination applications. Currently, LED lamps are at least two orders of magnitude more expensive than traditional light sources, making them several years away from significant market penetration for general illumination.