Taiwan LED lighting makers estimate LED market to take off in 2009 in spite of the ongoing financial crisis.
In Taiwan, several significant LED lighting projects have launched by governments. The Taichung City government installed 5,000 streetlights by the end of October, the largest number of all. The Bureau of Energy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs has announced it will budget NT$150 million (US$4.5 million at US$1:NT$33) in 2009 to finance local governments on the island to erect a total number of 12,500 LED streetlights islandwide.
In the mainland, many LED streetlight projects are also under implementation. Recently, a local government spent as much as 37.39 million Chinese yen (US$5.5 million) on LED streetlights in a public-work project.
Taiwan LED chipmaker Epistar Corp. chairman B.J. Lee, of, stressed that LED lighting market will take off in 2009.
Genesis Photonics Inc. Chairman K.R. Jian said Genesis Photonics would increase investment in spite of economic recession. The company had opened a lighting-module laboratory in northern Taiwan as part of its efforts to set up integration capability for its LED lighting business. Jian stressed LED lighting is his company’s another niche in LED industry after entering LED backlight module production.
Philips Lighting Taiwan’s general manager, J.S. Po, said his company would begin to promote LED lighting products in Taiwan in the middle of 2009. He estimated Taiwan’s lighting market at NT$15 billion (US$454 million) a year, with light source segment representing NT$5 billion (US$151 million) and lighting fixture accounting for the remaining NT$10 billion (US$303 million). He noted LED lighting currently accounts for only 5% of Taiwan’s lighting market.
It’s estimated that global LED-lighting market will likely swell to US$1.4 billion in 2012 from 2007’s US$330 million, with emerging markets in Asia being the major driving force.
