According to Biing-Jye Lee, chairman of Taiwan-based LED chipmaker Epistar, global shipments of LED light bulbs in 2013 are likely to reach 600 million units compared to 200 million units in 2012, showing an on-year growth of 300%.
However, compared to the total shipments of 10 billion light bulbs per year, the figure fort he LED segment is still small, said Lee. But if the growth can be maintained at 300% in 2014, the global output of LED light bulbs is likely to reach two billion units, Lee stated.
In addition, the price gap between 40W retrofit LED light bulb and energy-saving light bulb continues to narrow in 2013.
Lee added that when global shipments of LED light bulbs reach 1.8-2 billion units, it will require 300 MOCVD equipment sets to cater for the output. Taking demand for LED tube and special lighting also into consideration, the global LED market may return to balance in second-half 2014 to 2015, said Lee. Currently, Lee disclosed, the global capacity is around 2,300-2,400 MOCVD equipment sets.
