IHS Technology says vendors of packaged LEDs faced tough competition in 2015. IHS cites the stronger US dollar in 2015 as part of the reason packaged LED revenue fell so much last year. IHS says that Lumileds was the only LED producer among the top 10 to record positive growth in 2015, gaining both gaining market share and improving its ranking.
When measured in Yen and Euro, the packaged LED market grew just 5 percent and 10 percent, respectively, IHS said. If the exchange rates had been the same as they were in 2014, IHS says that the market would most likely have been much flatter measured in U.S. dollars.The company said that global LED revenue declined 8 percent in 2015.
Despite suffering uncertainty last year, as Philips attempted to sell the business, Lumileds came out ahead of Samsung every quarter since the fourth quarter of 2014. Lumileds reportedly continues to offer a strong competitive position in automotive LED, general lighting, and mobile camera flash sectors. Lumileds notably gets just a small percentage of its revenues from the soft backlighting market, which includes mobile phones, tablets, notebooks, and monitors.
Compared to the previous year, IHS says that revenue share for Cree, Everliught, and LG Innotek declined in 2015. However, Everlight improved its ranking position, while the others did not. Everlight’s rise in rank comes despite losing share, because Cree and LG Innotek revenues fell even further.
IHS says that Cree and the major Korean players all had double-digit revenue declines in 2015. IHS points out that Cree is increasing its focus on its lighting business, as its component business is not growing as quickly as before. Cree has long positioned itself – with some justification- as a producer of higher quality packaged LEDs and LED lighting. IHS says that as the market commoditized, Cree’s revenue has suffered from the strategy. Korean companies were able to position themselves successfully as the low-cost option in general lighting in 2012 and 2013. Even so, IHS says that this strategy of offering lower prices produced stiff competition in 2014 and 2015, as MLS and other Chinese companies offered even lower prices with similar quality. In 2015, Samsung, LG
Korean companies were able to position themselves successfully as the low-cost option in general lighting in 2012 and 2013. Even so, IHS says that this strategy of offering lower prices produced stiff competition in 2014 and 2015, as MLS and other Chinese companies offered even lower prices with similar quality. In 2015, Samsung, LG Innotek and Lumens were caught in the middle providing neither the lowest price nor the best quality, according to IHS.
Seoul Semiconductor is a pure-play LED company that has more experience in LEDs than the other major Korean players. Seoul Semi gained share in 2015 with a slight revenue decline. IHS indicated that MLS, Nichia, and Osram Opto all maintained their share in 2015, declining slightly in revenue in line with the market.
