Summary
1. In 2012 about 38 billion LEDs will be required for LED backlight in LCD TV
2. All along the penetration of LED backlight in to Notebook was increasing and now LCD TV has picked up the trend.
3. It is estimated that by 2011, the penetration of LED in to LCD TV will be 40%, which is about 68M units.
Analysis
LED-lit LCD TV has been intensely promoted by Samsung in the name of LED TV. Sony was also promoting LED-lit LCD TV earlier to Samsung and put on the market the 'Bravia' brand. Earlier models of LCD TV were costly due to the cost of RGB LEDs. The price of LED has been on the decline, about 15% per year. LCD TV with diagonal size of 70" has been demonstrated with LED backlight. Now LED-lit LCD TVs are available from 32" to 65". Both white LEDs and RGB LEDs are employed for backlighting LCD TV. 'Edge-lit' configuration is power efficient, slim and costs less than the 'direct-lit' configuration. The 'direct-lit' configuration has enhanced picture quality in terms of color and contrast. The demand for LED-lit LCD TV is increasing on the larger sizes. All LCD panel manufacturers are assembling LED backlight on their panels. Sony, Samsung, LG Display, Sharp, CMO, CPT are among them. The trend is likely to place pressure on the supply chain of LED. LG display has already entered in to agreement with CREE for the supply of chips. The positive market potential for this application is exceeding that of illumination application. The market forecasting companies which specialize in LED illumination market are themselves forecasting the market for LEDs in LCDs are substantial. LED chip manufacturers like Nichia, Cree, Osram, Philips, Epistar, Toyoda Gosei, Seoul Semiconductors, Everlight will be expanding their production base to meet the demand. For expanding their production base the critical process equipment is MOCVD tool and there are two companies namely, Aixtron and VEECO that dominate this market. These companies are already facing the order increase in Q2-09. The price pressure on RGB LEDs will continue if the customer places more emphasis on picture quality than on slimness and power consumption.
Munisamy Anandan consults with leading institutions through GLG
Analyses are solely the work of the authors and have not been edited or endorsed by GLG.
