Epistar has revealed it has seen significant growth in orders for LED backlighting components for smartphones, LCD TV panels and fine-pixel-pitch (FPP) displays from China-based manufacturers, according to Digitimes.
The catalyst for this growth is said to be issues surrounding the quality of products previously sourced from China-based chipmakers. Many product manufacturers have shifted their component supply to Epistar as a result of these concerns, the company said.
Shipments are set to continue to increase through the month of August and into September, with orders from China scheduled through October. Production capacity for blue light LED chips is at full utilisation and MOCVD equipment set aside for engineering has been deployed to provide extra capacity to cope with the demand.
Epistar has also revealed it plans to increase its VCSEL production capacity by 25% in 2018. Earlier this year, the company announced that it modified a proportion of its 350 MOCVD sets from 4″ to 6″ to begin production of vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) wafers and diodes and mini LEDs. The company says it will also modify some of its 6″ wafer sets to produce VCSEL wafers for 3D sensors.
Digitimes says that backlighting accounts for 25-30% of Epistar’s consolidated revenues and lighting for 20-25%. Currently, FPP displays account for 15-20% but this is set to increase to 20-25% as a result of shipments of mini LEDs for FPP displays.
