Taiwan-based manufacturers Epistar and FOREPI today announced merge plans. Through conversion of shares, FOREPI will become a 100 percent fully owned subsidy of Epistar. The trend of acquisitions within the LED industry will continue in 2014, observed LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce. Epistar’s merger with FOREPI will improve production capacity, cost management, as well as client and product integration. After the merge, the two companies will also be able to jointly resist market threats from Chinese LED chip manufacturer San’an Optoelectronics (San’anOpto).
Strong LED market demands this year have led to patterned sapphire substrate (PSS) manufacturers expanded production capacity, according to “2014 Global Sapphire Substrate Market Report” by LEDinside, a LED research division of TrendForce.
Chinese LED package manufacturers sales performance in 2013 was mediocre, the LED package market value was up slightly by 16 percent due to plunging prices, according to the latest “2014 Chinese Package Industry Market Report” by LEDinside.
Apple’s iWatch to be released in late 2014 will be using sapphire watch covers, according to the latest report “2014 Global Sapphire Market Report”by LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce. iWatch sapphire watch covers are expected to account for six percent of global sapphire market demands, the research organization projected.
Global LED commercial lighting market penetration rate this year soared, with growth projected to reach 23% by the end of the 2014, according to the latest “2Q14 Silver Member- Commercial Lighting Market” by LEDinside a research division of TrendForce.