Standards and scale of Asia LED lighting markets

As manufacturers become increasingly concerned about their presence in the LED lighting market, LED standards are playing an ever more important role. LED lighting standards not only provide a model for manufacturers to follow when creating products, but also ensure consumers' peace of mind with regard to issues such as safety and performance.

Digitimes Research projects marked growth in LED markets across Asia over the next five years. Japan already had a higher LED light bulb usage rate than other countries, but the power shortages in the wake of the March 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami have accelerated the pace of the country's switch to LED lighting; Digitimes Research projects that LED lighting will achieve a penetration rate of 70% by 2015. The government of South Korea has launched the LED Lighting 15/30 Popularization Plan, which aims to make LEDs account for 30% of the overall lighting market by 2015. China has a potentially enormous LED lighting market; this market is estimated to see growth of 90% by 2014 and 60% in 2015.

While China has a vast potential market, Taiwan has the world's second largest LED industry by value, as well as an advanced and constantly advancing level of LED technology; Taiwan-based firms therefore attach a great deal of importance to their presence in the China market. In recent years, China and Taiwan have also entered into discussions regarding the creation of joint standards for LED lighting.

LED standards in China and Taiwan already have a great deal of overlap, with LED lighting products used in major public construction projects exhibiting particularly strong similarities. Taiwan has made more rapid progress than China in terms of indoor LED lighting standards, and it is entirely possible that future standards for indoor LED lighting in China will adopt the specifications of the Taiwan standards. Such a move would be of great potential benefit for the establishment of shared standards for the two regions.