In 2010, Samsung LED became the first LED firm in South Korea to have revenues exceeding KRW1 trillion (US$863 million) and ranked as number one among LED firms in South Korea. Its third-quarter 2011 revenues reached KRW358.2 billion, much higher than KRW248.9 billion by LG Innotek's LED business unit and KRW166.1 billion by Seoul Semiconductor. Samsung LED continues to rank as number one among its Korean peers.
However, the third-quarter 2011 revenues only show a slight 3% growth on year while operation profit margin turned negative. The total revenues for the first three quarters in 2011 showed slight decrease on year and Digitimes Research expects its fourth-quarter capacity utilization rate at around 50-60%. Therefore Samsung LED's total revenues in 2011 should show slight on-year drop.
In order to enhance Samsung LED's competitiveness, Samsung Electronics plans to merge it into the "Component Solution Business Unit" to hook the LED business with other business units within the group.
Although the LED industry in 2011 has not been developing as expected, Samsung LED continues to expand operations. Samsung has been introducing lighting products with very competitive prices and promoting these products through the existing distribution channels in the US and Europe.
In addition, the Samsung Group plans to extend LED lighting applications to green buildings. In the first half of 2012, Samsung C&T Corporation, Samsung LED and Samsung Electronics will jointly develop green building solutions that will not only cover South Korea region, but also Europe, China and Southeast Asia.