Japan-based Nichia continued to rank the number one LED packaging service provider globally in 2015 with related revenues reaching US$2.72 billion, or about 200% higher than those generated by the second to fourth largest vendors, according to Digitimes Research.
Taiwan-based Everlight Electronics ranked second with revenues totaling US$895 million in 2015, followed by Seoul Semiconductor with US$893.1 million, Osram Opto Semiconductors US$881.9 million, LG Innotek US$693.6 million and Cree US$578.2 million.
In terms of revenue growth rate, China-based Hongli Opto-Electronic and NationStar Optoelectronics led all LED packagers, with their revenues growing 60.3% and 25.5%, respectively, on year in 2015. Both companies plan to continue to ramp capacity in 2016, Digitimes Research noted.
In fact, Nichia's 2015 LED revenues were lower than those it generated a year earlier, affected mainly by lower-than-expected demand for LED backlight products in emerging markets, particularly in China, where sales shed 32.2% on year in 2015. The operating margin of Nichia's optical semiconductor business stood at 28% in 2015, down 1.5pp from a year earlier.
Hongli's high revenue growth rate recorded in 2015 was attributed to its capacity ramps and the acquisition of fellow company Smalite Optoelectronics, said Digitimes Research, adding that the company plans to ramp its capacity to 3.2 billion units a month in the first half of 2016. NationStar will also expand its LED packaging capacity in 2016.
Osram's revenue growth rate in 2015 was the third highest among all LED packagers, led by automobile-use and invisible LED products. Seoul Semiconductor also saw its revenues grow significantly in 2015 thanks to new clients from the handset sector. However, LG Innotek and Cree both suffered a decline of over 20% in 2015 revenues.
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