Unity Opto Issues Upbeat Outlook for 2014 LED Lighting Market

Unity Opto Technology Co., Ltd. Chairman Alpha Wu said recently at the company's yearend banquet that the company's revenue from LED lighting sales as a percentage of the company's total revenue will double this year while the global LED market will  surprisingly boom this and next year.

In January 2014, the company's revenue from LED lighting sales will likely rise over 30%.

The company's shipments of LED light bulbs to North America have continuously risen into this year, with the company's shipments of 10W LED bulbs projected to double from 2013 to exceed 10 million units. Based on the vigorous shipments, Wu estimates LED lighting sales to strengthen to account for 40% of the company's revenue by the end of this year, up from 2013's 15%.

Wu said the company, an LED-lighting solution provider, will recover the 7% year-on-year decrease in sales last year with a double-digit growth this year, forecasting that all of the company's industry peers in Taiwan will reap profits this year, with chipmakers projected to be strained by orders for high-end chips.

Besides the LED lighting market, he said that the LED-backlight market will be brisk this year as well, underlined by the company's contracts from a Japanese TV maker promoting a new technology featuring high efficiency and high color rendering in which high-performance LED is an integral part. Unity Opto will triple  deliveries in the second quarter of this year.

The company's backlight business unit, according to Wu, has since the beginning of January 2014 received increasing orders from TV heavyweights in China and Japan for the upcoming Chinese New Year holidays and China's weeklong May Labor Day holidays.

Also, tablet PC and smartphone makers have increased orders for the company's slim LED backlights. (KL)