UV LED: Waiting for the market to break out

[Text|High-tech LED reporter Wen Zhao] UV LED (UV LED) is considered to be another application of the new world in the LED industry, the future is bright. However, unlike LED lighting, which is highly industrialized, UV LEDs have higher barriers to entry. First, the technical difficulty is high. Secondly, business models are also being explored. It is also unknown when the market will accept large-scale applications of new light sources.

Compared with tens of thousands of LED companies, companies engaged in UV LEDs account for only a small portion, and the number is as small as the "National Treasure" Panda. However, as the market competition further intensifies, as an important branch of the segmentation field, UV LED is a blue ocean, which is taken seriously by the industry.

"The UV LED market is relatively narrow in a market, and the overall application needs to be developed." Zhou Zhiming, general manager of Jingrui Optoelectronics, said. It is understood that UV LED UV-LED can be used in agriculture, banknote identification, resin hardening, special biomedical and other fields. In 2014, the UV market reached 815 million US dollars (equivalent to about 5.012 billion yuan), of which UV LED production value was 122 million US dollars (about 750 million yuan), accounting for 15% of the overall UV market.

A person familiar with the situation, who asked not to be named, said that the price of UV LED products is several tens of times higher than that of ordinary LEDs. Therefore, despite the limited market size, it still attracts a large number of LED manufacturers to invest in development. It mainly includes Japanese manufacturers Nichia and DOWA; Korean manufacturers Seoul Semiconductor and LG Innotek; Taiwanese manufacturers Jingdian, Guangqi and Jingjing, and European and American manufacturers HexaTech and Crystal IS. In terms of mainland manufacturers, in June, Hongli Optoelectronics and Qingdao Jiesheng reached a strategic cooperation agreement, and the two sides will jointly develop deep ultraviolet UV-LED (wavelength between 260-320nm) market in the future.

UV LED product specifications can be divided into UV-A (long-wave ultraviolet, 320~400nm), UV-B (medium-wave ultraviolet 280~320nm) and UV-C (short-wave ultraviolet 280nm) according to wavelength, and invisible light below 380nm However, its function is beyond our imagination, and the band that is being used now can be said to be the tip of the iceberg.

According to the research and development personnel of Hongli Optoelectronics, the use of UV devices in different wavelength bands is quite different. For example, 405 nm for plant growth, 395 nm for nail beauty, 365 nm for printing anti-counterfeiting, 310 nm for scientific analysis, 280 nm for sterilization, 265 nm for medical care...

The reporter learned that the largest application in the UV-A market is UV curing, which accounts for more than half of the market applications, including ink printing, resin curing and rising 3D printing. In addition, UV-A is also imported into commercial lighting to make white clothing look whiter. While global printed circuit board (PCB) exposure machines still use traditional mercury light sources, UV LEDs are gradually entering the secondary replacement market due to energy saving and technological advancement.

"The current UV LED field is very close to the initial form of LED lighting development." Zhang Guohua, chairman and general manager of Qingdao Jiesheng, said that consumers cannot understand why UV LEDs are needed. How to cultivate an emerging market is the hurdle that the pioneers must overcome, but there is a relationship between the market demand and the number of enterprises, such as “chickens, eggs, and chickens”.

Higher technology thresholds and scarce equipment make UV LED companies need a lot of money to maintain R&D costs and equipment investment. At this stage, the timing of large-scale market entry has not yet been reached, so more companies choose to maintain a wait-and-see attitude, not far from trying to test the water. As the market demand expands, more companies will participate in this field. Just as the blue LED has risen abroad for more than a decade, it was not until 2002 that it began to pay attention to it.

"The gross profit margin of other mature LED markets is no longer the same. We estimate that more and more manufacturers will enter the UV market driven by high profits. 2015 is a key development period." Yang Jianke, general manager of Xi'an Zhongwei Optoelectronics said It is not difficult to speculate that UV LEDs will take some time to settle and wait for the market to erupt. Although the UV LED market looks very good, companies should look at their own conditions and see if they can do it well, rather than just follow the trend. The key is to be suitable for themselves to succeed.

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