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TV Backlight Market Continues to Fall
April 16, 2018

Demand for TV-use LED backlighting has not been picking up in second-quarter 2018 despite expectations the upcoming FIFA World Cup in Russia could push up LCD TV sales. Backlighting orders for May and June remain opaque, the sources from China said. As new China-based LED packaging capacities have come online, oversupply is likely to occur, bringing down prices in the second quarter. But LED packagers see strong demand from the smartphone camera flash segment and the AlGaInP LED segment for lighting and fine pixel pitch displays, the sources noted.
Taiwan-based LED epitaxial wafer and chipmaker Epistar plans to begin production of mini LED chips for smartphone screen backlighting in third-quarter 2018. However, a 5.5-inch Full HD smartphone panel needs 2,000-10,000 mini LEDs for backlighting, and total cost for such a touch panel is estimated at US$35-40, which is not competitive compared to OLED, sources indicated.