Electronics component maker Lite-On Technology Corp (光寶科技) yesterday said it expected sales of LED lighting products to grow 20 percent annually to NT$20 billion (US$658.11 million) this year, thanks to increasing demand in LED lighting for automobiles, street lamps and LED bulbs.
Lite-On recently won a contract from the New Taipei City Government to replace more than 100,000 street lamps in 15 districts in the southern part of the city. The contract values approximately NT$1.1 billion, the company said in a statement.
The company has shipped more than 500,000 LED streetlights worldwide, including 80,000 domestically. Lite-On is set to become the largest LED streetlamp supplier in the nation, once the more than 100,000 lamps are installed in New Taipei City, Lite-On Group new business chief executive Danny Liao (廖學福) told reporters on the sidelines of a press conference in the city.
David Yeh (葉耀中), general manager of Lite-On’s subsidiary Leotek Electronics Co, said the sales of LED streetlamps in emerging markets in central and northern Asia, China and Taiwan made up 40 percent of the firm’s LED lighting revenue this year, which is 10 percent higher than last year.
LED streetlamp sales in the US will account for 60 percent of the segment’s revenues this year, he added.
Looking forward, the sales of LED streetlights in emerging markets are expected to account for 50 percent of the total revenue in Lite-On’s LED lighting segment by next year, Yeh said, accenting that the US sales of LED streetlamps would continue to grow at the same time.
“We take about 40 percent of streetlamps market share in the US,” he added.
Lite-On chairman Raymond Soong (宋恭源) said the LED streetlights business is different from other LED lighting products, as it requires high-quality and post-sale service.
“This is why Lite-On has taken the largest market share of LED street lamps in the US for years,” Soong said.
Soong commented on Samsung Electronics Co Ltd’s recent announcement of plans to quit its LED lighting business in overseas markets, saying that “people come and go in the industry… This would not affect Lite-On’s business outlook.”
Liao said although China’s LED lighting industry is growing, Lite-On has a cost-saving advantage, as it owns automatic manufacturing production lines.
Lite-On reported consolidated revenue of NT$60.29 billion for last quarter, up 5.38 percent from the third-quarter last year’s NT$57.21 billion and up 3.5 percent from previous quarter’s NT$58.23 billion.
In the first nine months, Lite-On’s cumulative revenues rose 11.03 percent to NT$170.54 billion from last year.
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