26 November 2010

Neo-Neon shrinks LED epi expansion from 50 to 30 reactors

Due to fears of an oversupply of LED chips used in LCD TV backlight units (BLUs), Neo-Neon Holdings Ltd, a vertically integrated LED lighting maker listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange, is downsizing its LED epiwafer capacity expansion by reducing the installation of additional metal-organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems from its originally planned 50 by the end of 2011 to 30, according to the firm’s Taiwan general manager Cheng Chien-wen reported in Digitimes.

Neo-Neon has three LED epiwafer fabs: two in Jiangmen, southern China, and the other in Yangzhou, eastern China. One in Jiangmen currently has 14–15 MOCVD reactors, giving a monthly capacity 30,000 2-inch epiwafers, with a total output of 300 million LED chips for lamps, 1 million high-power LED chips, and 70 million SMD LED chips, Cheng indicates.

The Yangzhou fab will install five reactors in December and start production in January–February, while the other factory in Jiangmen will install 5–10 reactors by the end of 2011. The three fabs will hence have up to 30 MOCVD reactors by the end of 2011, according to Cheng.

The possible oversupply of LED chips used in backlight units is because TFT-LCD panel makers have been expanding capacity for LED chips among subsidiaries to increase in-house supply, Cheng points out.

Digitimes reports that Taiwan-based LED makers Tekcore and Formosa Epitaxy (Forepi) also have delayed installing additional MOCVD reactors for the time being.

See related items:

China to leap from number-4 to top LED-making region by Q4/2011

China government concerned about LED investment overheating

Neo-Neon orders ten more Aixtron reactors for blue/green LED production

China plans to add 1200 MOCVD reactors, including 300 in 2010

Booming MOCVD market gathers pace

Tags: Neo-Neon LEDs MOCVD

Visit: www.neo-neon.com

Visit: www.digitimes.com