News: LEDs
24 February 2025
Ennostar Inc merging EPISTAR and Lextar into Ennostar Corp
The board of directors of Ennostar Inc has approved a restructuring plan that involves the merger of its subsidiaries EPISTAR and Lextar into a single entity tentatively named Ennostar Corp, starting 1 October. The merger aims to accelerate Ennostar’s business expansion in high-value-added optoelectronic applications and to intensify its long-term growth prospects.
As part of the firm’s organizational optimization strategy, the merger will not affect the shareholders’ equity of Ennostar Inc.
Amid intense competition in the LED industry and price pressures in the red ocean market, Ennostar Inc was established in January 2021 as a joint venture between EPISTAR and Lextar to exploit the synergy of vertical integration leveraging both technology advantages and resources. Over the past few years, Ennostar Group has taken a phased approach to optimizing integrated operations.
The initiative has since formed a unified corporate vision and value, standardized operations and streamlined processes. Meanwhile, the group assessed its global production bases and reinvestment portfolio to advance the activation of assets and operational efficiency. In July 2024, the rotation of leadership between the chairmen of EPISTAR and Lextar was implemented, enhancing the efficacy of the group’s integration.
Since June 2023, Ennostar has been advancing its Dual-Strategy Approach and emphasizing its Field Value-added Approach and Solution Value-added Approach to drive transformation and growth. The firm is focusing on developing a high-value-added ‘3+1’ development strategy (which includes automotive, advanced displays and smart sensing applications, as well as new fields such as optical communications and high-conversion-efficiency III-V solar cells) in order to strengthen Ennostar’s competitive advantage in the optoelectronic semiconductor industry.
Consolidated revenue for Ennostar Inc grew by 9.3% in 2024 to NTD24.39bn (US$760m), ranking the firm fifth among global LED makers with both chip and packaging capabilities, according to market analyst firm TrendForce. Due to steady growth in revenue from premium applications, gross margin rose by 8.4 percentage points to 13.6%. Net loss attributable to equity holders of the parent company was hence cut to NTD1.39bn (NT$1.87 per basic share).
However, Q4/2024 revenue of NT$5.51bn was down by 17.7% quarter-to-quarter. Gross margin was just 9.4%. Net loss was NT$0.62bn (NT$0.85 per basic share).
Ennostar Inc notes that, overall, it has a robust financial structure and maintains healthy inventory levels. However, facing a highly challenging operating environment, Ennostar Corp could further streamline resources, enhance operational efficiency, and accelerate R&D on high-value-added optoelectronic products. It is reckoned that the strategic transformation should enable Ennostar to evolve beyond an LED company into a comprehensive optoelectronic solutions provider.
Epistar and Lextar partnering to seize commercial opportunities in micro- and mini-LEDs
