Automotive LED Prospects: A Highly Commended New Blue Ocean

In 2010, the application of LED lights became a new selling point for car sales. From 50,000 Chery qiyun 2, to more than 2 million Audi R8 5.2 FSI quattro, all emphasized that their car models have been equipped with LED lights. In addition, major manufacturers have also accelerated their investment in automotive LED lighting. In April, Sanan Optoelectronics [48.31 -2.25%] established a joint venture with Chery Automobile and invested 80 million yuan to produce automotive LED and other LED applications.

With a large number of manufacturers rushing into the display backlight LED and public lighting LED markets, overcapacity may lead to excess production capacity is worrying. Vehicle LEDs will become a much-anticipated new blue ocean along with the development of China's auto industry.

LED enhances the value of the car

In addition to energy-saving and environmental protection, the popularity of automotive LEDs is even more important to enhance the value of automotive use.

Improve driving safety: Taking LED lights as an example, LED lights have a much faster response time than conventional lights, winning more reaction distances for braking and more stable light.

Intelligentization is easier to realize: The electroluminescent properties of LEDs make it easier to implement electronic control than traditional gas discharge and incandescent lamps. For example, different lighting modes inside and outside the car are automatically set depending on the driving environment of the vehicle. LEDs can also be used for various types of vehicle sensors, such as parking sensors.

Demonstrate the automotive brand and user personality: LED's rich colors, small size, easy to design all kinds of shapes and color combinations to convey the personality of the car and the owner. The use of LED lights has made Audi's exterior design free from the criticism of "lack of personality." Today, distinctive LED lights have become the new recognition symbol for Audi.

Market ready to go

Currently in China, the application of LED in the automotive industry has just started and has great potential. In all types of LED downstream applications, the proportion of automobiles is only 2%, and from a global perspective, the proportion of LED applications in automobiles has exceeded 10%. In 2009, China became the world’s first automobile production and consumption country, during the same period, The scale of China's automotive LED lighting market has exceeded 1 billion yuan. The potential of the automotive LED market is self-evident.

The development of new energy vehicles will also drive the development of automotive LED lighting market. LED lighting is in line with the concept of environmental protection. At the same time, LED's power-saving performance has reduced the burden of car charging. Nissan's pure electric vehicle LEAF uses LED headlights and consumes only 10% of the power of conventional lamps. In 2010, Audi's pure electric vehicle E-tron also adopted a C-shaped LED headlamp.

LED lighting applications in the automotive interior is relatively mature. In the future, the application of LED in external lights is a new growth point. According to the statistics of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the sales of domestic car lamps reached more than 15 billion yuan in 2009. At present, the ratio of LED lights is less than 5%, but it maintains an annual growth rate of more than 10%.

Industry chain dilemma

The industry chain of LED lights is longer, from LED chip design, production, to automotive LED light sources, LED light product assembly, and then automobile production. A large number of domestic companies are limited by the chip manufacturers in the upstream, and they are restricted by the purchase of the assembly manufacturers and car manufacturers in the downstream.

At present, there are no less than 1,000 suppliers of LED lights in the country, but almost all of them are component manufacturers. The products include LED light bulbs, LED automotive trim strips, and so on. It is mainly low-end products and it is difficult to meet the high requirements of automobile manufacturing. Jilin Dongguang Ruibao Lamp Company and a few of the assembly lamp companies, although they have also introduced LED lights, are relatively small.

From the upstream perspective, the domestic LED chip production capacity still needs to be improved. Judging from the entire domestic LED industry, most manufacturers mainly use packaging and application products, and the chip country yield is only about 50%; moreover, the existing domestic chip manufacturer products are mostly aimed at LED display backlighting and outdoor lighting, and are lacking products for vehicles. International companies such as Osram and Philips Lumileds have strong chip technology and better product segmentation.

Looking from the downstream, the domestic assembly lamp suppliers are mainly based on joint ventures, and they purchase more international brands of LED light sources. Assembly lamp manufacturers and automotive manufacturers have a stable cooperative relationship. In addition, many of the lights using LED and traditional car lights in an integrated way to mix, so that the advantages of traditional light manufacturers still. For a variety of reasons such as patents, markets, etc., these joint venture assembly companies already have fixed LED light source partners. As early as 2007, Japanese LED manufacturer Nichia and car lighting manufacturer Stanley Electric announced cooperation, Nichia Chemical will provide white LED patent rights, so Stanley Electric can produce ultra-high brightness white LED Car lamps.

Further downstream, the models with larger LED usage are mainly mid- to high-end car brands, and they are mainly joint venture brands. They also tend to use their own international partner products.

As a result, a closed industrial chain has been formed among international manufacturers and it is difficult for domestic manufacturers to enter. For example, the Audi R8 is equipped with all-LED headlights provided by Automotive Lighting, with LEDs provided by OSRAM and Philips Lumileds. Lack of downstream procurement, coupled with the difficulty in obtaining product quality certification, many domestic small LED lamp manufacturers can only sell products through the automotive modification market.

Seize the opportunity

During the "11th Five-Year Plan" period, China has focused on the deployment and development of LED automotive lights. The National 863 Program “Semiconductor Lighting Project” has arranged three related R&D topics: “Development of Vehicle LED Light Source System”, “Study on Integrated Headlamp Illumination Technology for Cars” and “Study and Large-Scale Application of High-Power LED Lamps”. At present, some achievements have been made. How to seize the opportunity?

Mastering core technologies can enhance the right to speak. If domestic manufacturers can improve their innovation capabilities, they can still obtain opportunities through cross-licensing. In addition, innovations can also be made in the production process. In early 2010, OSRAM awarded Everlight its patents for the use of its automotive and general lighting, and OSRAM used the patented Everlight LED packaging.

Strengthen cooperation in the domestic automotive industry chain. LED lights in the country are still in the R&D stage and require upstream and downstream companies to work together. As early as 2007, Taiwan established the "Advanced Lighting Alliance for Vehicles." With the headlight factory billion, headed by Yucun, Huachuang, a LED packaging plant, Yu Hong, and Everlight, LED chip makers Yuan, heat-dissipation giants and optical power plants Wang Hui and other 8 companies.

In the drive, cooling, optical design and other supporting technologies work hard. Reasonable optical design can optimize LED lighting, reduce the number of LED use, thereby reducing production costs. LEDs, along with other types of light sources, can also provide a distinctive visual experience. Opportunities also exist in accessory products such as lenses. High-efficiency heat dissipation technology is the guarantee for the smooth operation of LED lights. In the future, it is necessary to further reduce the cost and weight of heat-dissipating materials. Driving is an important role in improving the efficiency and reliability of electro-optical conversion. The growth of the automotive LED market will inevitably drive the development of these related supporting industries, and these industries should be transformed from weakness to advantage.