Review the prosperity and desolation of the LED industry in 2022

The season is severe and the "cold air" hits, and the LED industry is miserable. According to statistics, in 2022, more than 60 LED lighting and lighting companies will enter the stage of bankruptcy and liquidation. It is worth noting that this is only the data of LED lighting and lighting companies, and does not include LED display companies.

Among the companies that have gone bankrupt and liquidated, there are also listed companies, such as New Century, Lianli, Ouyidi, Huida Optoelectronics, etc.

Among them, New Century is located in Taiwan, China. The company was established in 2002 and mainly provides GaN LED integrated solution services for automotive lighting, disinfection, high Ra lighting, AR and 3D printing markets. New Century was once the largest green LED manufacturer in Taiwan, but on November 15, 2022, New Century announced that the board of directors of New Century has decided to suspend business and stop work from November 16, while laying off all employees and reporting to the company. The court filed for bankruptcy.

In July 2022, Lianli Co., Ltd. was included in the list of abnormal operations by the Market Supervision Bureau because it failed to disclose the annual report within the prescribed time limit. In March 2022, Wuxi City, Jiangsu Province accepted the bankruptcy liquidation of Lianli Co., Ltd. application.

Under the double pressure of the external market environment and internal business management, even listed companies cannot sit back and relax. Different from the above-mentioned companies, Shellett and Orient chose to reorganize under the circumstances of poor operating conditions.

Among them, from the second quarter of 2018 to the present, Xue Wright has only achieved a short-term profit in the fourth quarter of 2020, and the rest of the quarters are in a state of loss. On November 17, 2022, Shellett released the draft restructuring plan. According to the reorganization plan, Xue Wright Optoelectronics will introduce about 1 billion yuan of funds to pay off debts. On December 21, 2022, the implementation of Shellett's reorganization plan will be completed. In addition, the cancellation of subsidiaries has also become an important means for enterprises to streamline their structure and accumulate energy for the winter, such as the Grand Canyon, Antarctica, Zero Benyang, Jiawei Shares, Yitong Dingsheng, etc.

Among them, under the background of losing money last year and the first three quarters of this year, Grand Canyon decided to liquidate the new business that entered the lighting market, so as to stop the operation and get rid of the worst situation of the current operation. It is reported that Grand Canyon intends to handle the dissolution and liquidation of StrongLED Smart Lighting (Cayman) Co., Ltd., the British Cayman Islands business Grand Canyon Smart Lighting System Co., Ltd. Taiwan Branch and the Yangtze River Delta Integration Demonstration Zone (Suzhou Wujiang) Canyon Lighting Technology Co., Ltd.

However, Aurora announced in March 2022 that according to the company's development plan and the actual operation of its subsidiary Beineng Optoelectronics, in order to further integrate resource allocation, optimize internal management structure, reduce management costs, and improve overall management efficiency and operating benefits, agree to liquidate the company and cancel Beineng Optoelectronics; in December 2022, Beineng Optoelectronics will officially complete the deregistration procedures.

Looking at the announcements of various companies, the reasons for canceling subsidiaries mainly include reducing operating costs, optimizing the company's asset allocation, and considering future development plans. It seems to be varied, but the bottom line is whether the subsidiary can contribute to the company's performance.

However, when the existence of subsidiaries has become a kind of pressure, in addition to canceling subsidiaries, enterprises also choose to transfer subsidiaries.

Nanfang announced in August 2022 that in order to revitalize the stock assets, optimize the asset structure, and further focus on the main business, its wholly-owned subsidiary Xinlv Investment plans to publicly transfer 80% of the shares held by Jingwei Lighting; but in December, Nanfang also announced that due to "the transaction plan is relatively complicated", the company decided to terminate the listing and transfer of Jingwei Lighting's equity.

It is reported that due to poor management, Jingwei Lighting stopped production in 2013. At present, the main effective assets are the real estate and land located in Jiangbei New District, Nanjing, and the main source of income is the income from leasing real estate and land. In the first half of 2022, Jingwei Lighting achieved an operating income of 2.5145 million yuan and a net profit of -1.659 million yuan.

Feilo Acoustics announced in February 2022 that it intends to sell 100% of the shares held by Feilo Investment through public listing and transfer. The entire equity of Lighting and Feilo Construction was transferred to Feilo Investment for free.

In the background of this transaction, Feilo Acoustics mentioned that in recent years, the company has faced operating risks of sluggish revenue growth, high costs and declining performance. Especially in the lighting business sector, the continuous large losses in recent years have had a relatively large negative impact on the operating performance of listed companies. Under heavy pressure, timely stop loss is also a good strategy.

And when the flowers bloom in the new spring, amid uncertainty, new hope is bred. In 2022, there will also be brilliant technologies and directions in the LED field.

First, Mini/Micro LED is becoming popular.

The double optimization of technology and cost has brought about the rapid development of Mini LED backlight products. According to incomplete statistics from LEDinside, from 2020 to 2021, there will be less than 40 Mini LED backlight products released; and in 2022, a total of more than 70 Mini LED backlight products will be released, covering monitors, TVs, laptops, and VR devices. .

Among them, TVs are currently the main battlefield for Mini LED backlight technology. LEDinside, the Optoelectronics Research Division of TrendForce, predicts that the shipment of Mini LED TVs will reach 4.4 million units in 2023, an annual increase of about 13%. Another key application of LED backlighting is that the shipment of Mini LED automotive displays is estimated to be about 300,000 units in 2023, an annual increase of about 50%.

In terms of Micro LED, its tentacles are extending to more diversified application scenarios, including large displays, smart watches, AR smart glasses, etc.

In addition, Micro LED is also very suitable for high-end automotive applications. It is reported that the development direction of in-vehicle display covers large size, curved surface, transparent display, high dynamic contrast, and even the combination of more sensing elements to achieve intelligent functions. LEDinside, the optoelectronic research division of TrendForce Consulting, predicts that 2023 will be Relevant manufacturers have entered the critical stage of product design and verification, which will establish a long-term development foundation for Micro LED automotive smart cockpits and transparent displays. The second is that plant lighting gradually opens up the application space.

Horticultural lighting has experienced short-term rapid growth in the past two years, and then from the second half of 2021, due to the impact of supply chain disruptions and the crackdown on illegal cannabis cultivation in North America, market demand began to weaken.

In 2022, plant lighting will usher in a new opportunity for development. In terms of overseas markets, in April 2022, the U.S. Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Elimination Act (MORE Act) was voted by the House of Representatives; in June, Thailand announced the legalization of growing and smoking marijuana, and Thailand has since become the first in Asia to introduce marijuana. Countries that have legalized planting; in October, Germany also released a plan to legalize marijuana. The demand for marijuana cultivation will pick up, and the demand for fruit and vegetable, breeding and food plant factories will also increase. The market prospect of plant lighting has become clearer.

At the same time, overseas home gardening is on the rise, and planting flowers and other plants through plant lighting equipment has become the choice of many families. Home use has become a "small and beautiful" segmented application market for plant lighting.

In the domestic market, the number of modern facility agriculture such as plant factories, vertical farms, and greenhouses continues to rise, and with the reduction of costs, small and medium-sized plantations have also begun to introduce plant lighting technology, and plant lighting has become an important part of the development of agricultural intelligence. The domestic market has a long-term demand for LED plant lighting products.

Third, health and intelligence are still important directions for functional lighting product technology.

On the one hand, UVC LED sterilization products, which have grown rapidly under the epidemic situation, will still be the "darling" in the next few years. After experiencing irrational growth in 2020, UVC LEDs have returned to a rational growth track, and the problems faced by UVC LEDs are being gradually resolved.

Among them, WPE (photoelectric conversion efficiency) is gradually improving. In 2021, the average WPE of UVC LED chips on the market is about 2%-3%, and by 2022, this parameter will be significantly improved: Jason Semiconductor sent lamp bead samples to Guangdong Jinjian Laboratory for testing, and WPE respectively It has reached 10.1% and 8.8%; the WPE of small and medium power products of Guoxing Optoelectronics can reach 6%; the WPE of the all-inorganic UVC LED high-efficiency products launched by Huayinxin has been increased to 6%.

On the other hand, lighting in different application scenarios such as homes, classrooms, offices, and hospitals is being deeply integrated with health and smart technologies. Behind this trend is the comprehensive embodiment of the commodity value of LED lighting that is people-oriented, energy-saving and emission-reducing. At present, Opple Lighting, NVC Lighting, Sunshine Lighting, Sanxiong Aurora, Foshan Lighting, Lidaxin, Debon Lighting, Mulinsen, etc., have all laid out healthy and intelligent tracks in depth. Compared with previous years, the current health and intelligent lighting has gradually broken away from the stage of "slogan", and has begun to truly integrate into all aspects of life, bringing real high-tech enjoyment to consumers.