High-power LED packaging house Lustrous Technology expects shipments to reach one million units in 2011 as shipments are expected to increase significantly in the second half of the year due to expected improvement of its high-voltage LED technology.
Lustrous will begin shipments to two ODM clients in April for the North American market, which should help raise 2011 revenues by 300%. Lustrous posted NT$170 million (US$5.8 million) in revenues for 2010, up 200% from 2009.
LED light bulbs based on Lustrous' high-voltage LED chip packaging technology will be one of TV vendor Vizio's first products in the lighting end-use market. According to industry sources, Vizio will distribute via retailers Walmart and Costco at around US$10.
High-voltage LED technology was jointly developed by chipmaker Epistar and Delta Electronics, and related products have been shipped to lighting vendors such as Osram and Philips and LED chip packagers Everlight Electronics, Edison Opto and Lustrous.
Lustrous is a top-three client of Epistar's high-voltage LED chips, and has developed its own high-pressure LED chip packaging technology.
Though high-voltage LED has cost and size advantages, it is limited by driver technology. Light bulbs based on the technology underperform DC LED products by 10-15%, Lustrous said. Driver improvement is currently underway and it hopes to announce new solutions in April or May and begin shipments in the second half of the year.
End-use LED lighting products have fallen 25% in price in the past three years to around US$10, and another 15-20% decrease is expected by the end of 2011, Lustrous indicated.
Lustrous' 2010 second-half revenues fell to NT$70 million versus NT$98 million in the first half. The company pointed to a demand decline in the US outdoor lighting market and anticipation for another round of price drop in 2011 for the sales decrease. The US outdoor market is showing signs of recovery and the replacement demand is promising in the second half, the company noted.
Lustrous' investors include Delta Electronics, Neng Tyi Precision Industries, Epistar's investment subsidiary and Topco Technologies.