LED businesses are examining a plan to change 2 and 4-inch sapphire wafers, which they had been previously using, to 6-inch large diameter so that they can secure competitive edge in price by increasing productivity.
According to industry, LED chip and wafer businesses from Taiwan and China are introducing production equipment that will allow them to use 6-inch sapphire boards. If LED chips are manufactured from 6-inch wafers, manufacturing cost can be greatly reduced compared to 2 and 4-inch wafers.
Just 1 or 2 years ago, price of 6-inch ingot (core cylinder) that is board’s raw material was double to that of 2 and 4-inch. But as yield is greatly improved due to technology improvement, price of ingots were greatly reduced and chip businesses sped up their processes of changing to large diameter.
A company that was most active was Taiwan’s Epistar that is world’s biggest LED chip production company. As Chinese LED chip businesses recently began to greatly improve output with government’s support funds, they went out to protect their markets with introduction of 6-inch equipment.
Chinese businesses also focused on introducing 2 and 4-inch equipment until end of last year. But they’ve realized that there is a limitation in securing competitiveness in cost with 2-inch alone, and decided to invest in 6-inch equipment.
“As well as chip manufacturers, demands for 6-inches are also booming in wafer manufacturers such as Mono Crystal and Rubicon. Only businesses that secured competitiveness in production cost through changes to large diameter and decrease in cost of raw material will survive in competitive LED lighting market.” said one person who is associated with South Korean equipment industry.
On the other hand, there are almost no new investments in equipment as South Korean LED businesses are branded as ‘chronic deficit’ businesses. Only LG Innotec has been producing products using 6-inch wafers until now.
“I predict that there will be many businesses that want to change to 6-inch starting from next year as it seems that there will be no demands in 2 and 4-inch wafer markets this year. Taiwanese and Chinese businesses can be threats to South Korean industries as they improve their competitiveness once more.” said one expert in industry.
Staff Reporter Sung, Hyeonhee | sunghh@etnews.com