14 January 2011

LED market grows a record $4bn in 2010, up 67% to $10.2bn

The packaged LED market grew 67% from $6.1bn in 2009 to $10.2bn in 2010, according to the new report ‘The World Market for LEDs’ from IMS Research. The $4.1bn increase in revenue is by far the largest in the LED industry’s history.

The boom in 2010 was due primarily to tremendous growth in LED use in backlighting LCD TVs. “Packaged LED sales for TVs grew from $0.4bn to $2.5bn as LED penetration increased dramatically to 27% in 2010... the $2.1bn increase accounted for half of the growth,” says analyst & LED research manager Jamie Fox.

“Growth was further driven both by economy recovery (which particularly affected some sectors in 2009, notably automotive and industrial) as well as an increase in sales for backlighting notebook computers and desktop monitors,” Fox adds. “Finally, general lighting made its most significant contribution yet in 2010.”

The boom year of 2010 is not likely to be repeated again as mature markets return to a flatter or steadier growth level, and backlighting markets saturate. IMS forecasts growth of 25% in 2011, and less in 2012. All major backlighting applications (including TVs) are forecast to be at or very close to 100% LED penetration in 2013.

From 2013, LEDs in general lighting are forecast to account for most growth. Indeed, with general lighting excluded, LED revenue will decline after 2013 due to price erosion, more efficient LEDs (meaning that fewer are required) and market saturation. The next few years could therefore be a challenging period for some manufacturers in the LED industry, possibly leading to some consolidation.

However, due to the huge potential of general lighting applications, the long-term future of LEDs remains bright due to applications such as hotels, retail, residential and outdoor lighting (such as street lighting), believes IMS.

N.B. The 2010 market size is still preliminary at this stage and may be revised in February as IMS Research assesses the latest reported data.

See related items:

LED chip demand for TV backlight to return to first-half 2010 level in Feb

LED market grows from $6.1bn in 2009 to $10bn in 2010

LED market to grow from $7bn in 2009 to $10.7bn in 2010 then $20.4bn in 2012

Tags: LED market LED TV

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