20 July 2012

Taiwanese LED maker Genesis investing $35m this year in its China plant construction

Taiwan-based LED chipmaker Genesis Photonics Inc of Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP) in Tainan is scheduled to invest US$35m this year on the construction of its plant in Kunshan, southern China (which began in September 2010, and should complete in third-quarter 2012), according to Digitimes.

The plant is a joint venture between Genesis and the Kunshan municipal government, which are providing 49% and 51% of the funds, respectively. Total investment is about US$200m. Genesis’ investment in the first phase amounts to US$35.88m.

The firm is the largest provider of green epiwafers in China, and its order visibility has extended to the end of 2010. It started shipping blue LED chips in March, and expects the new line to account for 30-40% of its revenues in 2010.

Founded in 2002, Genesis provides gallium nitride (GaN)-based LED epiwafers and chips for lighting, display, backlight, and automotive lamp applications, as well as powerful LED chips for scientific, industrial and research applications. Before 2009, the firm focused mainly on producing green LED chips for outdoor billboards in China, with 90% of its products being green LED chips and just 10% being blue LED chips. However, as demand for white light LEDs has been growing, Genesis has been focusing on blue LED products, which accounted for 80% of total products in first-half 2012 compared with just 20% for green LED products.

According to chairman David Chung, China is the second-largest market for Genesis, comprising about 40% of its total revenue in 2011.

As the Kunshan plant is scheduled to be completed in Q3/2012, Genesis will provide technologies and management while the municipal government will provide government resources and assist in business development, says Chung. The plant will procure 2-inch metal-organic chemical vapor depsotion (MOCVD) equipment, and expects to have a monthly capacity of 20,000-30,000 epitaxial wafers as commercial production begins.

In the future, Genesis will have three production bases in the Greater China region: Tainan in Taiwan and Dongguan and Kunshan in mainland China. The Tainan plant will focus on technologies R&D and sales to international customers, according to the firm. Chung plans for the two mainland China-based plants to be solely responsible for supplying the firm’s LED chips in China by 2015.

Tags: Genesis Photonics GaN epiwafers Blue LED chips MOCVD

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