July 28, 2011...China's LED industry has seen significant development after the initiation of the National Semiconductor Illuminating Project in 2003, according to CCID Consulting. In 2008, the industry's growth rate was affected by the sluggish downstream demand, which was a result of the global financial crisis. CCID notes that in 2009, the state's various supporting policies helped the industry's growth rate begin to pick up. CCID reports that in 2010, the size of China's LED industry covering substrate, epitaxial, chip and packaging surged to RMB 29.46 billion. CCID asserts that this market surge was driven by the rapid development of the downstream full color LED display, LED backlight, LED lighting and other applications. The surge was up 33.8% from 2009. Meanwhile, the CAGR of China's LED industry stayed at 18.7% from 2006 to 2010, CCID says.

CCID points out that although the substrate sector still features low-end products, the sapphire sector has geared up for expansion. CCID contends that in recent years, the development of China's substrate sector has been relatively slow compared with epitaxial, chip, and packaging sectors due to its less advanced technology and the fierce market competition. According to CCID, in 2010, various sapphire substrate projects were still under construction or in the process of equipment testing. This reportedly kept the production capacity from a significant expansion. CCID says that the substrate sector still featured low-end products with a limited production capacity of sapphire substrate. China's substrate sector had a capacity of 3.525 million square inches in 2010, up 34.4% from 2009, with an output value of RMB 140 million, up 50.8% from 2009. LIGHTimes SecondPage members login for more. Guests can view membership details.