Packaged LED market shares

We have recently updated market shares for a new report, both for 2009 as well as a provisional market share for 2010. For Samsung LED and LG Innotek, we looked at the values of packaged LEDs even those contained in a module and counted all of their packaged LED business, whether merchant or captive.

By IMS Research December 2, 2010

We have recently updated market shares for a new report, both for 2009 as well as a provisional market share for 2010. For Samsung LED and LG Innotek, we looked at the values of packaged LEDs even those contained in a module and counted all of their packaged LED business, whether merchant or captive.

Although the TV backlighting boom has temporarily fallen in the 4th quarter of 2010 due to weaker demand and supply chain corrections, 2010 was still a year of tremendous growth in the LED industry, dramatically higher than the typical growth rates of recent years. We believe the market for LEDs (including all types: Standard, AlInGaP and InGaN) has grown from $6.1 billion in 2009 to about $10.0 billion in 2010, driven by economic recovery, lighting and above all backlights, especially TVs. This means that suppliers are having to grow by 64% this year just to maintain their market share.

Nichia is still the number one in 2009 and 2010 however will be challenged strongly by Samsung LED in 2011. Samsung now has the capacity to take the #1 position and increasing demand for LED TVs from Q2 2011 onwards should enable them to do so. In 2009 we rank Samsung as 3rd and in 2010 2nd, changing places with Osram who have previously occupied the number 2 rank for many years. Lumileds, which was ranked 3rd by IMS Research in 2006, 2007 and 2008, has fallen to 4th position in 2009 and a provisional 6th in 2010. Lumileds’ market share has actually been fairly steady as they have grown in line with the market, but they provisionally look set to fall in rank in 2010 due to tremendous growth from Seoul Semiconductor and Cree.

IMS has produced the market shares for LED manufacturers worldwide for many years but this is the first time we have expanded this and shown some region and application market shares as well. We have market share estimates for three regions: EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa), Americas and Asia Pacific and for applications including lighting and automotive for this report. For lighting and automotive Cree and Osram respectively are the market leaders.

IMS market shares are our estimate but in practice many of these are based on reported revenue and discussions with the leading suppliers who we have direct relations with. Opinions from competitors and companies elsewhere in the supply chain (particularly for lighting and backlighting) help to verify the market shares, as do our estimates of the capacity of the leading suppliers (we also track reactor shipments and chip production) and known supply chain relationships within the LED industry.