interview epistar
the company decided to just be an LED manufacturer?
SD
We value our partnership with our downstream customers. We don’t want to be in competition with our clients, and would rather have a win-win situation.
We are focusing on our epitaxial wafer technology, our process technology, and we are trying to help our downstream customers. For example, helping them in how to use LED chips to enhance performance, or how to package them.
RS SD
RS
Has LED lighting made much of an impact in Taiwan?
Yes, but it’s not happening fast. The government is placing increasing emphasis on popular LED lighting, and it is changing the streetlights to LED lighting in 2012. A subsidy program for households is also about to launch.
You have a joint venture agreement with Toyoda Gosei. Is this a win-win for both companies. Why?
RS SD
An Epistar technician loading and unloading the LED wafers in a tool for the metallization process
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www.compoundsemiconductor.net March 2012
RS SD
RS SD
SD
Toyoda Gosei has comprehensive worldwide patents, but very limited production capacity in Japan. So it’s invested in a JV (joint venture) company with Epistar. The JV company inherits TG’s patents and is able to use Epistar’s production facility for cost-competitive production. Epistar can penetrate some markets that require special patents.
In the Japanese market, these LEDs are sold under the TG brand. We have another JV office, TE with TG, that’s based in Taiwan and is for sales outside the Japanese market. Therefore, if we want to deliver these chips to other customers, we are able to sell through the TE with TG brand.
Do you have any joint ventures with Chinese firms?
Yes, we have several JVs with local Chinese firms. This allows us to belong to the downstream of the lighting supply chain. By doing so, we get updates on market demand and the design of lighting products for consumer needs.
How do you view the strong package of incentives provided in China for LED manufacture? Has it helped the global LED industry grow revenues by driving down prices, or has it squeezed profits through an oversupply of chips, and ultimately put the brakes on investment?
We think that the later claim is a more suitable description for the result of China’s incentives for progress. The oversupply has really been driven by what has happened in mainland China. There is still a shortage of high-end LED chips, which are bright enough to go into the TV market or high-end lighting. But LED makers will struggle if they cannot catch this high-end market.
What programmes does Epistar have in place to increase yield and cut the cost per lumen?
If you want to get costs down, the best way is to increase your yield. There are two points of view on how to do this: One, to increase your manufacturing efficiency; and two, to increase the efficiency of LED chips.
If you improve the efficiency you improve the lumens. And if you can improve the lumens per area, you can shrink the chip, and that means you can produce more chips with one wafer. So the cost will fall.
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