Hon Hai Ventures into LED Wafer Ingot Segment

As part of its efforts to sharpen competitive edge in the LED (lighting emitting diode) lighting market, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd recently decided to venture into manufacturing of sapphire-based wafer ingots, the material for making LED epitaxy wafers.

Hon Hai, currently Taiwan`s biggest manufacturing conglomerate in terms of revenue, will enter into this segment by investing in Alpha Xtal Technology Corp of Taiwan, which specializes in manufacturing such ingots, through its venture capital funds.

After acquiring Alpha, Hon Hai can equip itself with integrated capability for LED lighting manufacturing. The company now has LED packaging and lighting module affiliates.

Alpha Chairperson LL Gou pointed out that Hon Hai had acquired only a minor ownership in her company through a recent capital raising, which aimed to fund the company`s expansion plan.

Alpha has had its ingots certified with local expitaxy-wafer makers including Formosa Epitaxy Inc, Tekcore Co Ltd, Genesis Photonics Inc, Arima Optoelectronics Corp, and Chi Mei Lighting Technology Corp.

Market research organization Topology Research Institute of Taiwan estimates LED output to reach $8 billion worldwide next year and $10.8 billion by 2012, with compound annual growth rate posting at 13 to 20 percent.

Source: CENS