Lighting is the ultimate market segment for LED applications, and LED high-power chips are the core components of LED lighting. They are also the soft underbelly of the domestic chip industry. Diyuan Optoelectronics is one of the early manufacturers focusing on high-power chips. In the face of the Taiwan chip factory westward, Cree and other foreign giants into China, the prospects of local high-power manufacturers have become the focus of attention in the industry. Diyuan Optoelectronics is in a leading position in the field of high-power chip technology in China. It is the support unit of the “Ten Cities and Ten Thousand†LED Promotion Plan of the Ministry of Science and Technology. It undertakes the major special projects of the 863 Program and shoulders the heavy responsibility of breaking the LED lighting chip completely dependent on the import situation. "High-tech LED" reporter interviewed Mr. Dong Zhijiang, general manager of Diyuan Optoelectronics.
Dong Zhijiang, general manager of Diyuan Optoelectronics
Domestic high-power chip market has very good prospects
High-tech LED: What do you think of the domestic LED chip market competition situation? Who is the biggest competitor of Diyuan?
Dong Zhijiang: Different LED application fields have different requirements for chip luminous efficiency. At present, China's LED chip manufacturers mainly include Xiamen Sanan, Hangzhou Silan, Wuhan Diyuan, Huacan Optoelectronics, Shanghai Blu-ray, Shanghai Lanbao and Xiamen Dry Photo. Sanan focuses on low-power LED backlight and display market. Silan and Huacan focus on LED outdoor display market. Dry-light specializes in red and yellow light chips. Only Diyuan focuses on high-power chips for high-brightness illumination. Our competitors are from the United States and Taiwan. Value creates customers, we provide customers with better service and more cost-effective products.
High-tech LED: What is the current supply and demand situation of domestic high-power chips?
Dong Zhijiang: 80% of domestic high-power chips have to rely on imports, mainly relying on Taiwan and the United States, and another 20% of high-power chips are mainly supplied by Diyuan Optoelectronics.
High-tech LED: What do you think is the future of the high-power chip market?
Dong Zhijiang: The market prospect is very good, especially in the lighting market. I said a few years ago that LED applications will form a three-pronged situation, namely indicators and display, backlight and lighting. The lighting market is a trillion-dollar market and the ultimate market for LEDs.
The biggest obstacle to catching up with international giants is that talent is not a patent.
High-tech LED: What is the current competition situation of big companies?
Dong Zhijiang: Compared with our early years in the United States, the luminous efficiency of the chip has increased from 10lm/W to over 100lm/W, and the application field of LED has expanded a lot. The five major European, American and Japanese factories have specialized in providing LED packaging devices. The Korean chip factory mainly focuses on domestic demand and specializes in backlighting. Taiwan's factory chip packaging division is relatively fine, the big factory focuses on backlighting and lighting. Domestic chip factories use more indications and display applications. Before the luminous efficiency of the device reaches the theoretical limit of 300lm/W, the LED industry will always be a field oriented to technological innovation. Differentiation and specialization determine the development and future of the enterprise. Cooperation in the industry chain creates value and can quickly promote the development of the industry. At this point, our local enterprises should learn from Taiwanese companies, which is fundamentally the development of technology and market advantages.
High-tech LED: Now many Taiwanese companies that do LEDs invest in the mainland, is it putting pressure on Diyuan Optoelectronics?
Dong Zhijiang: Many Taiwanese factories have come to do the matching, mainly to meet the orders of South Korea and mainland factories. Of course, the subsidy policy of local government investment attraction is very attractive. For the chip factory, competition has always been international. As for whether the factory is opened in a certain city in China or a corner of the world, the difference is not big.
High-tech LED: Compared with Taiwanese manufacturers, what are the advantages of Diyuan chips?
Dong Zhijiang: The focus of our service is different. Taiwan's chip factory and Taiwan's packaging factory have established long-term cooperative relations, and attach importance to the Korean market, and we mainly serve domestic packaging factories. In terms of products, we have the same luminous efficiency as Taiwanese factories, but because of the different technical routes, the response from customers is that our chips are more affordable and more convenient to use. Our customers are more loyal.
High-tech LED: The development of domestic semiconductor lighting chip technology started relatively late in foreign countries, and the technical level still has a certain distance from international leading companies. Is there any obstacle in the patent technology of Diyuan?
Dong Zhijiang: The technology used in our production is based on the technology developed by ourselves. The company has undertaken two national 863 projects and one national 863 major project. It has also received support from the National Development and Reform Commission for high-tech industrialization and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. We have invested tens of millions of dollars in research and development, and accumulated a lot of invention patents and special technologies. As a chip factory that locates the high-end market for lighting, we have done so much, and we will continue to carry out technology research and development. The biggest obstacle to catching up with the international giants now is not patents, but talent.
High-tech LED: What is the current situation of domestic LED chip technology talents?
Dong Zhijiang: Due to the short time of development of the domestic LED industry, there are relatively few experienced chip talents in China. But other industries have good talents to learn from, and some of the newly graduated students are also very good seedlings. This industry has just begun, and it will certainly be a good development to focus on its own strengths. We have a group of such talents, and this is where we are more proud.
The luminous efficiency and yield of the chip are key
High-tech LED: At present, some lighting factories use low-power integrated chips for lighting, but the mainstream of the market is a single high power. Do you think that the integrated system will become mainstream in the future?
Dong Zhijiang: I think that the subsequent welding of small power integrated chips is complicated and the reliability will have certain problems. Because the low-power integrated chip is cheap, it can coexist with a single high-power chip in the market in the current low-efficiency device. However, with the continuous improvement of luminous efficacy and the increasing requirements for the reliability of lighting, high-power chips will be the mainstream of the market. On the device side, there will be an integrated and a single type coexisting.
High-tech LED: Some companies have special chip technologies, such as crystal silicon substrate technology, Crystal's flip chip technology, and Xurui's metal substrate technology. What do you think of their prospects?
Dong Zhijiang: Each enterprise adopts different technical routes, which have its own accumulation and advantages in terms of its advantages, as well as market positioning needs. For the lighting market, LEDs ultimately need to compete with traditional luminaires in terms of cost. Under the premise of ensuring reliability, luminous efficiency and yield are the key points. And I personally prefer a technical route that has outstanding advantages in these two aspects.
High-tech LED: Cree achieved a 280 lm/W efficiency breakthrough with 350 mA using silicon carbide technology, while sapphire technology is progressing relatively slowly. What do you think is the future development of sapphire substrate technology?
Dong Zhijiang: In addition, Nichia's 20mA drive with sapphire technology has reached a world record of 249 lm/W, which is also encouraging. The two world records of Cree and Nichia illustrate that, first, the strength and prospect of LED technology as a competition with traditional lamps can be expected. Second, the use of different substrates does not significantly affect the performance of LED technology. There is still much room for research on sapphire substrate technology.
High-tech LED: It is said that since 2009, Diyuan Optoelectronics has also undertaken some application projects for the “Ten Cities and Ten Thousand Cities†project. What is the company based on?
Dong Zhijiang: Diyuan is committed to power chip leading LED lighting, but LED lighting is a new thing, the public's awareness is still very low. We have undertaken some “Ten Cities and Ten Thousand†application demonstration projects, and used domestic high-power chips to promote LED lighting applications, which achieved very good results.
Chip out of stock will last for 2 to 4 years
High-tech LED: According to our understanding, the phenomenon that the chip is out of stock is very serious now. What is the cause of this phenomenon? How long do you think this phenomenon will last?
Dong Zhijiang: Mainly LED has successfully entered the LED TV backlight market. This market is five times larger than our current LED market (including mobile phones, laptop backlights, indicators, displays). LEDs bring high-definition, ultra-thin fashion to LCD flat-panel TVs. Therefore, panel manufacturers hope to attract customers with such high-end products and increase market share, resulting in a shortage of chips. How long the chip shortage will last depends on the speed of the chip's luminous efficiency and the overall start-up time of the lighting market, which is estimated to last for two to four years.
High-tech LED: It is said that MOCVD will be queued for purchase now. When will this phenomenon change?
Dong Zhijiang: MOCVD equipment manufacturers have been customizing for customers, so the supply cycle is consistently long, which also restricts the development of the industry to a certain extent. This situation also shows that the LED industry is still in the early stage of development. Changing this situation requires equipment vendors to adjust their mindset.
High-tech LED: Do you think there will be a breakthrough in China's MOCVD research and development in the next five years? why?
Dong Zhijiang: This depends on the combination of research units and chip units that master the core technology of MOCVD, as well as the direction and motivation of industrialization.
High-tech LED: It is understood that there is not much difference between domestic and foreign countries in the field of small power chips, but there is a big gap between the two sides in the high-power field. Do you think China will have a big breakthrough in the high-power field in the next three years?
Dong Zhijiang: China is a big lighting country, and no one has any doubts about LED entering the lighting field. High-power LED devices are the core components of LED lighting, and China will make a difference in this field.
High-tech LED: In addition to Sanan and Silan, what do you think will be the third listed chip company in China in the future? Why?
Dong Zhijiang: The capital market is now more mysterious about LEDs, and the pursuit of LEDs is more blind, but it will soon become rational. With the growing popularity of LED applications and the deepening of the public's understanding of LEDs, the capital market will eventually focus on those companies that have potential in segmentation, sustainable technology development, and high degree of specialization.
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