Global Automotive LED Revenue Projected to Reach Nearly US$3B in 2021 Owing to High Demand for Headlights & Display Panels
Publish Date :2021/03/25
The COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacted the global auto market and in turn
damaged the automotive LED industry in 1H20, according to TrendForce’s latest
investigations. In 2H20, however, the gradual recovery of vehicle sales as well
as the development of NEVs provided some upward momentum for the automotive LED
industry, whose revenue for the year reached US$2.572 billion, a 3.7% decline
YoY. Automotive LED revenue for 2021 is projected to reach $2.926 billion, a
13.7% growth YoY, thanks to the increasing demand for automotive headlights and
display panels. As automakers continue to incorporate LED lighting solutions
into new car models, the penetration rate of automotive LED will continue to
undergo a corresponding increase as well.
TrendForce analyst Joanne Wu indicates that, in the automotive LED player
revenue ranking of 2020, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors, Nichia, and Lumileds
remained the top three largest automotive LED suppliers, respectively, with a
combined market share of 71.9%. In particular, European and American automakers
favored OSRAM’s solutions for their high-end vehicle models and NEVs due to the
high quality of OSRAM products. Adoption by these automakers subsequently became
the main revenue driver of OSRAM’s automotive LED business.
On the other hand, the pandemic caused Japanese automakers to suspend their
operations and therefore had a direct impact on the revenues and market shares
of Japanese LED suppliers, such as Nichia and Stanley, in 2020. Nichia and
Stanley saw their revenues decline by 9.8% YoY and 7% YoY, respectively, and
were the two suppliers among the top 10 last year to have shown relatively
noticeable declines. Seoul Semiconductor’s nPola and Wicop LED products were
adopted by Chinese automakers, including CCAG, SAIC-GM, and NIO, due to these
products’ high brightness and compact sizes. Seoul Semiconductor’s market share
reached 5.1% in 2020. Finally, not only did other suppliers, including Samsung
LED and CREE, deliver consistent performances in the automotive aftermarket (AM)
and performance market (PM) segments, but they also gradually began entering the
automotive Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) lighting market. Samsung LED
and CREE each took seventh and ninth place on the 2020 ranking with a 2.8% and
1.1% market share, respectively.
On the whole, TrendForce finds that automotive demand has been recovering
since 4Q20. Accordingly, LED suppliers indicate that their booking orders appear
bullish throughout 2021, meaning most LED suppliers now need to extend their
product lead times in response. At the same time, LED players indicated that
double booking might happen in the near future. Thereby, they will make
decisions in light of the actual booking order quantity to see the possibility
of increasing prices.
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