3Q13 Global LED Market Share Leaders

Research company IHS released its 3Q13 market share ranking this month, showing the top five companies, with $1.77 billion in revenues for the quarter.

The top five global LED companies by revenue in order were Nichia, Samsung, Osram, Cree, and Philips Lumileds. Together they comprise about 48 percent market share. Total revenue for the quarter was $3.68 billion, according to IHS, with $1.9 billion generated outside the companies in the top five ranking.

IHS senior analyst and report author Jon Casswell said Nichia is leading in revenues in the quarter with just over $0.56 billion, for 15.2 percent market share. Tokushima, Japan-based Nichia benefits from that country's LED light adoption -- the world's highest in 2013, according to IHS. Nichia also recently claimed a Chinese patent victory over Taiwan rival Everlight Electronics, when the Beijing No. 1 Intermediate Peoples Court refused to overturn the Nichia LED patent.

Samsung Electronics trailed Nichia in the quarter by 4.2 percent in market share or $406 million for the quarter. The Korean-based CE giant used much of its LED output in supplying backlighting units for products including its popular LCD TVs. Samsung coined the term LED TV to help differentiate its solid-state illumination from the more conventional CCFL, or cold cathode fluorescent lamps. The use of LEDs helps Samsung build ultra-slim, lightweight, and narrow-bezel TVs that took the market by storm, even during the height of an economic recession.

The use of LED backlights in LCD TVs has grown to the point of saturation, with a whopping 90 percent penetration forecast to ship in 2013, according to IHS, forcing companies like Samsung and Seoul Semiconductor to look to general lighting markets to sell their LED chips. Analyst Jamie Fox at IHS recently reported that as backlighting has moved into the background, both companies have already successfully made the transition. Here is the IHS press release on LED backlights.

IHS said that the highest penetration for LED lighting by market sector is in retail and hospitality, at approximately 6 percent LED, versus just 1 percent for the residential market. The group also said LED penetration in general lighting (compared to alternatives) was currently forecast to hit just 2.8 percent (all lamps shipped) in 2013. "This amounts to 520 million LED lamps vs. 18.6 billion lamps in total," IHS reported in a recent press release. And LED demand is growing, with revenue forecast to hit to $2.5 billion by 2016, according to the research group.

LED lighting penetration by product, 2012-2016.

(Source: NPD DisplaySearch LED Lighting Market and Forecast Report)

We also found an October 2013 LED Lighting Market and Forecast Report by NPD DisplaySearch that shows where LED lighting penetration is moving in the space. The report benchmarks spotlights, street lights, bulbs, and fluorescent tube penetration today and moving forward with a forecast to 2016. Spots will continue to dominate throughout the period with 17.8 percent in 2013, and forecast to grow in penetration to almost half, or 46.3 percent of spotlights by 2016 (see chart at right).

For NPD, the big surprise was LED flourescent replacement tubes forecast to reach 6 percent global penetration this year (230 million units) and forecast to replace conventional fluorescent lamps with 22.3 percent penetration, or 791 million units by 2016. Market drivers for the space include the push for greener (mercury-free) products in both business and home; the 50 percent energy savings that comes from the move to LEDs, often found in 24/7 spaces; and the life expectancy boost of up to five years or 30,000 hours.

Did anything in these third-quarter numbers surprise you?