LED market recovery surge in demand for MOCVD precursors

With the growth of the LED lighting market, the demand for organic metal chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) precursors (Precursor) has risen rapidly. IHS, a research firm, estimates that global demand for MOCVD precursors will grow from 48.6 tonnes in 2013 to about $69 in 2016, compared with a total of $32 in 2012, up from about $114%.

The precursor is LED epitaxial layer (EpiLayer) core material luminous efficiency can achieve the most ideal, the most critical process for MOCVD manufacturing LED wafer, which mainly consists of trimethyl gallium (TMGa), trimethyl indium gallium (TMIn), three (TEGa), three ethyl methyl aluminum (TMA) cyclopentadiene (Cyclopentadienyl), and two (Cp2Mg) of elements such as magnesium mao.

MOCVD equipment buyers from South Korea, Taiwan and Mainland China accounted for 80% of the global total demand for precursor, which is the highest demand in mainland china. It is estimated that in 2016 MOCVD precursor demand will be 45% from the Chinese market.

Such an amazing growth force, but also makes MOCVD precursor market competition intensified. In the early stages of LED, Dow Chemical (DowChemical) is the leading supplier of the precursor market, but with the expansion of demand, new competitors are also competing to low-cost, high-quality products to actively attack the market. Such a competitive environment to promote the precursor of LED chip manufacturers to reduce costs, can be described as a great boon; but in the long run, but is likely to gradually erode the precursor of supplier's profit space, become hidden behind the market expansion.