Taiwan sapphire industry called for mergers and acquisitions to resolve the crisis of excess inventory

Upstream of the LED epitaxial plant in March revenues over raising drive capacity downstream of sapphire substrate factory gradually into full, making May the crystal price hike of about 2%, the substrate quote has 5% increase, will drive the Xin crystal diamond, Zhao Yuan, Jing Mei, Jia Jing branch Q2 revenue growth.

At present, sapphire application continue into the mobile phone and tablet computer, including LED backlight and camera, continue to expand demand, excess inventory will accelerate the digestion of sapphire, sapphire future will raise prices.

According to LEDinside estimates, in 2013 the sapphire and LED epitaxial wafer demand compared to pile up in excess of requirement ratio up to 18%, but in 2012 24% the proportion of pile up in excess of requirement was reduced, and in the future, the problem of the short term capacity of sapphire pile up in excess of requirement is still not resolved, even so the sapphire substrate manufacturers this year continued to increase production, only non LED market applications, such as SOS, window film, handheld device, to the production capacity. In addition to the camera lens in the future, if the smart phone protection glass is also replaced by Sapphire material, is expected to create a considerable market demand.

Because of this, the industry outcry, hope that the Taiwan sapphire industry can put down their guns, sit down and discuss the feasibility of merging, although the price seems to be a modest growth, but we are still at a loss, the current market is still oversupply, when the process might be fully into the mobile phone for a long time, it is a test of the company deep pockets, hold for a long time!

The second quarter increase in the upstream market driven, 2 inch substrate quotation will increase by about 5%, related industries including Zhaoyuan, Jing Mei, Jia Jing branch, Ruijie in March to advance into the full, with the price rise will contribute to revenue growth.