Taiwan's top LED chipmaker Epistar saw its revenues decline 3.5% sequentially to NT$1.39 billion US$47.65 million in January. Fellow chipmaker Lextar Electronics also saw its revenues fall 27% on month to NT$481 million during the same period. Tekcore, on the other hand, posted a 5% revenue gains for the month with NT$205 million.
Epistar had expected a revenue increase for January due to clients pushing back December orders for inventory management purposes. Seasonal impact and a strong NT dollar, however, have affected Epistar's January sales performance, analysts said. Order visibility has reached March, and thus the company should see a significant revenue rebound at the end of the quarter, analysts added. Epistar's December revenues fell 13% sequentially.
Tekcore credited its revenue increase in January to the introduction of new LED TV models and rising demand for LED backlight applications. With less working days in February, revenues for the month will remain at a low level, but a substantial jump should take place in March.
First-quarter revenues are expected to climb 5-10% to NT$600-650 million on capacity utilization returning to 90%. TV backlight application accounted for 20% of revenues in 2010, and the proportion should increase to 30% in 2011.
In related news, LED lighting company Edison Opto posted January revenues of NT$220 million, up 15.7% on month and 7.7% on year. The overall lighting market will see flat growth to a small decline in the first quarter with significant growth projected for the second quarter.
Source: Companies, compiled by Digitimes, January 2011
