Something to Think About...

Times, They Are A-Changin -

What End-Users will use in the future to satisfy their lighting needs is a factor of two major shifts:

1)      The Electronic Information Age

2)      The Electronic Lighting Industry

Both are inter-related as End-User Customers will seek to be more knowledgeable about how to improve their business and electronics will play an even more significant role in running a successful business, I suspect. The Electronic Information Age provides information like never before to deal with access, energy, productivity, sustainability, regulations, codes, standards, atmospherics, etc. etc. etc. The Electronic Lighting Industry really started 25 years ago with the electronic ballast. Now it is LED by the new technologies…….pardon the pun. But the unbelievable focus on solid state lighting (SSL) is something to see. Just wait a few weeks and tell me what you think after the LEDfair, I mean Lightfair. These paradigm/metamorphosis shifts, whatever you want to call them, will substantially change the profile of the lighting industry. Incumbents just do not like change of this sort as it threatens their oligopolistic hold on their market share and welcomes new entrants.

Niche opportunities may be there for the “swift” but the major electronics manufacturers will be in a position to dominate, The rank order, by revenue, of the top 10 suppliers in the HB-LED market in 2010 were: http://www.ledsmagazine.com/news/8/2/26

1)      Nichia

2)      Samsung LED

3)      Osram Opto Semiconductors

4)      Philips Lumileds Lighting

5)      Seoul Semiconductor

6)      LG Innotek

7)      Cree

8)      Sharp

9)      Toyoda Gosei

10)    Everlight

Three are Japanese, three are South Korean, two are European, one from Taiwan, one from America. Time will tell who emerges to dominate an “electronic” lighting industry. It may not be the current market share leaders…times, they are a-changin!