PIDA stated that in 2014, people in Europe and the United States used incandescent lights with a maximum of 40-60W due to government policies and increasing rates of switching to newer lights. On the other hand, as the center of global lighting manufacturing, China had a penetration rate of 8.9% in 2013, and it rose to 16.4% in 2014.

PIDA pointed out that in 2014 the top ten global lighting manufacturers earned approximately 27% of market revenue; consequently, the industrial concentration would not be considered high. In terms of revenue, a sequential list of the top ranking manufacturers was as follows: Philips, OSRAM, Panasonic, General Electric, Acuity Brands, Zumtobel, Toshiba, Cooper Lighting, Cree, and Hubber. In addition to Cree, which entered the top ten manufacturers as a company that solely manufactures LED lighting, a number of other international lighting manufacturers are between ten and one hundred years old.

In addition, the total revenue of the top ten LED lighting manufacturers accounted for 64% of the global market, which is a considerably high industrial concentration.

In recent years, the LED penetration rate has been gradually increasing; moreover, the proportion of revenues for LED lighting products has also conformed to this trend and continually risen. This has slowed the overall declining rate in the lighting industry. Although the penetration rate for LED is gradually increasing in the lighting industry, traditional lighting manufacturers still dominate the lighting market.

The LED lighting market is also entering an era of excessive competition. In March 2015, Philips sold an 80.1% stake in its LED packaging and automotive body company, Lumileds, to China’s GO Scale Capital Investment Consortium, shocking the global LED industry.

(TR/Phil Sweeney)