Cross-strait cooperation urged in LED forum

They made the remarks during a cross-strait LED forum held at Grand Hotel in Taipei.

Huang Chung-chiu, deputy minister of economic affairs, said that LED was the fifth in a series of cross-strait forums held recently, the other four being herbal medicine, solar cell, optoelectronics and telecommunications.

He said Taiwan has formed a seamless LED supply chain network, with manufacturers having developed expertise in such products as notebook PC and LCD TV back-light panels.

Further, he said Taiwan's ultra-bright LED chip production accounts for 40 percent of the global total.

Feng Jichun, an official with China's Ministry of Science and Technology, said the People's Republic has achieved breakthroughs in mid- to upstream LED applications.

"Taiwan has the expertise, scale and human resources. China can learn much from Taiwan," Feng said. "Both sides of the strait can complement each other."

During the forum, Feng mentioned five areas in which Taiwan and China can work together.

First, both sides can work together on investment, he said. Second, Taiwan and China can form an industry alliance to conduct joint research and development.

Third, Taiwan and China should work out a common patenting standard, and fourth, both sides should form a standardization mechanism, he said.

Fifth, Taiwan and China should develop a common certification and testing platform, he added.

Wu Ling, secretary general of the China Solid State Lighting Alliance, said governments on both sides have already built a bridge allowing greater exchanges in the future in the areas of patenting, technology and standardization.

"Both sides should work together on R&D, investment, capital expansion, international markets enlargement, and the formation of international brands," she said.

In 2008, Taiwan's LED industry posted an overall production value of NT$46 billion, the second largest in the world. Of that total, lighting applications accounted for over NT$10 billion.

LED back-lighting applications, meanwhile, last year saw production value grow 109 percent from 2007.

Right now, China has about 3,000 LED companies, most of them being mid- and downstream manufacturers totaling 1,000 and 2,000, respectively. Upstream manufacturers total only 25. Total production reached 70 billion yuan in 2008.

Taiwan's manufacturers have about 40 to 50 percent of the world's total capacity for ultra-bright LEDs and this has led to a clustering effect. Presently, upstream, midstream and downstream firms total 50, 40 and in the hundreds, respectively.

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