The sapphire substrate of the upstream material of the LED chip has been in the industry for a period of time due to the tight supply. There is now news that the price of a 2-inch sapphire substrate has exceeded $20, an increase of 50% compared to the price in the first quarter of 2010. Affected by this news, US sapphire single crystal manufacturer Rubicon Technology announced that it will raise 61.5 million US dollars to expand the capacity of crystal growth and post-crystal growth. There are even rumors that Samsung is taking the opportunity to monopolize the supply of sapphire substrates and crack down on competitors in preparation for the future LED industry.
In the original industry, the level of the prosperity index, the tight supply and demand of materials, and the rise and fall of product prices are not worth making a fuss. As Li Gang, the general manager of Shanghai Lanbao, said, there is indeed a shortage of sapphire substrate supply on the market, and the price of sapphire substrates is also rising, but I have not heard of any company that stopped production because the sapphire substrate is not available. of. Therefore, it can be seen that the main reason for the tight supply and price increase of the current sapphire substrate is that the market is in a state of early warning. If, as some media reports have said, there are nearly 500 MOCVD installations, there will be a situation of short supply, but now it is only the expectation that a capacity will increase rapidly. It seems that there is no need to worry too much. However, further considerations will reveal that an expectation has caused the price of sapphire substrates to increase by 50% in less than half a year, which fully reflects the immaturity of the young LED industry.
Compared with the solar photovoltaic industry two or three years ago, it is also an emerging industry. The same is of great concern. The same prospects are bright. Under the impetus of financial subsidies from Germany and Spain, market demand is rapidly erupting, but this also leads to the contradiction between supply and demand. The intensification, coupled with artificial follow-up and speculation, eventually accumulates into the upstream polysilicon material stage, which has created a deformed market price: in just two or three years, the price of polysilicon materials has been raised from about $200 to $500. In order to seize this round of ultra-high-priced express trains, Chinese companies have planned a production capacity of up to 100,000 tons of polysilicon materials (in 2006, China's annual production capacity was only 400 tons), and even domestic use of sand for sand production, production sources phenomenon. As a result, the price collapsed and was affected by the healthy development of China's entire solar photovoltaic industry.
Now, both the market demand and the state's subsidy policy have been tilting towards the LED industry. At the same time, a large number of LED chip factories have emerged. These companies have also planned amazing production capacity: Sanan Optoelectronics investment, Dehao Runda's project, Shilanwei's directional issuance, Hong Kong microcrystalline capital increase... According to National Semiconductor Lighting According to statistics from engineering research and development and industry alliances, only 140 units of MOCVD equipment are expected to be added in mainland China in 2010. Together with the number of MOCVDs amplified by manufacturers in Korea and Taiwan, sapphire substrates, MO gas sources, and even The shortage of other raw materials and the increase in prices are not surprising. As Jiang Zhongyong, general manager of Hangzhou Silan Mingxin said, the shortage of sapphire substrates may exist this year and next. The main reason is that there are fewer sapphire substrate companies and insufficient capacity. Its shortage will naturally drive the expansion of enterprises or the joining of new enterprises, so that supply and demand will reach a balance again. However, what we need to avoid is the sharp price volatility and the ups and downs of investment. It advocates orderly industry order and benign market competition. Otherwise, it will form a severe test for the immature LED supply chain system, and even affect the future development of the entire industry. 