中国LED产业强势扩张但亦有隐忧

choi

Keith Bradsher, 中国LED产业强势扩张但亦有隐忧. 纽约时报中文网, June 19, 2014 (available now)
cn.nytimes.com/business/20140619/c19light/

, which is translated from

Keith Bradsher, As LED Industry Evolves, China Elbows Ahead; A price war helps China wrest market share from the industry’s pioneers. New York Times, June 18, 2014.

Quote:

(a) “Yet LEDs represent a far more complex story than simply another industry that Western companies created and then ceded to Chinese rivals — one reason the trade issues may not play out in the same way.

“The industry, for instance, is highly segmented. Chinese manufacturers are strongest in the low-wattage LEDs used for television and cellphone backlights as well as for fairly dim lamps, equivalent to 40-watt incandescent bulbs. Western companies are retaining market share for brighter, higher-wattage equipment with bigger profits.

(b) “With significant capacity, Chinese manufacturers could quickly increase production to meet the demand. Alice Tao, a lighting analyst at IHS Technology, a global consulting firm, estimated that very low prices had allowed Chinese companies to capture about 30 percent of the global market. That gives them the biggest share ahead of Japan, South Korea, Germany, Taiwan and the United States, which share the rest of the market in fairly even proportions.

(c) “Many Chinese companies are struggling to make a profit. If state-owned banks stop financing the Chinese industry with low interest rates, consolidation may be inevitable.

“‘There are too many Chinese players in this market and the price competition is very fierce,’ Ms Tao said. ‘Most of them can’t make a profit and it’s difficult for them to survive.’

“Even as Chinese manufacturers gain worldwide market share, their issues may only mount.

My comment:
(a) There is no need to read the rest.
(b) I do not know the significance of this report. The LED industry has focused on Organic LED (OLED) and 4K LED television (where 4k refers to the resolution), in neither China competes.