A recent editorial at SolidStateLightingDesign.com issued a gloomy outlook for today’s lighting industry:
With the beginning of September comes the start of the new fiscal year for the LED business. Unfortunately, the report card for most LED makers and LED lighting makers has not been good.
In recent years the LED lighting industry has become more and more like the conventional lighting industry with only a handful of very large manufacturers. The major LED makers are taking over the vast majority of LED production.
At the same time severe price competition from Asian suppliers has reduced much of the profitability of these companies. The recently instituted tariffs on trade goods from China has only hurt U.S. LED producers.
A surplus of very inexpensive high and mid-power LED chips on the market has further eroded the profitability of producing LED lighting.
Demonetization and the longevity of LED sources is combining to lead the editor to predict further industry consolidation and cost reduction. A bright spot looking ahead, the editor writes, is the Internet of Things and light as a service.
Check it out here.
