LED demand in China has seen a significant increase, driving up sapphire substrate demand for five consecutive months, according to financial firm UBS. 

Increased demands from the LED and backlight application market have spurred sapphire manufacturers to expand sapphire ingot, sapphire wafer, and PSS production, according to the recent 2014 Global Sapphire Substrate Market Report from LEDinside, a division of research organization Trendforce. 

LED industry demand is booming, causing downstream epitaxial manufacturers to upstream package manufacturers to face the possibility of an undersupply situation. LED demands started strengthening from 4Q13 to 2Q14, said Zhang Shixian, Deputy General Manager of Epistar. Zhang estimates that demands will continue increasing in 3Q14. Epistar’s production capacity has already reached 90 percent. The company is now concerned that supply will not meet demand after 3Q14.