Taiwanese LED EPI-wafer manufacturer Epistar has vehemently denied claims made by local media Apple Daily that it had laid off more than 100 employees following the shut down of its subsidiary FOREPI’s EPI-wafer fab.

In 1H13, listed Chinese LED manufacturers’ total revenue increased at a Year Over Year (YOY) rate of 24.26% to US$ 629.62 million, while LED chip manufacturers’ revenue reached US$ 274.01 million. LED package manufacturers listed on the Chinese bourse also saw their revenue increase to US$ 355.61 million. Although, chip prices plunged in 1H13, overall sales increased at a YOY rate of 15.42%, companies have implemented low pricing strategies as manufacturers expanded production capacity. Taking into consideration factors including the timing of the production capacity expansion and chip performance, there were huge differences in chip manufacturers’ revenues. Affected by the LED lighting market demand, China’s major chip manufacturers’ production utilization rate reached a historical high, with San’an Optoelectronics and Elec-tech International (ETI) utilization rates at 87% and 59% respectively. Package manufacturers, especially in backlight field had the highest profits as they benefited from unexpected volume increases for lighting applications during 1H13 and an increasingly domestic backlight module supply chain.