Taiwanese LED makers Epistar and UEC to merge

Two Taiwanese LED manufacturers, Epistar and United Epitaxy Company (UEC) are to merge, according to filings with the Taiwan Stock Exchange (TSE), as reported by the DigiTimes website.

The new company, Epistar, will be considerably larger than its rivals in the Taiwan LED industry in terms of operation and production scale, as Epistar is a leader in the high-luminance blue LED segment with its patented ITO (indium-tin oxide) technology and UEC remains Taiwan’s largest supplier of red-orange-yellow AlGaInP LEDs.

The merger will take effect on December 30, 2005, and every 2.24 shares of UEC will be swapped for one Epistar share.

After the merger, Epistar anticipates its revenues will reach NT$12 billion ($377 million), from a combined NT$5.74 billion ($180 million) for the two companies last year.

In July 2005, UEC had revenues of NT$194 million while Epistar's sales were NT$246 million.

Epistar and UEC are aiming to reduce production and marketing costs by integrating each other’s R&D and manufacturing capabilities. The companies anticipate that high-luminance LEDs will drive the global LED market through 2008, when sales of LED products are expected to reach US$6.8 billion worldwide.

Mergers in Taiwan Earlier this year, South Epitaxy Corporation, another Taiwan-based LED supplier, acquired a smaller rival, Epitech, through a share-swap transaction (see table).

Tekcore buys Aixtron machines

Another Taiwanese LED chip supplier, Tekcore, has ordered three epitaxy machines for growing blue and green LED chips.

The machines will be supplied by Thomas Swan, part of the Aixtron Group, and will be installed at Tekcore's fabrication plant in Nantou.