Philips entering LED lighting market in Taiwan as it moves towards a 'greener' business

March 26, 2008

Philips will enter the LED lighting market in Taiwan in Q2, with contracts lined up to provide street lights in Taipei, Taichung, and Kaohsiung, according to the Economic Daily News and Digitimes.

The market scale for converting Taiwan's street lighting to LED is over NTD 1 billion, according to Edward Po, general manager of Philips Lighting division. Philips is also currently in talks with other cities and county governments to provide LED lighting across the island, said Po.

Philips' lighting division is concentrating on the high efficiency LED market, for which its applications are showing rapid growth in revenues. The company's 'green' lighting sales increased by 17% in 2007, with the largest growth in solutions for home lighting, followed by retail outlets and street lighting, according to the Digitimes website.

This move to products such as LED lighting reflects an overall shift in Philips' business strategy. The company is changing its focus to 'green' products – mainly lighting, medical care, and lifestyle products -- and moving away from the high-tech industry. Philips was previously a major shareholder of the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp. and LPL of South Korea.

In recent years, the company has turned its attention to its lighting and health care products divisions with an investment of 10 billion euros, says Hong Yue-rong, head of brand management at Philips Taiwan. Citing a recent report on Philips global operations and Taiwan's market development, Hong said that Philips' revenues from its 'green' products in 2007 grew by 33% over the previous year, with revenues of 5.3 billion euros.

With its "EcoVision 4" plan, the company aims for its green products to account for 30% of all product revenues within five years. In 2007, green product sales already accounted for 20% of overall revenues, up from 15% in 2006, said the EDN report.

Philips has also already invested approximately 1 billion euros in R&D for new green products, and also plans to raise energy efficiency at its offices and factories by 25% within five years, said Hong.

(Economic Daily News, Digitimes)

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