Seoul Semiconductor overtakes Japan’s Nichia as top backlight LED maker

South Korea’s Seoul Semiconductor Co. has overtaken Japan’s Nichia Corp. as the world’s top backlight light-emitting diode (LED) display maker, helped by its tens of thousands of advanced LED technology patents.

According to market tracker Omdia, Seoul Semiconductor ranked top with its backlight LED market share rising to 16.5% in 2023 from 15.2% the year prior.

Nichia Corp., the perennial backlight LED leader, saw its market share rise at a slower pace from 15.3% to 15.9% in the same period, ranking second after Seoul.

Seoul Semiconductor ranked second from 2018 through 2022, rising two notches from fourth in 2017.

“This achievement proves our advanced LED technology, including the world’s first wireless LED. Thousands of our technology (patents) will be essential to innovation in the futuristic display market,” said Lee Chung-hoon, founder and chief executive.

BACKLIGHT LED

A backlight is a form of illumination used in LEDs or liquid-crystal displays (LCDs) that provides light from the back or side of a display panel.

Japan’s Nichia, which developed blue LED technology, has led the backlight LED market for years. Known for its Dynasolis lighting technology, the company posted $1.67 billion in sales last year.

Seoul Semiconductor, listed on Korea’s Kosdaq stock market, has developed various LED displays for a broader range of consumer products, including automotive parts.

With LED displays widely adopted into applications, Seoul Semiconductor has grappled with patent litigation, mostly winning cases over its rivals.

Founded in 1992, the company has poured more than 1 trillion won ($725 million) into R&D. Seoul Semiconductor and its subsidiaries, including Seoul Viosys Co. and Sensor Electronic Technology Inc. (SETi), own more than 18,000 patents.

SEOUL’S NUMEROUS PATENTS

Among Seoul Semiconductor’s patented technologies, many of which are the world’s first, Violeds, an ultraviolet clean technology, is increasingly used by global home appliance brands in refrigerators, air conditioners and washers as the tech sterilizes water and other liquids.

Another notable technology is the WICOP LED, a package-free LED that directly connects semiconductors to a printed circuit board without a substrate installed between them. It is now a core technology for small-sized gadgets such as the Mini-LED TV.

The company’s other patented technologies include Acrich, a high-voltage AC-driven LED; nPola, an LED with 10 times the output of a conventional LED; filament LED, an all-direction light emitting technology; SunLike, a natural sun spectrum LED.

Last year, Seoul Semiconductor said its SunLike LED was adopted by Volvo for interior lighting at the European carmaker’s EX90 SUV and the Polestar 3 EV.

Write to Ji-Hye Min at spop@hankyung.com

In-Soo Nam edited this article.