Seoul Semiconductor beats Samsung Elec in LED market

Seoul Semiconductor Co., South Korea’s hidden tech champion, beat Samsung Electronics Co., a global electronics giant, in the world’s light-emitting diode (LED) market through robust intellectual property.

Seoul Semiconductor boosted its ranking in the global LED industry to third last year, from fourth in 2021, with reported sales of $855 million, topping Samsung’s $818 million, according to market research firm TrendForce. This marks the first time for Seoul Semiconductor to rank third on the list since 2019.

Nichia Corp., a Japanese chemical engineering and manufacturing firm, topped the list with sales of $1.9 billion, followed by ams-Osram AG, an optical company based in Austria and Germany with revenue of $1.6 billion.

In the ultraviolet LED market, Seoul Semiconductor’s subsidiary Seoul Viosys Co. held the throne for a fourth straight year. It achieved this thanks to its Violeds technology, which generates UV rays with wavelengths of 200-400 nanometers that serve disinfection, deodorization and phototherapy purposes.

Such achievements came despite the global LED market's 22.7% shrinkage to $13.8 billion in 2022 due to global inflation, slowing consumption and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

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“We became one of the world’s top three players thanks to powerful technology patents and staff teamwork,” said Seoul Semiconductor's founder and CEO Lee Chung-hoon.

Lee pledged to develop innovative technology and widen the competitiveness gap against its rivals.

The Kosdaq-listed company has been expanding its IP through vigorous research and development while handling all of the core production processes at its own facilities.

Seoul Semiconductor has invested some 1.2 trillion won ($942.8 million) in R&D over the past decade to secure some 18,000 patents, the most in the industry. They include Wicop, the world’s first package-free LED suitable for high thermal performance and power.

Thanks to its next-generation LED technology, the company won all 100 of its patent lawsuits worldwide, securing 14 court orders to ban sales by its competitors in the process.

Write to Byung-Keun Kim at bk11@hankyung.com
 
Jongwoo Cheon edited this article.