Jiangxi to build optics valley to accelerate sector's growth

Businesses in Nanchang zone break monopoly on LED tech

The Jiangxi provincial authorities have formally decided to build a Nanchang Optics Valley to establish an LED industry cluster and accelerate the sector's development in the province.

The valley, mostly located in the Nanchang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone and part of the city's State-level economic development zone, will focus on building an electronic information industrial chain that is centered on the optoelectronics information industry, covering all upstream, midstream and downstream links of chip design, packaging tests and LEDs (light-emitting diodes).

The optics valley is attempting to form an industry cluster with more than 100 billion yuan ($15.4 billion) in the next three to five years.

The Nanchang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone in eastern Nanchang has set a goal of "expanding the scale, improving the quality, and raising the profile" of its optoelectronics industry.

Experts said that Nanchang has successfully broken the monopoly on LED technology by US and Japanese companies and established its own technology standards.

The high-profile decision by the provincial government to build an optics valley will help upgrade the city's LED industry and further promote the development of the industry.

Companies in Jiangxi have some independently developed silicon LED technologies and boast a sound industrial foundation and industrial chain.

They are stepping up their efforts to acquire international lighting companies to serve as a catalyst for faster growth of the province's LED industry.

While focusing on building Nanchang Optics Valley, policymakers in Jiangxi also plan to develop related industries in the cities of Ji'an, Yichun, Pingxiang and Xinyu to build a complete industrial chain that covers upstream chip production, midstream packaging, and downstream making of products and relevant materials and equipment.

The Ministry of Science and Technology has vowed to support Jiangxi's efforts to build Nanchang Optics Valley in the next two years, which will bring new opportunities for the development of environmentally friendly optoelectronics industries, such as the LED sector.

Compared with Japan or the United States, Jiangxi has a competitive edge in terms of LED technologies. The silicon-based LED technology developed by the Nanchang University has sprouted more than 130 patents.

The province has built a complete industrial chain covering the substrate material, epitaxial wafer, chip packaging and lighting products sectors.

On a fast track

Chen Yan, deputy director of the Nanchang National High-tech Industrial Development Zone, said Shenzhen-based Yiruier Electronics has invested 1 billion yuan in the zone on an integrated circuit project, which is a landmark event for the province in terms of the making of integrated circuit chips.

The project is crucial for the building of Nanchang Optics Valley and the development of the integrated circuit industry in Jiangxi, Chen said. By 2020, the project is expected to generate sales volume of 2 billion yuan.

The Shenzhen company spent a year looking for an ideal location in many provinces to accommodate its integrated circuit project before finally investing in Jiangxi.

Nanchang has made great efforts to develop the optoelectronics industry in recent years and formed an optoelectronics industry cluster ranging from telecommunications and LEDs to touch screens and microelectronics.

Nearly 100 enterprises have invested in the high-tech zone, including South Korea-based Melfas, which is the largest business partner of Samsung, and Shenzhen-based O-film Tech Co, the largest touch screen producer of the world.

The optoelectronics companies in the Nanchang high-tech industry development zone earned revenue of 21.78 billion yuan last year, accounting for more than 20 percent of revenue earned by all businesses in the zone.

The zone policymakers vowed to expand the scale of the optoelectronics industry in the coming three to five years and make the zone China's largest touch screen production base.

The Nanchang zone is one of the earliest State-level semiconductor lighting bases and has become home to the high-profile National Silicon-based Semiconductor Lighting Engineering Technology Research Center.

Innovation is behind the rapid growth of the LED industry in the Nanchang high-tech zone.

Optoelectronics companies in the zone, such as Lattice Power Corp, have had patents registered for key technologies.

In 2013, Lattice Power achieved revenue of $33 million and in 2014 it recorded revenue of $60.99 million.

At the end of March, GSR Ventures, a shareholder in Lattice Power, announced it had formed a consortium with other investors, including China Investment Corp and Nanchang Industrial Holdings Group to acquire 80.1 percent of Philips Lumileds shares. This means Lattice Power could benefit from the industry transfer of Philips Lumileds to China.

The Jiangxi provincial authorities said they would support the deal.

The Nanchang zone is also making efforts to become the nation's largest touch screen center, having attracted investment by a number of major optoelectronics businesses in China.

shixiaofeng@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 12/25/2015 page5)