Philips, Op, and other eight major lighting manufacturers 2016 event inventory

Product homogenization and price competition have made the LED industry face an unprecedented embarrassment. Lighting companies are committed to research and development of new technologies and new products, looking for a new blue ocean more suitable for enterprise development. However, in the face of the current situation, the response measures of domestic and foreign lighting manufacturers are very different. We can see that the lighting industry in 2016 presents a very thought-provoking phenomenon: international lighting manufacturers sell general lighting business or exit lighting. Market and other transformations, focusing on the high-end part of the industry chain, such as GE Lighting's exit from the Asian market, Osram's spin-off and sale of its light source business, Philips Lumileds sold to the US Apollo private equity fund, etc.; Integration, mergers and acquisitions as a breakthrough point, horizontal and vertical cross-border, the industry has repeatedly heard the acquisition. So, what is the real motivation behind each action? In addition, which areas will be their new profit growth point?

International lighting factory

Philips Lighting

At the end of 2016, Royal Philips finally sold Lumileds and decided to sell Lumileds to the American Apollo Private Equity Fund. The two parties are expected to complete the transaction in the first half of 2017. The sale of Lumileds, the US LED manufacturer, has finally settled.

In fact, the sale of Philips Lumileds suffered setbacks. As early as March 31, 2015, the Chinese and foreign syndicates led by GO Scale Capital of Jinshajiang had reached an agreement with Philips to acquire the 80.1% stake in Lumileds, a subsidiary of Royal Philips. The transaction was valued at approximately US$3.3 billion. However, in January 2016, the two parties decided to stop the transaction because they could not resolve the concerns of the US Foreign Investment Committee regarding national security.

Even so, Philips has never stopped selling Lumileds, and in May 2016, its main lighting business, Philips LighTIng, was listed on the IPO. After some consideration and negotiation, the deal was finally achieved.

Although the transaction price is lower than the transaction price reached by Chinese buyers by 1.3 billion US dollars, some media and netizens even use "selling" to describe the sale. However, in the current environment, for Lumileds who experienced a transaction break, Many industry colleagues still believe that this is the best result. How Apollo Private Equity Fund will lead Lumileds to continue to grow in the future is also the focus of the current market.

In addition, Philips also announced the closure of Philips Home Lighting Manufacturing (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd. in Shenzhen this year, which is said to be the fifth factory closed by Philips Lighting worldwide. The reason for the closure was also summarized by the industry as "not making money." Philips Lighting also said that the move is in response to the demand for smart home development in the home lighting market and to enhance industry competitiveness as part of the company's overall strategy.

Judging from this year's action, Philips Lighting's determination to sell the general lighting business and shut down the factory is to concentrate more resources on high-margin markets such as smart lighting and solutions. In August, Philips Lighting released its lighting strategy plan at the media conference held in Beijing, clarifying that the next major development direction is in the smart interconnection, and publicly demonstrated its latest intelligent Internet LED lighting system in the Internet of Things era. Products; At this year's Smart City Expo in Barcelona, ​​Philips Lighting Institute also demonstrated the key role of smart connected lighting in the construction of smart cities by creating an interactive virtual reality experience; on November 2, Philips Lighting and Xiaomi formed a joint venture The company is jointly promoting the development of smart connected home lighting in China; just two days ago, Philips Lighting and Tmall Mall jointly organized the first launch of Hue home lighting new products... Philips Lighting's products, systems and services developed and produced in China have been It is widely used in various urban lighting fields such as roads, offices, retail, hotels, and homes. It not only invested in the Chengdu Lighting Application Center, but also established its second largest R&D center in Shanghai.

Obviously, in the current environment where the Internet of Things is becoming more and more mature, Philips intends to enhance industry leadership in the Internet of Things era through product, system and service innovation. In addition, in the field of automotive lighting, agricultural lighting, etc., Philips is also accelerating the layout. In the future, how can Philips lighting develop and lead the lighting industry? Give everything to time, there will always be an answer.

Osram

The basic pace is the same, this year is also the "key time point" for OSRAM to sell the general lighting business.

On July 1st, OSRAM announced the official establishment of Ledvance to complete the spin-off of its general lighting source business, and said that after the strategic split, OSRAM will focus on lighting solutions and systems in general lighting. (LS and DS), special lighting (SP) including automotive lighting and optoelectronic semiconductor lighting (OS).

On July 26, OSRAM officially agreed to sell the newly operated Ledvance to the Chinese consortium, which includes strategic investment group IDG Capital, Mulinsen and the financing unit Yiwu State-owned Assets Operation Center. Since then, it has been repeatedly reported that OSRAM's largest shareholder, Siemens, plans to sell a 17% stake in Osram.

However, just as the sale of Landwells has not yet been fully settled, the news that Sanan Optoelectronics wants to “take over” the stake in Osram has once again shocked the lighting circle. However, it has recently been reported that due to more and more The signs show that Chinese capital in Germany is facing political resistance, and Sanan Optoelectronics and private equity firm Jinshajiang Capital has stopped seeking a full acquisition of OSRAM.

In addition to the diversification of the general lighting business, like Philips Lighting, Osram, one of the three traditional lighting giants, is also turning its attention to the intelligent lighting business. In March of this year, OSRAM launched the LighTIfy smart light bulb, which is mainly used in the mid-end market. In addition to integrating its own business, OSRAM is constantly acquiring external quality companies. In November, OSRAM acquired a 47.5% stake in Tvilight, a Dutch software expert, to further expand its expertise in urban smart outdoor lighting systems. Tvilight also provides sensing technology and intelligent light management software for OSRAM's smart city solutions. In addition, OSRAM has decided to combine its intelligent lighting business (LIGHTFY) with the digital lighting business unit (DIGITAL SYSTEM) to combine the advantages of both parties.

Osram is an important international supplier of LED automotive lighting. Due to its special capabilities in OLED lighting and laser lighting, OSRAM continues to maintain its global leadership in automotive lighting in 2016. Its current main products include smart LEDs. Special diodes for headlights and laser radars, mainly used in high-end cars such as BMW and Audi. On September 9, OSRAM's new plant in Kunshan, China, was officially put into operation, mainly for the production of lighting products for the automotive and display sectors.

In addition, OSRAM's technology in infrared and laser source products is also very strong, and has a good access to resources and layout of related patents. For example, in the field of infrared LEDs, infrared LED products for food analysis, various power output levels and package versions for gesture recognition systems, infrared emitters for eye tracking systems, and infrared emitters are available. Specially developed products for iris recognition and integrated optical sensors for health trackers.

Not long ago, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors also held a ceremony to celebrate the LED production capacity of the Malaysian Kulim Hi-Tech Park's LED chip manufacturing plant to expand its leading position in the global LED market.

GE Lighting

GE Lighting also has a lot of action and turmoil in 2016. Most notably, at the end of August this year, GE Lighting announced the termination of all direct commercial activities in Asia and Latin America, intending to make GE Lighting highly focused, winning and consolidating its Market position in North America, Europe and the Middle East to improve profitability.

Due to the low gross profit margin and fierce price competition in the lighting business in the Asian region, GE Lighting is in a difficult position in the Chinese market. In addition, the influence of lighting on GE is limited. GE also has other industries with higher profits, and chooses to abandon the lighting business. normal. However, GE, which has enjoyed a century of reputation, was criticized in the way of exiting. The first was the unilateral termination of the agreement with Chinese distributors. Subsequently, more than 20 suppliers jointly protested, and the layoffs caused the employees to rebound.

In addition, as early as December 2015, GE announced in an internal memo the type of lighting that was discontinued on January 1, 2016, including HID, incandescent, fluorescent and induction lamps, and made it clear that GE has since Lighting will continue to focus on LED and smart lighting technologies, investing in advanced lighting controls and energy efficient LED luminaires. In February of this year, GE Lighting said it will phase out CFL (compact fluorescent) bulbs sold in the United States. It is expected to exit the CFL market by the end of the year and fully sprint LED bulbs. In August, GE Lighting announced plans to close its lighting fixtures in Lexington and Somerset in the United States by the end of August 2017. The two businesses are mainly engaged in traditional lighting products.

GE Lighting CEO Bill Lacey also revealed in GE's statement that GE Lighting's next business focus, smart lighting, said it will build a new incubation lab to develop creativity and flexibility with new ecosystem partners. Smart lighting solutions. On October 7, 2015, GE announced that it will spin off its LED lighting business, solar energy and energy storage technology to a newly established company, Current. Since then, GE has launched key intelligent lighting products, and announced cooperation with Qualcomm to develop indoor positioning systems, targeting the retail industry, and even GE's LED street lights are moving toward smart street lights.

Faced with such a situation and impact, the future development of GE Lighting is really hard to say.

Ke Rui

On July 14th, US LED manufacturer Cree Cree announced that it will sell Wolflight, its power and RF radio frequency component business, to Infineon, a German manufacturer, for US$850 million, which will allow Cree to focus more on LED lighting. Including LED chips, LED bulbs, power switching components (optocouplers), continue to expand the product line of automotive electronics and mobile phones, as well as energy, green energy and Internet of Things. In 2015, Cree adjusted its strategy and plans to become a more concentrated LED lighting company. As part of the strategy, the company split the high-profit Power and Radio Frequency (RF) business group into an independent company in September, named Wolfspeed and publicly listed.

Cree also made several personnel adjustments in the second half of the year. On October 6, Cree announced that Daniel CasTIllo was appointed president of the lighting business; previously, the general manager of Career China has announced his departure. In October, there was also news of Cree's small layoffs.

In addition to Nichia, Cree is also one of the protagonists of the LED industry patent disputes in recent years, such as accusing California LED manufacturer MaxBrite, US company Emson, Feit Electric, Hongqi and other infringement of its patents.

Cree's last quarter earnings report, last season's revenue increased by 2% to 388 million US dollars, better than last year's recession 10%. In the face of changes in the industry, Cree has already reduced production in 2015, and the market development in 2016 is also very hard on sales, but by the competition of Asian supply chain manufacturers, Cree and other international companies are similar in their current situation. The situation is harder than before.