Industry analyst firm NanoMarkets has published its latest forecasts of the OLED lighting market predicting a $1.4 billion market opportunity in 2019. The report, “OLED Lighting Markets-2014” (Code Nano-721) notes that while the sector has foundered for the past few years it now appears to be worthy of some renewed optimism based on both on both improvements in OLED lighting panel performance and recent expansion of manufacturing facilities.
OLEDs aren’t just for luxury lighting any more. The efficacy and luminance of OLED lighting panels are reaching levels where OLED lighting firms can claim that their products are truly energy efficient and have the brightness that make them a practical form of lighting for offices and homes. For example, LG Chem said that next year it will have 135lm/W panels with 5,000 cd/m2 luminance.
Until recently, most of the output of the OLED lighting business was development kits for designers. However, in the next few years, revenues from kits will be rapidly overtaken by revenues from OLED luminaires, with revenues from OLED luminaires for homes reaching almost $400 million in sales by 2019 and revenues from OLED office luminaires reaching almost $380 million in the same year.
OLED capacity continues to grow
In the past three years, Osram and Philips have invested $25 million and $57 million respectively in setting up OLED production lines. Meanwhile, Konica Minolta is currently constructing an OLED mass production facility at an approximate investment of around $100 million.
By next year, worldwide capacity for OLED lighting panels is expected to be around 30 million panels. This number is expected to grow to almost 40 million by 2019. NanoMarkets believes that in the next five years there will be a major influx of low-cost (and possibly government subsidized) Chinese suppliers that will force down OLED lighting prices in a manner similar to what the solar panel industry has experienced.
This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the OLED lighting market, assesses its future potential and offers detailed eight-year forecasts for the OLED lighting business including volume (units and square meters shipped) and value projections of the following market segments: designer kits and related products, office and commercial lighting, residential lighting, non-automotive outdoor lighting, automotive lighting and customized installations.
The report also includes projections of manufacturing capacity for OLED lighting panels and an assessment of which geographic regions will prove the best customers for OLED lighting.
In addition, NanoMarkets examined the product development and marketing strategies of the leading and influential players in the OLED lighting sector, including both large and small lighting firms and the key OLED material suppliers. Among the firms discussed in this report are Acuity Brands, Audi, BASF, Blackbody, BJB, Cheil/Novaled, Dupont Teijin, ETAP Lighting, First—O-Light, Ford, Henkel, Kaneka, Konica Minolta, Ledon, LG Chem, Lumiotec, MC Pioneer, Merck, NEC Lighting, OLEDWorks, Orbotech, Osram, Philips, Pixelligent, Samsung, Sumitomo, UDC and WAC Lighting.