Top 10 Events in the Lighting Industry in 2020

2020年年初，新冠肺炎疫情来势汹汹，全国人民齐心协力共克时艰。照明行业同样发挥自身优势，为抗击新型肺炎疫情尽自己的一份力。照明企业纷纷向湖北疫情重灾区、其他重灾区以及火神山、雷神山等医院伸出了援手，捐献紫外杀菌灯、紫外线消毒杀菌器、口罩、路灯等，体现了社会大爱和守望相助的精神。

Domestic and international brand companies possess strong strategic foresight, typically divesting burdens early through spin-offs, acquisitions, restructurings, sales, and carve-outs to focus on areas of competitive advantage. In 2020, the transformation pace of major foreign manufacturers accelerated. In May 2020, GE announced the sale of its lighting business (consumer-centric home lighting) to Savant, bidding farewell to a lighting legacy spanning nearly 130 years. In October, Cree announced plans to sell its LED products business unit (Cree LED) to SMART for $300 million, thereby advancing its industrial transformation from silicon (Si) to silicon carbide (SiC). OSRAM also successfully shed the burden of traditional light sources by spinning off its general lighting business, aiming to become a globally leading provider of optoelectronic solutions. Subsequently, OSRAM sold itself to the Austrian sensor manufacturer ams , with the acquisition plan receiving unconditional regulatory approval from the European Commission in July 2020 .

Many domestic companies are divesting certain assets to focus on their core businesses. For example, Liantronics transferred its equity in Times Media to concentrate on its core LED business; a few days ago, Macro Power announced its intention to transfer its 4% equity stake in Hunan Fangzhengda Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. for RMB 15.68 million, in order to concentrate resources on its core power supply business.

In mid-2020, Signify announced that joint research with the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) at Boston University confirmed that Signify's UV-C light sources can effectively inactivate SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus causing COVID-19. Another company, Seoul Viosys, and Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc. (“SETi”) also announced successful use of Violeds (UV-C LED) technology to kill 99.9% of the novel coronavirus within 30 seconds, validated by Korea University. Research from the University of Milano, the IRCCS Foundation (Italian national research-based healthcare institution), and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF) also shows that UV-C light can effectively inhibit the novel coronavirus.

Joint research by Kobe University in Japan and Japanese LED component manufacturer Ushio has shown that deep ultraviolet radiation with a wavelength of 222nm can sterilize without harming human skin and eyes. Ushio also made the Fortune "Companies That Change the World" list with its Care222® UV-C module. Similarly, Columbia University in the United States has conducted related studies, with preliminary results indicating that far-UVC with a wavelength of 222nm cannot penetrate the skin surface or eyes, making it safe for humans. Researchers at Hiroshima University in Japan have also demonstrated that far-ultraviolet (Far-UVC) light with a wavelength of 222nm is effective against SARS-CoV-2.

The overall LED industry chain is warming up, with improved supply and demand relations, reigniting a wave of industry investment. With the general lighting sector largely saturated, many manufacturers are focusing on light quality and high-value-added niche areas such as automotive, agriculture, infrared, ultraviolet, Mini/Micro LED, and third-generation semiconductors, aiming to explore "blue ocean markets" through innovative R&D. For instance, Sanan Optoelectronics invested 16 billion yuan to establish a subsidiary for the R&D and industrialization of third-generation semiconductors, increasing its commitment to compound semiconductors; Hc Semitek plans to raise 1.5 billion yuan for Mini/Micro LED and GaN power device projects; Focus Lightings is raising 1 billion yuan for Mini/Micro LED, automotive flip-chip, and high-power LED projects; MLS established a deep UV project company with an investment of 666 million yuan to deepen its layout in the deep UV field; Leyard and Epistar jointly established Li Jing Microelectronics, whose Micro LED base in Wuxi has officially commenced production...

In December 2020, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development issued the "Notice on Printing and Distributing the Reform Plan for the Qualification Management System of Construction Engineering Enterprises", vigorously streamlining enterprise qualification categories, merging grade settings, simplifying qualification standards, optimizing approval methods, and further relaxing market access restrictions in the construction industry. Among them, the special qualification for lighting engineering design was adjusted to the general professional qualification for lighting engineering, with Grade A and Grade B levels; the professional contracting qualifications for urban and road lighting engineering, building electromechanical installation engineering, and electronics and intelligence engineering were merged into the professional contracting qualification for building electromechanical engineering, with Grade A and Grade B levels; in addition, qualifications related to smart pole projects have also changed. Furthermore, as of December 8, 2020, there were 144 enterprises in China engaged in lighting engineering business that simultaneously held the "Double A" certification qualifications for lighting.

过去的一年，照明行业人事变动频繁，包括离职、跳槽、内部调任、新任职、退休等。如，1月Acuity Brands即宣布，Neil M. Ashe自1月31日起担任下一任总裁兼首席执行官；3月，欧普照明发布关于副总经理齐晓明先生辞职的公告；5月，朗德万斯（LEDVANCE）首席执行官林纪良在担任该职位18个月后离开了该公司；5月，佛山照明宣布吴圣辉先生为公司董事长、法定代表人，雷自合先生为公司总经理，国星光电宣布选举王广军先生为董事长；12月，欧司朗宣布首席执行官Olaf Berlien将在2021年2月底的年度股东大会结束后离开公司，Ingo Bank将接任……2020年，在突如其来的疫情、业绩压力、行业增速放缓、集中度不断加剧、企业寻求转型等的情况下，无论是照明行业还是照明人都经受着巨大考验，推动着国内外LED企业进行组织架构调整，也促使照明人思考、寻找更适合自己的平台。

At the beginning of last year, the outbreak of domestic and overseas epidemics caused export enterprises to generally face difficulties such as order cancellations and delayed shipments, while new orders declined Year-on-year (YoY). However, as Chinese manufacturing resumed production and work ahead of others, it highlighted advantages in production manufacturing and supply chains, effectively filling the global supply gap caused by widespread停工停产 due to the epidemic. The "substitution and transfer effect" on exports to other countries continued to emerge. According to data released by the China Association of Lighting Industry（中国照明电器协会）, from January to November 2020, the cumulative export value of China's lighting industry reached US$46.238 billion, a Year-on-year (YoY) increase of 11.99%, exceeding the full-year figure of US$45.438 billion in 2019. With the overseas epidemic remaining severe and rebounding in many countries, exports of epidemic prevention and stay-at-home economy-related products, such as scientific research and medical lamps, UV lamps, and Horticultural lighting products, maintained growth. Judging by the orders in hand of relevant export enterprises, Export achieved positive growth for the full year, and domestic LED enterprises are expected to benefit from the Export dividends.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, most exhibitions, conferences, and other activities in the lighting industry were canceled, postponed, or moved online globally in 2020. As an education and training platform for the lighting industry, to promptly disseminate and train on new lighting concepts, standards, and technologies, China Lighting Network's Ming Classroom took the lead in launching the "UV Lighting Assists Epidemic Prevention and Control" series of online activities during the epidemic this year, receiving unanimous acclaim. It continued to hold various online salons, forums, and lecture series, totaling 216 sessions, with a total viewership of 308,700. Among them, popular courses included "Face-to-Face with Experts: Teaching You How to Use Light Healthily," "School Smart Epidemic Prevention and Control Technology Forum," "2020 CALI Optoelectronic Devices Committee Cloud Salon on Responding to the Epidemic," "Agricultural Lighting and Plant Factory Forum," "Integration of 5G and Smart Poles," and "Dosage and Measurement of UVC UV Effectively Killing 'COVID-19'," which also reveals which areas lighting professionals are more concerned about.

In addition, a large number of LED lighting companies such as NVC Lighting, OPPLE, MLS, Sanxiong Aurora, Yangguang Lighting, and Foshan Lighting have ventured into live-streaming e-commerce. The 2020 Double 11 shopping festival showed that live streaming has become a standard practice for merchants of all sizes on e-commerce platforms. For instance, the CEO of NVC Lighting personally appeared in a highly popular live stream, Viya promoted desk lamps, and Crystal Lux simultaneously appeared on CCTV News, Hunan Satellite TV, and popular streamers' channels during Double 11. This can be seen as a snapshot of the trend toward online commercialization following the outbreak of the pandemic. However, the internet industry is characterized by a winner-takes-all dynamic with a pronounced head effect. As LED luminaires are increasingly becoming durable consumer goods, relying on famous streamers as a lifeline for enterprise-to-consumer (2C) sales is likely to be difficult.

Upgrading from scattered roadside poles to the "smart pole" construction model, which hosts communication base stations and various sensors, aligns with the "New Infrastructure" development concept. Over the past year, governments at all levels have successively issued action plans, development outlines, implementation opinions, and other forms of policies regarding smart cities, 5G, smart light poles, and New Infrastructure, promoting the implementation of more smart light pole projects across the country. Governments, institutions, enterprises, and others have also actively formulated a series of group standards, local standards, and National standard (mandatory / recommended). These standards are rapidly driving smart light pole projects from demonstration phases to large-scale deployment. Overall, the smart light pole industry features a wide variety of participating companies, with operators and giants actively entering the market. It is expected that in the future, as the industry matures, standards are established, and business models become refined, core enterprises in the Industry / Supply chain will rapidly expand their smart light pole business scale, enrich their regional coverage, and improve their supply chain layout, leading to increasing industry concentration.