How can the landscape lighting industry break through difficulties under the new situation? Two key words →

The cultural tourism industry is experiencing a recovery this year, and the demand for landscape lighting, which is highly related to the cultural tourism industry, is gradually warming up. The performance of many listed companies in the industry has achieved varying degrees of growth. In the past few years, the landscape lighting industry has gradually gathered towards advantageous enterprises with technology, brand, and scale advantages along with cultural tourism requirements and technological progress. The industry landscape has also become more characterized, miniaturized, refined, and intelligent.

According to the "Code for Design of Urban Nightscape Lighting", landscape lighting generally refers to the lighting of night landscapes of all outdoor public activity spaces or scenery, excluding functional lighting such as stadium grounds, construction sites, and road lighting. Different from functional lighting, landscape lighting is more for reshaping the daytime style of landscapes, beautifying the urban night environment, providing appreciation for pedestrians, and highlighting the atmosphere.

Data from China Solid State Lighting Alliance（国家半导体照明工程研发及产业联盟） shows that by 2027, the output value of China's landscape lighting industry is expected to exceed 150 billion yuan, with a compound annual growth rate of about 12%. Relevant sources indicate that driven by the development of the night-time economy, the market demand for landscape lighting will quickly warm up.

At the same time, against the backdrop of the "dual carbon" goals, coordinating and implementing green and low-carbon concepts at the source of landscape lighting projects , to achieve a dual improvement in lighting quality and energy efficiency, has become an unavoidable issue for industry development. In recent years, power rationing has occurred frequently. This summer, many cities across the country simultaneously faced tight electricity supply and historically high load levels. The subsequent activation of "power-saving modes," including Shanghai suspending Bund nightscape lighting and Sichuan-Chongqing pausing light shows, became social hotspots. This also highlights the application challenges currently faced by outdoor landscape lighting due to constraints on grid electricity and carbon emission reduction, urgently requiring solutions.

In the past few years, leveraging the momentum of the booming cultural tourism industry and night-tourism economy, the domestic landscape lighting industry has leapfrogged into a rapidly emerging industry. In particular, a large number of influential outdoor landscape lighting projects in China, such as the 2016 Hangzhou G20 Summit and the 2017 Xiamen BRICS Meeting, have set excellent examples, allowing more cities to see the multiple values of "light-based night tours" for urban development.

Since 2020, influenced by multiple factors, the landscape lighting industry has been in a relatively sluggish period, except for 2021, and companies in the industry have also faced performance pressure. Taking 2022 as an example, the revenue scale of nine major listed companies in the industry underwent varying degrees of adjustment. In terms of net profit, only three companies—ACKE (300889.SZ), AOTO Electronics (002587.SZ), and Leyard (300296.SZ)—achieved profitability.

With the relaxation of travel restrictions this year, the cultural tourism industry has shown significant recovery. Against this backdrop, companies such as ACKE, Luoman Shares (605289.SH), Huati Technology (603679.SH), and Leyard have also achieved growth in revenue.

In fact, as early as the beginning of this year, many regions launched major initiatives to boost the "night economy". According to incomplete statistics, in February, provinces and cities such as Guangxi, Hunan, Jiangxi, and Ningbo in Zhejiang相继 issued policy measures to support the development of the night-time economy. In the second half of this year, the Hangzhou Asian Games Lighting Upgrade Project, with a total winning bid amount exceeding 370 million yuan, became a concentrated showcase for the industry. Many landscape lighting enterprises, including ACKE, Leyard, and Haorse, participated in it, reflecting the latest technological aspects and the "green" connotation of sustainable development in the current industry. Products with high luminous efficacy and intelligence have become mainstream, with reduced energy consumption and carbon emissions becoming the underlying characteristic of products.

Looking at the cultural tourism requirements and technological progress in recent years, it is undeniable that the landscape lighting industry has entered a mature stage.

From the perspective of underlying technology, China's optoelectronics industry has gradually completed its transformation and upgrading. From chips and packaging to product applications and intelligent control systems, significant progress has been made. As the industry enters a downturn, some small and medium-sized manufacturers are struggling to survive. Under fierce market competition, the landscape lighting market is gradually concentrating on enterprises with comprehensive advantages in technology, brand, scale, and resource integration. The development of the landscape lighting industry is becoming more specialized, compact, premium, and intelligent.

With the implementation of the "14th Five-Year Plan", the concept of "dual carbon" development has swept across almost all industries, becoming a development guideline for various sectors. In 2022, the Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development and the National Development and Reform Commission issued the "Implementation Plan for Carbon Peaking in the Field of Urban and Rural Construction", proposing that by the end of 2030, the usage share of high-efficiency energy-saving luminaires such as LED will exceed 80%, and more than 30% of cities will have built digital lighting systems. In the same year, the "14th Five-Year Plan for National Urban Infrastructure Construction" was released, focusing on green lighting and smart poles, actively developing green lighting, and accelerating energy-saving renovations of urban lighting.

In response, the industry has also given positive feedback. Public information shows that Huorsa (002963.SZ) has created three major business segments + HAO platform service model: "Smart Light Art, Smart Cultural Tourism, Smart City Domain", forming a "Three Smarts One Net" full-system smart service chain; Shikong Technology (605178.SH) acquired and increased its equity stake in Jieanbo Co., Ltd., laying out its smart parking business.

As the first listed company in the field of smart landscape lighting product supply, Aike shares leverages its technical development and innovation capabilities to launch an intelligent cloud control platform in the field of urban smart lighting management platforms. In recent years, through continuous iteration and updates, multiple original innovations have gained high market recognition, while winning the majority of market share in provincial capital cities and large cities such as Wuhan, Chongqing, Changsha, Haikou, Xi'an, Zhengzhou, Qingdao, Xiamen, and Quanzhou.

The power shortage issue may still require industry self-rescue. In response, Aike is actively developing an integrated solution for optical storage and lighting, and has publicly released the "Zero-Carbon Smart Lighting System" on media platforms such as the China Illuminating Engineering Society, an authoritative organization in the lighting industry. This also signifies that against the backdrop of digitalization, intelligence, and low-carbon development, Aike is undergoing a new upgrade from luminaire products to the integration of optical storage systems.

Currently, Aike has used its office building as a demonstration case for the Zero-Carbon Smart Lighting System, achieving integration with lighting through photovoltaics + energy storage, which is now successfully operational. It is reported that through complete system configuration, this solution has achieved zero-carbon operation in weather with sufficient sunshine. The system integrates the industry-innovative "Aike Smart Cloud Cabinet" solution, making the construction process equipment more integrated, significantly reducing the use of cables and auxiliary materials, reducing line connection points, lowering the comprehensive cost of project implementation, and improving the operational stability of the project.

A large number of excellent domestic cases prove that the closer integration of landscape lighting and cultural tourism night tours is a fundamental logic long proven within the industry. In recent years, various regions in China have actively promoted the development of rural tourism. From infrastructure construction to the renovation and upgrading of scenic spots, the widespread promotion of lighting art products has been indispensable.

According to incomplete statistics from relevant organizations, at least 25 regions across the country released projects related to cultural tourism night tours in the third quarter, with a total of 68 implemented projects and a combined winning bid amount of 1,529,672,500 yuan.

Urban upgrade and renovation are also progressing steadily. Recently, the design, procurement, and construction general contracting project for the supplementary repair engineering of urban lighting on the east bank of the Xiangjiang River for the Changsha Xiangjiang Night Tour cultural tourism project in Changsha City, Hunan Province, with a total investment of 160 million yuan, and the design and construction general contracting project for the landscape supporting repair engineering of the "West Bank of Xiangjiang," with a total investment of 146 million yuan, were tendered successively.

Dou Linping, Vice Chairman of the Zhongguancun Semiconductor Lighting Engineering R&D and Industry Alliance, pointed out that the development of landscape lighting, landscape brightening, and light shows has encountered obstacles. Urban lighting will develop in new forms, such as leveraging the construction of smart pole platforms driven by smart city development, urban renewal, and the growth of cultural tourism night tours, to complete the transition from decoration to functionality and create a new development path.

As a rising star in the landscape lighting industry, Aike has leveraged over a decade of industry experience and continuous R&D investment to evolve from a single-product champion once hailed as the "King of Point Light Sources" into a product matrix featuring a "One Core, Six Wings" structure centered on its intelligent cloud control platform. This encompasses six major product lines, forming customized solutions for all outdoor lighting scenarios. Through rigorous process and technical control, Aike ensures stable product quality for its customized offerings.

In recent years, Aike has continuously increased its R&D investment, constantly leveraging innovative R&D capabilities to promote the realization and upgrading of the intrinsic value of China's landscape lighting. By combining extensible development with organic growth, the company further increases its market share to consolidate its leading position.

Source: Caijing Network, compiled from online resources