MLS: Illuminating the world with 'Chinese Light'

At the foot of the towering Jinggang Mountains lies a world-class factory. It was born here and thrives here, evolving from a 'cradle of revolution' to a 'green lighthouse', from rooting in China to illuminating the world. It is Jiangxi Jianshi MLS Industrial Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of the listed company MLS Co., Ltd.

On July 9, the 'Vibrant China Research Tour' activity entered Jiangxi, and the interview and reporting team from China Industry News followed them to the Jinggangshan Economic and Technological Development Zone in Ji'an, Jiangxi, to get a firsthand look at MLS.

Perhaps you don't know this MLS company, but you certainly recognize its products. In modern society, the LED industry is increasingly important; from indoor lighting to urban illumination, from electronic products to traffic signals, LED light source products are indispensable. To a certain extent, LED lamps have become a symbol of modern society.

Tang Guoqing, Executive General Manager of MLS Co., Ltd., told China Industry News: "The invention of the light bulb rewrote world history and is one of the most important inventions in the past 100 years. The light bulb has been used continuously to this day; while illuminating people's lives and lighting up every corner of the globe, it also created an extremely vast industry. Today, ubiquitous LED lamps are no different; this is a multi-trillion-yuan industry that is very likely to permanently occupy the central stage of global lighting. Consequently, the LED lamp market has attracted the interest of giants in the global electronic information industry. However, in the field of LED light sources, MLS Company is undoubtedly the industry leader in China, and even globally, its industry position continues to rise."

In core urban areas such as Beijing's Bird's Nest and Water Cube, and in light show squares in many cities across the country, whenever night falls, the large screens emit colorful and ever-changing light from LED lamps, creating a vibrant and diverse light-and-shadow effect that attracts countless people to stop and enjoy.

Behind all this stands the presence of MLS Company. MLS Company is a global technology enterprise covering LED packaging and LED application products. Its product lines cover multiple fields including home lighting, commercial lighting, industrial lighting, and outdoor lighting, and it continues to expand its layout across the entire upstream and downstream supply chain of the LED industry.

Ji'an City MLS Industrial Co., Ltd. was established in September 2014, backed by the listed giant MLS Co., Ltd., with a registered capital of 3.96 billion yuan. With a total investment of 10 billion yuan, it took root and grew on 935 mu of land in Jiangxi. Today, it has gathered nearly 8,000 employees who together play a powerful note for the LED industry.

"MLS is the leading company in LED packaging in China. Three indicators reflect this," Deng Liping, Party Branch Secretary and General Manager of Ji'an MLS Industrial Co., Ltd., told China Industry Daily. First, from the perspective of market size, in 2024, MLS revenue exceeded 10 billion yuan, holding the largest share in China's LED packaging market; second, from the perspective of investment amount, MLS total investment exceeded 10 billion yuan, ranking high in industry investment scale; third, from the perspective of production capacity, MLS annual LED chip packaging capacity is nearly one trillion units, leading globally in production capacity.

In recent years, the position of MLS in the global industry has continued to rise. Especially in 2017, MLS completed the acquisition of the internationally renowned LED company LEDVANCE (朗德万斯). Through issuing shares and paying cash, it valued LEDVANCE at 4 billion yuan and injected it into the listed company. In 2018, the company's output jumped to third place globally, and its development momentum was unstoppable. In 2019, MLS became the world's largest LED and semiconductor packaging production base , demonstrating its strong production capabilities and industry leadership.

In the 2024 global top ten LED manufacturer packaging revenue ranking, Nichia Chemical ranks first globally, AMS OSRAM ranks second, followed by Seoul Semiconductor, with MLS in fourth place and Samsung in fifth.

Tang Guoqing stated that MLS currently has five major production bases in China. The MLS Ji'an base located in the Jiangxi Jinggangshan Economic and Technological Development Zone is the most core and main production base. Today, MLS products are exported worldwide. Just in the international market, the market size of MLS reaches billions of yuan. "It can be said that the LED lights produced here illuminate the whole world," he added.

"Human light sources have undergone four revolutionary changes: first the torch, second the kerosene lamp, third the electric light, and fourth is the LED light. The cost of LED lights has fallen almost to the bottom, and it can even be said that they are cheaper than cabbage prices. However, from multiple dimensions such as light-heat efficiency and impact on human vision, LED lights can be considered the most cost-effective light source in the world today." Tang Guoqing said, therefore, LED lighting is expected to have a groundbreaking impact just as electric light bulbs occupied human history for over 100 years.

"Due to characteristics such as high luminance, long lifespan, and energy saving and environmental protection, LED technology has rapidly captured the traditional lighting market," Deng Liping stated. "There is still significant room for growth in the LED industry. Currently, LED lighting is accelerating its penetration into smart cities, smart homes, and smart cultural tourism sectors. In terms of application scenarios, MLS continues to focus on smart lighting and horticultural lighting fields, leveraging emerging applications based on LED lighting to expand into LED photobiology and UVC air purification businesses; developing full-spectrum LED applications to provide indoor plant growth solutions."

Walking into the MiniLED (micro-LED) production workshop located at the MLS Jiangxi Ji'an base, a brand-new fully automatic production line for MiniLED RGB display modules is running at high speed, with lamp beads smaller than 1 mm in diameter being precisely packaged, and chip picking speeds reaching 500 pieces per second. The technical director told China Industry News that this lamp bead inspection technology has raised product yield to 97%, securing an important position for MLS in the global MiniLED industry landscape.

In another production workshop, a young engineer in his early thirties skillfully squeezes glue into a tube, then injects it into a small hole, and finally sprays it onto the wafer via automated equipment. He told China Industry News that the glue acts like a bed for the lamp beads; due to the introduction of high-precision automated equipment, the glue is automatically sprayed evenly to the predetermined position, ensuring the lamp beads land precisely.

Tang Guoqing stated, On the technical level, MLS has achieved two landmark breakthroughs. First, the core material of LEDs has been transformed from gold wire to copper wire; second, the connecting components have been changed from copper brackets to iron brackets, achieving high-density arrangement of the brackets.

"Think about it, what is the price of gold? What is the price of copper? What is the price of iron?" Tang Guoqing stated that it was precisely the breakthrough in core materials that drove LED costs to the extreme, allowing households to conveniently use LED lights. However, the process of this technological breakthrough was extremely difficult.

Tang Guoqing recalled that from gold wire to copper wire, MLS spent seven or eight years; from brackets to technical innovation of related materials took several more years. These 15 years experienced various twists and turns, numerous failures, and hundreds of millions of yuan were wasted, but ultimately success was achieved. "These 15 years were the 15 years during which Chinese LED technology continuously matured, the 15 years during which China's LED industry continuously grew stronger, and the 15 years during which Chinese LEDs went global."

Tang Guoqing stated that MLS's successful acquisition of LEDVANCE was also an important reason for MLS's rapid growth and expansion. "During this process, relevant departments also provided strong support, which greatly boosted our confidence."

In the Jinggangshan Economic Development Zone in Ji'an City, Jiangxi Province, the local government has strengthened the supply chain by reinforcing, supplementing, and extending links to create a better entrepreneurial ecosystem. Li Xiaojiang, member of the Party Working Committee and Deputy Director of the Management Committee of the Jinggangshan Economic Development Zone, told China Industry Daily that Ji'an lacked sufficient talent resources and had a weak foundation for innovative R&D. Therefore, targeting industrial distribution and enterprise needs, teams from nine universities including Hunan University, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, and Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications were introduced to set up bases, building eight key technology research and development sectors such as integrated circuits, artificial intelligence, and communication transmission for companies like MLS, conducting scientific and technological breakthroughs, and promoting technological innovation and upgrades for enterprises.

Walking into the MLS exhibition hall, the party building section is right at the entrance. The theme of grassroots party building "Three Transformations and Three Struggles" and the action of "Four Improvements" for party building in new economic and social organizations occupy more than one-third of the large exhibition hall.

"MLS Co., Ltd. consciously integrates party building into daily business operations, using party building to guide and motivate enterprise development, comprehensively elevating the company's development level and forming an internal driving force for growth," Deng Liping stated.

MLS continues to evolve and upgrade.

As the first ray of morning sunlight sweeps over the foot of Jinggang Mountain, the rooftop photovoltaic panels of a factory of Ji'an City MLS Industrial Co., Ltd. begin to flicker with blue light. In MLS's 260,000-square-meter digital workshop, waste heat from air compressors is being transported via silver pipes to electroplating tanks. "Waste heat completely replaces coal-fired heating, reducing carbon emissions by 5,000 tons annually," Deng Liping explained while pointing at the monitoring screen.

Here, the stereotype of manufacturing as "high energy consumption and high pollution" is being overturned.

作为全球最大LED封装基地的掌舵者，木林森公司自成立起，“高效节能、绿色生产”就深深刻入木林森的发展基因。在节能战场上，公司将单位产品能耗从4.3kW・h/万只降至3.754kW・h/万只，累计节电超4777万度，相当于省下5871吨标煤；在节水领域，公司化身水资源守护者，使单位产品能耗从0.03m³/万支锐减至0.02m³/万支，节水总量超87.5万立方米；在减排行动中，通过精准管控，大幅削减各类废弃物排放，公司为蓝天白云“保驾护航”。

“通过工艺改进、管理提升等，木林森公司全方位贯彻落实绿色发展理念。”唐国庆表示，从金线到铜线，从铜片到铁片，金、铜这样的稀有贵金属使用量大幅减少，而使用更常见的产量高的铁，这两项重大的技术突破，将为全球节约巨大的宝贵资源。

Not only that, MLS actively plays its role in driving the industry towards energy saving and carbon reduction .

它成功打造发光二极管“关键原材料、关键工艺、关键设备”绿色化改造模式，2017年木林森公司跻身全国首批绿色工厂示范企业。2022年，公司与权威机构共同制定行业标准，首次为行业划定126项绿色标尺：要求LED封装胶体铅含量≤0.1%，推动供应链淘汰含铅焊料，改用植物基环氧树脂。目前该标准已带动产业链200余家企业升级，江西某供应商借此降低危废处置费40%。供应商必须持有“绿色通行证”（ISO14001）；标准倒逼全产业链洗牌，200余家链上企业集体减碳30%。

"Green manufacturing is not a cost, but a competitiveness," Deng Liping emphasized. Through "air conditioning variable frequency conversion + natural cold source utilization", the workshop shutdown rate in winter reached 60%, saving over 10 million yuan in electricity bills annually. The waste heat emitted by air compressors is converted 100% into electroplating tank heat energy and employee shower hot water via mesh ducts, saving enough electricity annually to provide an extra meal for 9,000 employees for 365 days .

"Green transformation is not only a development need for the company's own upgrade, but also further deepens the company's moat and highlights the social responsibility that the company must uphold under the low-carbon strategy."Tang Guoqing stated that progress knows no bounds. In the great tide of green and low-carbon development and new industrialization, MLS Co., Ltd. will always be on the path forward.