Abstract The crazy investment in sapphire substrates in 2011 caused prices to drop rapidly from $2 to $7. Driven by LED lighting and backlights in the second half of 2012, the overall shipment of sapphire began to grow rapidly, but there was a situation in which the increase did not increase. With...
The crazy investment in sapphire substrates in 2011 caused prices to drop rapidly from $2 to $7. Driven by LED lighting and backlights in the second half of 2012, the overall shipment of sapphire began to grow rapidly, but there was a situation in which the increase did not increase. Take Taiwanese manufacturers as an example. In 2012, Taiwan's Dajing Jingmei application, Xinjing Diamond and Jiajing Technology's shipments increased by 49%, 32%, and 61%, respectively, but revenues collectively showed a decline, down 25% year-on-year. 35%, 21%.
This year, the LED lighting and backlight market continued its strong momentum, which further boosted the shipment of sapphire. The market also saw a slight increase in the price of sapphire crystal rods. However, according to the reporter's understanding, this round of growth is less than 10%, almost no significant increase in the price of sapphire substrate, the increase in profitability is still unable to crack.
In order to get rid of the sapphire substrate revenue difficulties, many companies began to increase investment in the field of non-sapphire substrates. But the blue ocean in their eyes did not help themselves get rid of the current predicament. The difficulty in processing sapphire, the high price of finished products, and the difficulty of enterprise transformation have constrained the stable profitability of this market.
Application diversity
Tiantong shares entered the sapphire field for LED lighting in 2010. Guo Yuebo, director of the marketing department, told reporters that in addition to the sapphire substrate, Tiantong also involves a part of the mobile phone camera rear mirror cover, silicon carbide integrated circuit board and sapphire military applications.
Currently, the use of sapphire in the bottom cover of mobile phone cameras has been adopted by Apple and used in iphone 5. Because sapphire itself is wear-resistant but has good light transmission, it has been widely used in optical test instruments, so this market has the largest capacity. Wu Jingjun, deputy general manager of Wuxi Dingjing Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. also said that they are currently involved in the camera cover business of a small number of high-end mobile phones.
According to the reporter, the current use of sapphire in watch lenses is relatively large, but this is not a new market. In the past ten years ago, the industry used flame method to prepare sapphire mirrors, but the process could not meet the high-end watches against sapphire. Mirrored requirements, and the price is too expensive. At present, the long-crystal growth method is relatively small and tapered, which is not suitable for processing square sapphire crystals, but crystallized by a heat exchange method into a cylindrical shape and can grow larger crystals, so the sapphire manufacturer adopting this method has an advantage. Develop a window.
Song Lei, sales manager of Guizhou Haotian Optoelectronics Market, said that 60% of Haotian’s current revenue comes from sapphire substrates, and the rest mainly comes from watch lenses, window films and mobile phone camera back covers. The ingot can be used to the maximum extent by the heat exchange method.
Cost constrained market
Sapphire manufacturers are counting on diversification of sapphire applications, but more of this still needs to be decided by the market and downstream manufacturers. It has been widely rumored that Apple is expected to use sapphire for iPhone screen protectors, but there have been reports that Apple is likely to choose the cheaper Corning Gorilla Glass solution. Because the cost of using sapphire will approach $40 in 4 inches, this is the price of Corning's CorningGorilla series of glass plus panels and touch modules.
Yan Xiangzhong, assistant general manager of Shangcheng Technology, responsible for the promotion and sales of mobile phone protection screens, said in an interview: “At present, the disadvantage of using sapphire for mobile phone screensavers is cost. Because the process is more complicated, it is processed into mobile phones from crystal growth to rear stage. The screen requires about 18 processes, and the yield of the product is still relatively low."
“The processing cost of each process of the window is very high, adding one layer at a time, even if the current price is difficult to make profit.†A sapphire substrate company CTO said that if the sapphire substrate company turned into a window for optical equipment The film, the front section of the long crystal part of the equipment, that is, the sapphire crystal furnace can be shared, and the back-end cutting and polishing equipment can not be shared. It will be easier to transform the enterprise only in the latter stage of processing, but if you do the transformation of the enterprise in the latter stage, you must seriously consider it.
Song Lei said that because of the high hardness of sapphire and the difficulty of processing, the cost has been difficult to reduce. The reporter learned from the market that there are companies trying to open the sapphire crystal lamp market, but the cost is higher than the price of Swarovski. Without the added value of the brand, the sales situation is difficult to open.
"Sapphire is generally used for luxury goods. Generally, we only do it, so the shipment is not very large." The reporter learned from the sales staff of Shenzhen Jifeier Precision Machinery Co., Ltd. From the point of view of the company that specializes in the production of watch industry, mobile phone chips, window chips, and sapphire lenses for the optical industry, this market is only in its infancy, and it will take time to achieve mass adoption.
“Generally, only mid-to-high-end watches with a selling price of more than 1,000 yuan can use sapphire mirrors,†said Guo Yuebo.
According to the reporter's understanding, the world's top watch manufacturers such as Vacheron Constantin, Patek Philippe and Omega will consider the use of sapphire mirror or sapphire crystal bottom cover. The prices of these luxury watches are mostly up to tens of thousands of dollars, which can accept the current price of sapphire, but the shipment will not be too large. "Our current monthly shipment of non-LED substrate sapphire is about 20,000 pieces," said Wu Jingjun, vice president of Wuxi Dingjing Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd.
In addition to the price, sapphire has a fatal flaw, which is fragile. Once the sapphire breaks, it is like a sharp knife that can easily hurt our skin.
Unclear market outlook
It is understood that sapphire is more demanding than laser or high temperature in military industry, and the rest of the requirements are lower than sapphire substrates. A company headed by a military sapphire chip told reporters that their sapphire trims are generally used as windows.
Because the requirements are low, the lens for the mid-end watch manufacturers is generally 10%-15% lower than the price of the sapphire substrate. Only the sapphire manufacturers that sell the high-end watch manufacturers have certain profits. In this way, the sapphire in the non-substrate situation is the same as the current LED sapphire substrate, just for the sake of volume.
“Many sapphire companies are entering the industry with the highest profit margins, but it is difficult to get out of the market. It is difficult to explain to shareholders after exiting.†Zhang Hongbiao, research director of the High-tech LED Industry Research Institute (GLII), said that from the current perspective, diversification Development is a good direction, but expectations are still quite different from the actual situation.
The market has not yet opened, but it still can't stop the new entrants. "The diversified application of sapphire will be another way for the development of sapphire enterprises, which can drive the development of the entire industry chain, and at the same time drive the overall price of sapphire to rebound." Yang Ping, director of the General Manager of Kang Blu-ray Co., Ltd., confidently stated in an interview. At present, the application field of sapphire has been involved in many fields such as medical and mechanical, and the prospects are huge.
Recently, Russian sapphire substrate manufacturer monocrystal announced an increase in the sales price of sapphire substrates, which is close to 30%. However, the domestic sapphire substrate factory is still in a wait-and-see state.
Guo Yuebo expects that based on the current LED general lighting demand exceeds expectations, the chip production capacity will begin to release. In the early stage, the substrate factory was suppressed by the decrease in unit price, and the production capacity was shut down, and the production capacity of the industry began to decline. However, in the fourth quarter of this year, the price of sapphire substrate is expected to remain stable and may rise slightly.
However, Song Lei said that the price increase of the substrate is still unknown. Whether the future is the substrate or other applications will drive the sapphire industry.
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