EB: Tell us about the latest innovations taking place in LED products in India.
Manufacturers in India are mainly focusing on power LEDs to increase their lumen/watt. Three years ago, we entered India with 53-60lm power LEDs but now 100lm products are quite common in the market. We believe that high brightness products like our AC LEDs, which offers 40 per cent more efficiency, are going to lead product innovation in the power LED segment. LCW, which is the world’s thinnest and high brightness chip LED at 0.17 mm, is another innovation that I believe will replace 5 mm lamp LEDs very soon.
EB: Why the cost of LED products is not coming down in India?
Compared to other markets such as Europe, America and China, LED product volume is not so good in India. This is the main reason that the cost is not coming down.
EB: Which segments in the Indian LED market is Seoul targeting and why?
We are offering a complete product range in India but we are especially targeting the power LED segment. We are confident about its future potential as it includes street lights, automotive lights, railway coach lights, solar products and architecture lighting—potentially a huge market in the next few years.
EB: Which innovative products Seoul Semiconductor has introduced in India? What are their application areas?
We have introduced the AC LED, Acriche A4, which is the world’s first semiconductor light source operating directly from AC power without a converter. In India, it is suitable for residential and commercial lighting applications where the main source of power is AC. Acriche A4 also satisfies both CRI (colour rendering index) and brightness parameters. The requirement of lowering luminous efficiency has been overcome by the A4 series. The products of this series have a colour temperature of 3000K with an efficiency of 75 lumens per watt and a high CRI of 85.
Our 10W LED (P7) is mainly aimed at street lighting segment but it is now being used in vehicles for the head lighting application. Our LCW100Z1 is another product which is most suitable for tubelight and lantern applications. Our R&D team is working on several new products for the power LED market in India.
EB: What is the USP of Seoul Semiconductor’s LEDs?
Qualitywise our LEDs are the best and are competitively priced. We also enjoy great customer support. We make efforts to achieve this. For example, when a customer sends an e-mail inquiring about a particular product, our sales team has to reply within 24 hours as per the company’s policy.
EB: How are your products being received in the Indian market?
When we introduced 10W LED (P7) in 2008, the customers were reluctant to use the product as it required a high current of 2,800mA. But with its gradual acceptance in the lighting and automotive segments, the product is doing great in the Indian market.
EB: Can you give some tips to the buyers that will guide them while buying LEDs?
The buyer should look for reliability and junction temperature in high power LEDs. Degradation information should be thoroughly checked and not just the lumens and price.
EB: Is India ready for organic light emitting diode (OLED)?
OLED is definitely an innovative product but it is still an unknown technology in India. Due to its high cost, it is not being manufactured in enough quantity to find wide commercial applications.
