US sapphire wafer supplier Rubicon Technology said its first quarter 2012 results will be the lowest point in the current industry overcapacity period. Rubicon pointed out that market demand will resume strong in the second half of 2012. The most promising market in the LED industry – the general lighting sector is in the early stages of development, while the more mature consumer electronics and automotive sectors still have significant growth opportunities. Gold Finger Pcb,Flexible Circuit Board Gold Finger,Circuit Board Gold Finger Plating,Gold Finger Circuit Board Shenzheng Weifu Circuit Technology Co.Ld , https://www.wfcircuit.com
The main difficulty for Rubicon is that major manufacturers have postponed the shift to 6-inch sapphire substrate LED manufacturing, and only Germany's OSRAM Opto Semiconductors has achieved this shift. Rubicon says its 6-inch sapphire wafers are more than the other suppliers, but the shipment of 230,000 sapphire wafers (a small part of which is used in RF chip manufacturing) has increased the number of major customers. Inventories in this market environment with severe excess capacity.
Rubicon said that the market situation in the fourth quarter was very difficult, due to the overstocking of inventory in the LED supply chain, the market demand for sapphire wafers and core is quite limited.
Rubicon expects sales of 6-inch wafers to remain weak in the first half of 2012, but the company has supplied sapphire wafers to customers from June to December this year as the company signed a $20 million supply agreement with its largest customers. As a result, sales of the company's 6-inch wafers will begin to recover in the third quarter.
 