Siu Han, Taipei; Jackie Chang

 

The price of sapphire substrates has been low due to weak demand in the downstream LED market. According to sapphire substrare maker, Crystalwise, order visibility has been low despite many requests for quotations.

The price of sapphire substrates has been falling. In July the price of 2-inch wafers was around US$18-19/unit, but in September the price was only US$11-12/unit. Industry sources pointed out that although the price of sapphire substrates in China has already fallen to US$8-9/unit, Taiwan-based firms are still hanging onto the US$10/unit level. The price of sapphire ingots is expected to fall to US$4.5/mm by the end of October, added industry sources.

Overall, there is still room for sapphire substrate prices to fall in the fourth quarter, but the drops will be less significant, stated the sources.

Tera Xtal's September revenues reached NT$110 million (US$3.62 million), the only Taiwan-based sapphire substrate firm with revenues above NT$100 million for the month. The September revenues represent a 4.76% on-month increase and the accumulated revenues for the first nine months of 2011 reached NT$2 billion, showing a 87.2% on-year growth.

Crystalwise reported September revenues of NT$75.40 million, a 31% decrease on month, the most significant decline among peers.

Wafer Works Optronics' September revenues totaled NT$8.05 million, a 20% fall on month and 87% fall on year.

Crystal Applied reported September revenues of NT$83.37 million, with on-month growth of 12.5%. But the figure represents an on-year decrease of 70%. Accumulated revenues from January-September reached NT$1.8 billion, an on-year increase of 27%.