UV-A LEDs are primarily used for curing. Presently, curing also represents 52% of the UV-A market in terms of applications. Wu noted that UV-A LED manufacturers will evade the challenge of price competition by offering highly customizable solutions in the future. This means working closely with curing machine vendors in every aspect of product development, such as the LED wavelength, the design of the UV LED module, the composition of the UV adhesive and the design of the cooling system.
One of the UV-C LED’s applications that have huge growth potential in market value and high product margins is sterilization/purification. Countries that have recently started to invest in the development of UV-C LED products include Japan, the U.S. and South Korea. While the production of UV-C LEDs is waiting for a major breakthrough, the technology is likely reach maturity in 2017, when the ban on mercury-vapor lamps will be implemented. In sum, LEDinside anticipates that demand for UV-C LED solutions to be the main growth driver in the overall UV LED application market in the near future.