Sources say Sanan is cutting prices by 10-15% to compete for Apple Mini LED orders, the reply is here

On September 13, DIGITIMES reported that industry insiders revealed that Sanan Optoelectronics, the largest LED chip manufacturer in mainland China, has lowered its quotation by 10-15% to compete with Taiwan's Epistar Optoelectronics for Apple's Mini LED chip orders for LCD panels. Sources said that Sanan Optoelectronics originally planned to start supplying Mini LED chips to Apple in the second quarter of 2022, but the epidemic lockdown in eastern mainland China delayed the plan.
Sources pointed out that Epistar is currently Apple’s largest Mini LED chip supplier, and Austria-based ams-OSRAM is the second largest supplier. However, it is said that ams-OSRAM will stop supplying Mini LED chips and instead develop Micro LED chips.
Sources quoted Sanan Optoelectronics as saying that the company has improved the yield rate of Mini LED chips and is increasing shipments to international suppliers.
Sources added that Apple has adopted a policy of adding mainland Chinese manufacturers to its supply chain to improve bargaining power and spread supply risks. In addition, Epistar's existing Mini LED chip production capacity will not be enough to meet Apple's demand in the short term.
In March this year, Sanan Optoelectronics announced that it had received Mini LED orders from important international customers and started shipping and purchasing orders. The order size exceeded RMB 170 million.The market believes that Sanan Optoelectronics has solved the patent issue and officially entered Apple. The market is worried that Sanan Optoelectronics may launch a low-price order grabbing strategy after entering the market, which will challenge the market position of domestic Mini LED manufacturer Fucai.
Previously, Fucai Chairman Li Bingjie said that it was understood that mainland competitors had poor product shipment verification in April this year. In addition, terminal demand declined at that time, and they were not yet able to ship large quantities to American customers. However, sources pointed out that as long as it can meet Apple’s quality requirements for Mini LED chips, Sanan Optoelectronics will definitely enter its supply chain, and there is no need to lower quotations to compete for orders.
For manufacturers that use Mini LED backlights, the quality of Mini LED chips is the key to production costs. In this regard, sources pointed out that in their considerations, stable production of high-quality LED chips is more important than price. However, sources also said that as Mini LED chip yields improve and production increases, chip manufacturers will be required to reduce prices by 5-10% in the second half of 2022.
Regarding this rumor, the reporter called Sanan Optoelectronics Securities Department, and the other party responded: "I don't know the situation and need to confirm it. The announcement shall prevail." However, another Sanan Optoelectronics insider told reporters that it was “fake news.”