Projection lamp manufacturer GP LiTech Corporation (formerly Grand Pacific Lighting) (Hsinchu, Taiwan) (www.gplitech.com.tw) reports that it is now expanding its production capacity to meet expected needs for 2003 and beyond. By June, it will double existing capacity, and by September, it will double it again.

Since July 2002, GP LiTech has shipped a "couple of thousand lamps to China for the lamp replacement market and to OEMs for use in HTPS- and DLP-based RPTVs," states president Joe-Yu Wu.

Currently, the company is being qualified by the LCOS Strategic Partnership (LSP), led by UMO, to provide lamps for LCOS RPTVs. "This should be done by June, which is why we will have increased capacity in place to support production by then," says Wu. "We believe the ramping up of LCOS RPTVs will reach 20K/ month by the end of 2003, so we need to double our capacity again. We think that 50% of our projector lamps will go to LCOS and the other 50% capacity will support LCD/DLP solutions and the replacement parts market."

GP LiTech also aims to expand distribution of its lamp replacement service in China and the US. In February, it signed a contract with a consumer electronic spare parts distribution company to promote its products in the Greater China territory and APEC region. "Target sales for this year are 50K lamps as replacement parts, and for some small projector assembly companies in China that need 300-500 lamps per month," explains Wu. "We take care of the five major TV/projector companies by ourselves." For the US replacement market, the company is currently in negotiations with two potential companies and hopes to close a deal in April. GP LITech also sells lamps for use in fiber-optic illumination modules. "Projection lamps must be high quality," says Wu, "but we can use some of the slightly lower-quality lamps in the fiber-optic systems, where they perform just fine. These two product lines help increase our overall yield and efficiency."

The company's current projection lamp lineup consists of 1.3mm arc models at 100W, 120W, 150W and 200W. The 200W is only targeted for the replacement market because of the reflector to which it is coupled. In development is the molding of a new reflector for an OEM DLP customer that will allow an upgrade from a 150W to a 200W lamp.

In pilot production are 1.1mm arc models at 100W and 120W. While these are aimed at the RPTV market, they offer lower lifetimes than the 1.3mm arc models, so they may not be as attractive to RPTV set makers. Wu says its 100W lamp has an 8K-hour lifetime and is typically used in 43-inch RPTVs. The 120W lamp is targeted for 52-inch RPTV models.

"GP LiTech offers some advantages to customers compared to our competitors," explains Wu. For one, our lamps are lower cost - about $50 less than a comparable Philips lamp. He says that a typical 100W lamp system with a reflector and ballast costs $150 to $200. "We sell this system for a little over $100 and we intend to push this below $100."

"Secondly, Japanese lamp makers don't offer the lamp, reflector and ballast combination to Taiwanese producers - but we do. GP LiTech will also tune these components for customer performance, and we can combine the ballast with the power supply electronics to save on system space, heat and cost," says Wu. "And we provide engineering support for lamp integration and will offer better service in both Taiwan and China."

Another advantage is the company's ability to take smaller orders. "A year ago, if you wanted to buy a lamp from Philips, you had to buy 10K of them and commit to spending $3M, which was unacceptable to many Taiwanese companies." Wu acknowledges, however, that Philips and Osram are now being more accommodating to local buyers.

GP LiTech was started about four years ago, using approximately $2M in start-up funds, in an effort to establish a local Taiwanese lamp manufacturing capability. The company became part of the LCOS Strategic Partnership and transferred lamp technology developed at ITRI.

But establishing a mass production process has not been easy as it has taken a long time to reach mass production with quality parts. For example, the company experienced problems with its lamps in the replacement market in China early on. It found that the lamps were ending up in older engine designs where the airflow was not as well designed, thus causing premature failures. In addition, operators were not as knowledgeable about the need to avoid touching the envelope with their fingertips - a well-known cause of premature failure.

"To solve this problem, we redesigned the cooling system on the reflector and added ceramic tips," states Wu. He also acknowledges that the company improved ballast designs to accommodate the unstable power supply in China.

"Yes, we do have some lamp returns, but the rate is lower than 4% from the replacement market, which we know is much lower than some of our competitors," said Wu. "We have had no returns from our OEM partners yet."

Now that GP LiTech feels it has these issues under control, it is ready to expand from its modest manufacturing base to support a growing local industry. Toward this end, it has raised additional funds from investors and customers to support capacity expansion. The money will be used to purchase additional lamp manufacturing equipment from Japan.

GP LiTech, Joe-Yu Wu, [886] 3-563-7360, joe@gplitech.com

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