EMS provider Lite-On Technology has identified demand for power supplies for cloud computing (including data centers) as exceeding production capacity and expects shipments of such products to grow 30% to 40% annually in 2022 and 2023 according to the company’s president, Anson Chiu.
Lite-On has supplied power supplies to three of North America’s top four cloud computing service providers and is aiming to become a supplier for the other, Chiu said.
Along with the increasing need for storage capacity in data centers, the dimensions of power supplies need to be reduced, but the wattage needs to be increased, which means more technological difficulties in designing and manufacturing power supplies, Chiu noted.
Lite-On expects strong growth in shipments of automotive electronic devices, mainly electric vehicle (EV) charging stations and on-board chargers, Chiu said. Lite-On has become a supplier to three US-based EV charger manufacturers and expects demand to continue growing over the next 3-5 years along with the US government push to improve EV charging infrastructure, Chiu said, adding onboard chargers are used to convert AC power from charging stacks to DC power for batteries.
For optoelectronic product lines, Lite-On has expanded the production of automotive LED devices from lighting modules to modules with heat dissipation and structural components, the latter accounting for 30% of automotive LED device shipments, Chiu said.
PC product lines, mainly power adapters, keyboards, mice, cases and structural components, are expected to account for about 53% of the group’s sales in 2022, Chiu said. As global PC demand dwindles, Lite-On product line sales for PC use have declined only slightly, mainly because ASP rose about 10% over annual shipments of high-end products, Chiu noted .
The total revenue share for non-PC product lines will increase from 47% in 2022 to over 50% in 2023, Chiu said.
Lite-On will focus on the development of microgrids consisting of inverters, PCS (power conversion systems), battery energy storage systems and energy management platforms over the next 10 years, and will begin to roll out such products in 2023-2024, Chiu said. Microgrids will be used to store electricity from off-peak power grids and provide stored electricity during peak periods, Chiu noted, adding that Lite-On will first commercialize residential battery energy storage systems in 2023.
While a home battery energy storage system currently sells for about $10,000, some China-based manufacturers are offering sales prices about 70% lower than the former, putting competitive pressure on Taiwan-based manufacturers, Chiu said. However, Lite-On will open up markets in the US, Germany, Japan and other countries with relatively high electricity prices, he said.
Lite-On has demolished an old factory building in New Taipei City and will invest NT$2.82 billion (US$93.4 million) to construct a mixed-use factory/office building on the same site, scheduled for completion for 2025 is planned.