Lei Jun and Dong Mingzhu are still "fighting"? Xiaomi and Gree have already "secretly fought" in the LED field

Jiwei.com reported on July 22 (by reporter Zhang Yiqun) The rivalry between Xiaomi and Gree does not seem to have stopped just because the famous 1 billion bet between Lei Jun and Dong Mingzhu was settled.

Recently, Xiaomi's Yangtze River Industry Fund invested RMB 500 million in a strategic stake in MLS, a leader in the LED lighting field. At the end of last year, Gree Electric Appliances announced a RMB 2 billion stake in Sanan Optoelectronics, another leader in the LED field. The entry of Internet and traditional home appliance giants into the market and their respective positions in the upstream and downstream of the LED industry chain will further intensify competition in this field.

Sanan Optoelectronics is the leading domestic LED chip company. Its products include full-color ultra-high brightness LED epitaxial wafers and chips. In recent years, Sanan Optoelectronics has entered the field of compound semiconductors, striving to achieve a full industrial chain layout in the high-end field of semiconductor compounds. In 2019, Sanan Optoelectronics achieved revenue of 7.46 billion yuan.

MLS is a comprehensive optoelectronics company integrating LED packaging and LED application products. Its current products cover three categories: SMDLED, LampLED and LED application products (LED lighting, traditional lamp business and others). In the field of packaging, MLS has always maintained a leading market position in China. In 2019, MLS's revenue was 19 billion yuan.

It is understood that in recent years, through technological innovation, MLS has reduced the packaging and testing price of LED chips by 90%, accelerating the popularization of LED technology. MLS has advanced technology and significant advantages in the field of LED lighting products, and has certain technical and R&D advantages in the fields of MiniLED and UVCLED, and also has global sales channels. In 2018, MLS expanded its high-end light source products, lighting business and smart home business through the acquisition of Osram's general lighting brand "Ludvance".

Previously, Gree Electric explained in an external announcement that one of the purposes of investing in Sanan Optoelectronics was to "enter the semiconductor manufacturing industry." Gree Electric said: "Sanan Optoelectronics is a leader in LED chips and has a first-mover advantage in the field of compound semiconductors. The strategic equity investment in Sanan Optoelectronics will help the company's central air-conditioning, intelligent equipment, precision molds, photovoltaics and energy storage sectors to enter the semiconductor manufacturing industry. At the same time, through cooperative research and development with Sanan Optoelectronics in the semiconductor field, it will help further enhance the company's technology accumulation in related fields."

Xiaomi said that the Xiaomi Yangtze River Industry Fund will assist MLS in further strengthening its cooperation with Xiaomi Group in product development, improve the matching efficiency of both parties in new product design, development, trial production, mass production and other links, and actively promote MLS to incorporate related smart lighting products into the Xiaomi ecological chain layout. For example, in the fields of smart TV, smart home and IoT, synergy can be generated to achieve mutual benefit and win-win results.

Industry insiders pointed out that, from the current perspective, the leaders in the LED field, while consolidating their main business, are expanding their business boundaries and looking for new revenue growth points in the future. The advent of the Internet of Things era will give smart homes and smart lighting a broad market space. The marriage between Xiaomi and Gree and the traditional LED lighting field is also aimed at future development trends and strengthening the competitive advantage of industrial chain collaboration.

“6Mu (Mulinsen) plus Xiaomi is going to ‘make a living’ in the LED field. Xiaomi’s huge investment in Mulinsen will make the fire burn even more vigorously,” the person said.