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Digitimes Research: Panasonic expected to remain largest automotive Li battery maker, steps into LED automotive lighting

Jessie Lin, DIGITIMES Research, Taipei

Panasonic has started production at new automotive Li battery factories in Japan, the US and China and is expected to maintain the status as the global largest maker. In addition, Panasonic has extended production to LED automotive lighting, according to Digitimes Research.

Panasonic has extended production of Li-ion batteries to automotive models due to increasing competition from South Korea-based makers and stagnant growth in global demand for notebooks, Digitimes Research indicated.

Panasonic shipped 4,552MWh of automotive Li-ion batteries in 2015 for a global market share of 39.8%, followed by China-based BYD 14.4%, LG Chem 12.5%, Automotive Energy Supply 11.1%, Yuasa 5.2% and Samsung SDI 4.4%. Panasonic's leading market share was due to its partnership with Tesla which has adopted Panasonic batteries for its Model S and Model X. In addition, Panasonic and Tesla have set up Gigafactory, a joint-venture Li-ion battery factory, in Nevada.

Panasonic's LED automotive lighting features GaN-on-GaN LED chips on aluminum nitride substrates which offer higher brightness and better heat dissipation.

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