There will be a revolution in lighting within five years as cheap, bright, energy-efficiency LEDs elbow their way into the market, claims Bridgelux CEO William Watkins.
China is working on last year's technology, not next year's says Bridgelux's William Watkins
The first proof of this transition: $10 LED bulbs this year burning at bright as 40 watts, Watkins said Wednesday. At this price, consumers start to get interested, he suggested.
Watkins, who took over as LED-maker Bridgelux’s top executive three months ago, has never been afraid to speak his mind. This was the case when he ran he world’s largest disk drive company, Seagate Technology. It is turning out to be true as he settles into his new job.
During a Wednesday evening interview, Watkins said Bridgelux has seen early success with its new LED socket design. The design allows LED, or light-emitting diode, chips to snap easily in and out of fixtures, making the substitution of a new brighter bulb simple.
There will be light fixtures with the new sockets on display at the LightFair trade show in Las Vegas on May 12, less than two months after the product’s unveiling.
Watkins saved his sharpest comments for competition from China, which is on the rise. About 50 Chinese companies make LEDs and all are receiving funding from the government, he said. Streetlights across China will all be LEDs, and municipalities will subsidize the production.
So will competition get fierce? Perhaps. But Chinese companies are not on the cutting edge of technology, he says. They are not developing next year’s technology, they are copying last year’s technology, Watkins explains.
“What scares me is if China begins to enforce (intellectual property) rights,” he says. If inventors can enforce their IP rights, the nation begins to nurture the environment of innovation that is missing today, he says.
Posted by Mark Boslet 
