NATIONSTAR: Shining with the Light of the Era, Striving to Become a Centennial Enterprise

Source: Foshan Daily Newspaper

NATIONSTAR's LED display components were applied to the stage display screens of the 2019 Asian Culture Carnival

NATIONSTAR LED Packaging Workshop

Recently, LED Research Center of TrendForce, a global market research institution, released the 2019 China LED Chip and Packaging Industry Market Report. According to the report, NATIONSTAR ranked first among global LED packaging manufacturers in China's display screen market in 2018.

From a small state-owned factory to an international industry leader, and from a novice to a sector pacesetter, Foshan NATIONSTAR Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., one of the featured enterprises in the 2019 "Foshan Backbone Enterprises" campaign, has kept pace with the times over the past 50 years. Driven by innovative technologies, the company has pursued transformation and upgrading to achieve high-quality development, emerging as an industry model and benchmark for "Made in China with Quality".

Forging Splendid Transformation by Keeping Pace with the Times

In the first quarter of this year, NATIONSTAR delivered an impressive performance, achieving an operating revenue of 918 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.87%. At present, the company's LED packaging business ranks among the top eight globally in terms of revenue.

Having endured decades of trials and achievements amid changing times, what underpins NATIONSTAR's enduring prosperity? He Yong, Chairman of NATIONSTAR, stated that the company always keeps pace with the times and develops alongside the motherland, adheres to innovation and continuous reform, and upholds the corporate spirit of solidarity, diligence, courage and enterprising.

In March 1969, the predecessor of NATIONSTAR, Foshan Semiconductor Material Factory, was established. As a state-owned enterprise under Foshan Electronic Industry Bureau, it mainly produced monocrystalline silicon, polycrystalline silicon, silicon epitaxial wafers and other products. In 1976, it successfully trial-produced LED products, becoming one of the first three enterprises in China to enter the LED industry.

With the advancement of reform and opening up, the LED industry ushered in new development opportunities. In 1980, Tottori Sanyo Electric (Hong Kong) Co., Ltd. from Japan entered the Pearl River Delta via Hong Kong and signed the first processing with supplied materials agreement with the factory. Sanyo provided equipment and raw materials for the production of LED display panels, small LED lamps, LED digital tubes and other products. The processing business brought NATIONSTAR its first pot of gold. In 1995, the company's sales revenue exceeded 100 million yuan, securing its position as China's largest manufacturer and exporter of optoelectronic components.

Despite the growing volume of processing orders, the unit processing price kept declining, failing to boost net profits. The senior management realized that an enterprise without independent innovation could never take the initiative in the market. Therefore, the company prioritized scientific research and embarked on the path of independent innovation. It set up a research and development center in 2000 and recruited its first postdoctoral researcher to develop proprietary core technologies.

In 2001, the independently developed chip LED of NATIONSTAR was launched, establishing its leading position in the domestic industry. Today, the mainstream small-pitch display components of NATIONSTAR are evolved and upgraded from this technology.

As reform deepened, directly-administered state-owned enterprises in Foshan entered a new stage of institutional reform to establish a modern enterprise system. In 2002, NATIONSTAR was restructured from a state-owned enterprise into a private enterprise. It successfully listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in 2010, becoming China's first IPO enterprise focusing on the LED business.

In 2014, Guangdong Rising Assets Management Co., Ltd. took shares in NATIONSTAR due to its optimism about the LED industry and the company's prospects, making NATIONSTAR a practitioner of the mixed ownership system. Under the guidance of Guangdong Rising, NATIONSTAR formulated the development strategy of "Four Innovations, Three Upgrades and Two Combinations": promoting conceptual, technological, managerial and model innovation; realizing sophisticated technology, internationalized market and large-scale production; integrating connotative development with extensional expansion, and balancing development quality with growth speed. The company has built a complete industrial chain ecosystem covering mid-stream LED packaging, upstream chips and downstream lighting markets.

In merely five years, Guangdong Rising helped NATIONSTAR achieve remarkable growth: the operating revenue stood at 1.543 billion yuan and net profit at 144 million yuan in 2014; by the end of 2018, revenue reached 3.626 billion yuan with a net profit of 445 million yuan.

Pursuing Sophisticated Technology to Lead High-quality Development

NATIONSTAR has long been a star enterprise in Foshan in terms of technological innovation.

Recently, the Department of Science and Technology of Guangdong Province announced the approved projects under the 2018-2019 Guangdong Key R&D Program, with NATIONSTAR securing two project approvals. In March, six products including high-efficiency white LED and LED light bars for large-size LCD backlights were recognized as High-tech Products of Guangdong Province. In April, NATIONSTAR was awarded the title of Foshan Benchmark High-tech Enterprise by the Foshan Municipal People's Government.

A wealth of data witnesses the fruitful achievements of NATIONSTAR in technological innovation. In 2018, NATIONSTAR and its subsidiaries filed 235 new patents, including 81 invention patents, 135 utility model patents, 10 design patents and 9 PCT international patents. As of March this year, the company and its subsidiaries held 490 authorized patents, covering 445 domestic patents and 47 overseas patents, including 115 invention patents in the fields of LED chips, packaging and application.

Such outstanding achievements stem from the company's strong emphasis on scientific research and development. Every year, around 4% of sales revenue is invested in R&D. In 2018, NATIONSTAR invested 165 million yuan in R&D, accounting for 4.58% of its operating revenue, and the R&D investment for this year is expected to surpass last year's figure.

Dr. Wang Sen, Director and General Manager of NATIONSTAR, believes that innovation is an ongoing process. Integrating innovation into corporate culture and fostering an innovation-driven talent team is the fundamental guarantee for the company's sustained growth.

In 2008, NATIONSTAR set up a postdoctoral research workstation at an early stage in the industry to recruit and train doctoral talents. The company also established university-enterprise joint training platforms, including postgraduate training bases and off-campus internship bases, enabling university researchers to conduct on-site practice in the enterprise.

These measures have helped NATIONSTAR solve multiple technical bottlenecks and accelerate the industrialization of research results. Notably, the key project titled Design and Controllable Manufacturing of Thermally Functional Structures with Complex Surface Morphologies, jointly developed with South China University of Technology and other institutions, solved core problems in materials and thermal control for high-power LED components, modules and lamps. The project won the Second Prize of the 2016 National Science and Technology Progress Award.

Dedication to technological innovation keeps NATIONSTAR at the forefront of the industry. In response to the trend of miniaturization and precision in LED products, the company has made frequent strategic moves. In March last year, NATIONSTAR established the Micro & Mini LED Research Center, taking the lead in China's packaging industry. Three months later, the company launched its first Mini LED product simultaneously in Guangzhou and the United States, gaining wide market recognition rapidly. In January this year, NATIONSTAR completed China's first commercial Mini LED display project, leading the commercialization of Mini LED technology. In June, the company rolled out the P0.7 product series, laying solid technical and market foundations for future P0.6 and below products as well as Micro LED applications.

In addition, NATIONSTAR has launched Eyelow health lighting LEDs, Mini LED backlight modules, light source display components for smart air conditioners and smart washing machines, and actively expanded into segmented fields such as ultraviolet LEDs, infrared LEDs, intelligent automotive lighting and 5G intelligent products, always maintaining a leading edge in the industry.

Zhang Hua, Secretary-General of Foshan Lighting Appliance Association and a senior industry observer, commented that NATIONSTAR has played a leading role in Foshan's lighting industry. With advanced talent reserves and technological strength, it provides continuous impetus for high-quality enterprise development and sets an exemplary benchmark for the whole sector.

Embarking on a New Journey to Build a Centennial Enterprise

On June 12, InfoComm, the world's top professional audiovisual exhibition, grandly opened at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, gathering cutting-edge audiovisual technologies and products worldwide. NATIONSTAR showcased its high-end REESTAR brand products and the latest Mini LED display solutions, attracting numerous professional visitors.

In recent years, the REESTAR brand of NATIONSTAR has frequently appeared on international occasions, with products widely applied in major global events including the BRICS Summit, Rio Olympics and FIFA World Cup Russia 2018. During the 2018 World Cup, LED display screens adopting core components supplied by NATIONSTAR were used in five host cities.

While promoting brand globalization, NATIONSTAR has accelerated its global layout and expanded aggressively into developed countries in Europe and America. In November 2015, the company set up a subsidiary in Germany to provide localized services by recruiting local employees and cooperating with high-quality agents and engineering partners, efficiently meeting market demands in Germany and across Europe. In early 2016, it established another branch in the United States.

The steady expansion of the global market has raised higher requirements for production capacity. In recent years, NATIONSTAR has invested heavily in capacity expansion to realize large-scale manufacturing. At the beginning of this year, the company invested 1 billion yuan to expand production of new-generation LED packaging components and supporting epitaxial chips to meet surging market demand.

2019 marked the 50th anniversary of NATIONSTAR. Standing at a new starting point, the company unveiled its grand vision: to build a centennial and world-class enterprise. He Yong stated that in the future, NATIONSTAR will adhere to the development strategy of "Four Innovations, Three Upgrades and Two Combinations", firmly master core technologies, drive sound, rapid and high-quality development, and make greater contributions to local economic and social progress as well as the development of China's LED industry.