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Fixtures, lamps, and LED lighting; China dominates manufacturing and LED components.
Why it matters · Lighting prices track tariffs and LED chip supply.
5
Inputs
20
Companies
2
Facilities
10
Source countries
How it's made
LED Chip Fabrication
Gallium-nitride (GaN) epitaxial layers are grown on sapphire/SiC substrates and diced into blue LED chips — the light-emitting heart of all modern lighting.
LED Packaging & Phosphor
Blue LED chips are packaged and coated with rare-earth phosphor (cerium-doped YAG, plus europium/yttrium reds) that down-converts blue to white light.
Driver & Electronics
AC-DC LED drivers, power supplies and (for smart lighting) wireless control PCBs are manufactured and tested.
Fixture & Heat-Sink Build
Die-cast/extruded aluminum heat sinks, housings, lenses/diffusers and sockets are produced and the LED module + driver are integrated.
Assembly & QC
Lamps/fixtures are assembled, burn-in and safety-tested (UL/Energy Star), and packaged for shipment.
What it's made of
5 raw inputs feed lighting & lamps. Inputs flagged with ● are critical — without them, production halts.
Where it comes from
Weighted share of upstream inputs sourced from each country.
| Country | Weighted share | Inputs supplied to lighting & lamps |
|---|---|---|
| USUnited States | 50% | Aluminum Extrusions (Apparatus Body) |
| CNChina | 28% | Aluminum Extrusions (Apparatus Body) · Gallium Metal (High-Purity, 6N+) · LED Driver / Power Electronics +2 |
| PTPortugal | 26% | LED Phosphor (Rare-Earth YAG) |
| JPJapan | 23% | Gallium Metal (High-Purity, 6N+) · LED Driver / Power Electronics · LED Package / Chip (GaN) +1 |
| NONorway | 15% | Aluminum Extrusions (Apparatus Body) |
| MYMalaysia | 12% | LED Driver / Power Electronics · LED Package / Chip (GaN) |
| THThailand | 8% | Aluminum Extrusions (Apparatus Body) · LED Driver / Power Electronics · LED Package / Chip (GaN) |
| MXMexico | 7% | Aluminum Extrusions (Apparatus Body) · LED Driver / Power Electronics · LED Package / Chip (GaN) |
| TWTaiwan | 7% | LED Driver / Power Electronics · LED Package / Chip (GaN) · LED Phosphor (Rare-Earth YAG) |
| VNVietnam | 6% | Aluminum Extrusions (Apparatus Body) · LED Driver / Power Electronics · LED Package / Chip (GaN) |
Shipped finished
Countries that ship finished lighting & lamps directly to the U.S. — distinct from the upstream raw inputs above.
| Country | U.S. imports | Share of U.S. imports |
|---|---|---|
| CNChina | $3.0B | 32% |
| MXMexico | $1.7B | 18% |
| VNVietnam | $997M | 11% |
| KHCambodia | $825M | 9% |
| CACanada | $727M | 8% |
| THThailand | $540M | 6% |
| MYMalaysia | $202M | 2% |
| INIndia | $173M | 2% |
| ITItaly | $156M | 2% |
| PHPhilippines | $136M | 2% |
Who makes it
20 companies in this supply chain, sorted by market share.
World's largest LED maker; invented the high-brightness blue LED (Nobel Prize 2014) that enables white LED lighting.
Supplies these inputs
LED Package / Chip (GaN) · LED Phosphor (Rare-Earth YAG)
Replaceability
Substitutability 50% · 12 mo to replace
Business segments
State-owned Chinese aluminum company (subsidiary of Chinalco); China's largest alumina and primary aluminum producer; operates ~50 bauxite mines and 15+ alumina refineries across China and internationally; ~12% of global alumina production
Supplies these inputs
Gallium Metal (High-Purity, 6N+)
Replaceability
Substitutability 25% · 24 mo to replace
Business segments
China Hongqiao Group (Zouping, Shandong; HKEX: 1378; ~$30B+ revenue) is the world's largest aluminum producer by primary aluminum output and consequently one of the world's largest primary gallium producers. Gallium is a byproduct of aluminum production — bauxite contains trace gallium (~0.005% Ga by weight) that is recovered during the Bayer process conversion of bauxite to alumina. Hongqiao's massive Shandong Province aluminum smelting operations (producing ~6 million tonnes of primary aluminum annually) generate significant gallium as a byproduct. Hongqiao sells crude gallium to Chinese gallium refiners who purify it to semiconductor grade (6N+ purity). The company's gallium production is opaque — gallium is not separately reported in Hongqiao's financials — but Hongqiao's scale makes it one of the largest single crude gallium sources globally.
Supplies these inputs
Gallium Metal (High-Purity, 6N+)
Replaceability
Substitutability 25% · 24 mo to replace
Business segments
Conglomerate owning E-ONE (Ocala FL), KME (Nesquehoning PA), Ferrara Fire Apparatus, Spartan Emergency Response, and Smeal Fire Apparatus. Along with Pierce/Oshkosh and Rosenbauer, the three companies control more than 70% of US fire apparatus production — a concentration that triggered antitrust investigation and a Senate hearing in 2023.
Supplies these inputs
Aluminum Extrusions (Apparatus Body)
Replaceability
Substitutability 60% · 6 mo to replace
Business segments
Norwegian state-controlled industrial company; operates Alunorte (Barcarena, Brazil) — the world's largest alumina refinery (6.3 Mt/yr capacity); also Paragominas bauxite mine (Brazil) and Norwegian aluminum smelters; 2018 Alunorte environmental shutdown caused global alumina price to spike 60%
Supplies these inputs
Aluminum Extrusions (Apparatus Body)
Business segments
China's largest aluminum producer (private); sources bauxite from Guinea and Indonesia; operates integrated bauxite mines (Guinea operations via Winning Consortium) through parent Shandong Weiqiao; ~10% of global aluminum output
Supplies these inputs
Gallium Metal (High-Purity, 6N+)
Business segments
World's largest lighting company (Philips brand); major downstream consumer of LED packages and drivers.
Supplies these inputs
LED Package / Chip (GaN)
Business segments
DOWA Holdings Co., Ltd. (Tokyo; TSE: 5714; ~¥700B revenue; formerly Dowa Mining Co.) is Japan's primary gallium producer — recovering gallium from compound semiconductor manufacturing scrap (GaAs, GaN, InGaP wafer cutting, polishing, and epi-layer waste) through specialized hydrometallurgical recycling. DOWA's gallium is secondary (recycled) rather than primary (from bauxite), making it a critical Western alternative to Chinese primary gallium production. DOWA's Akita Prefecture smelting/recycling complex handles precious metals (gold, silver) and specialty metals (gallium, indium, germanium) recovered from electronic scrap. DOWA supplies semiconductor-grade gallium to Japanese GaN device manufacturers (Sumitomo Electric, Mitsubishi Chemical) and exports to non-China GaN producers globally.
Supplies these inputs
Gallium Metal (High-Purity, 6N+)
Replaceability
Substitutability 60% · 6 mo to replace
Business segments
Japanese chemicals maker; nitride/oxynitride and YAG phosphors for white LEDs.
Supplies these inputs
LED Phosphor (Rare-Earth YAG)
Replaceability
Substitutability 35% · 6 mo to replace
Business segments
Chinese rare-earth functional-materials maker; YAG and rare-earth LED phosphors.
Supplies these inputs
LED Phosphor (Rare-Earth YAG)
Replaceability
Substitutability 30% · 6 mo to replace
Business segments
Major maker of LED drivers and lighting power/control electronics.
Supplies these inputs
LED Driver / Power Electronics
Replaceability
Substitutability 40% · 4 mo to replace
Business segments
Australian rare earth mining and processing company (ASX: LYC, HQ Kuala Lumpur/Perth); world's largest rare earth producer outside China. Mines at Mount Weld, Western Australia (one of the world's highest-grade rare earth deposits) and processes at LAMP (Lynas Advanced Materials Plant) in Kuantan, Malaysia. Produces separated rare earth oxides including lanthanum oxide, LREE carbonate, neodymium-praseodymium oxide. Lanthanum from Lynas is a byproduct of Nd/Pr production — lanthanum has limited premium uses and Lynas has at times struggled to find buyers for its lanthanum output. Lynas is also building a heavy rare earth processing facility in Kalgoorlie, Australia and an NdPr separation facility in Seadrift, Texas (DoD-funded) to establish non-China rare earth processing.
Supplies these inputs
LED Phosphor (Rare-Earth YAG)
Replaceability
Substitutability 40% · 12 mo to replace
Business segments
Leading maker of standardized switching power supplies and LED drivers.
Supplies these inputs
LED Driver / Power Electronics
Replaceability
Substitutability 40% · 4 mo to replace
Business segments
Japanese chemical conglomerate (TSE: 4188); carbon fiber and composites through Mitsubishi Chemical Carbon Fiber and Composites (MCCFC). US facility: Sacramento, CA (formerly Grafil, since 1984; merged with Newport Composites 2013); also Evanston, WY. Japan: Aichi prefecture (December 2025 expansion doubling Aichi + Sacramento CF capacity). Key fiber: MR70 (ultra-high strength, 12P sizing, aerospace grade) and Pyrofil standard-modulus line. Expanding for sport, aerospace, and hypercar segments. Also has carbon fiber in Japan for space program applications. Mitsubishi Chemical is also one of the world's largest producers of acrylic acid/esters (precursors to specialty coatings) and methanol derivatives — a petrochemical giant that also makes space-grade carbon fiber from the same corporate umbrella as commodity chemicals.
Supplies these inputs
LED Phosphor (Rare-Earth YAG)
Replaceability
Substitutability 45% · 6 mo to replace
Business segments
Leading maker of high-voltage AC-DC power-conversion ICs for SMPS / chargers / TV power boards.
Supplies these inputs
LED Driver / Power Electronics
Replaceability
Substitutability 35% · 6 mo to replace
Business segments
Qorvo Inc. (Greensboro NC; Nasdaq: QRVO; ~$3.8B revenue FY2024; formed 2015 by merger of RF Micro Devices and TriQuint Semiconductor) is the world's second-largest GaAs/GaN RF semiconductor company. Qorvo operates in two major segments: Mobile Products (smartphone RF front-end modules — power amplifiers, filters, antenna tuners, duplexers for major Android OEMs and second-source iPhone supplier) and Infrastructure and Defense Products. The Defense & High Performance Solutions division is the most geopolitically significant: Qorvo makes GaN-on-SiC MMICs (Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits) for US military radar (AESA arrays), electronic warfare, satellite communications, and directed energy weapons. Qorvo operates its own GaAs fabrication plant in Richardson TX and GaN compound semiconductor development lines in Research Triangle Park NC. Unlike Broadcom, Qorvo is a vertically integrated IDM (Integrated Device Manufacturer) for GaN defense products — it does not rely solely on external foundries for its most critical military chips.
Supplies these inputs
Gallium Metal (High-Purity, 6N+)
Replaceability
Substitutability 5% · 36 mo to replace
Business segments
Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (KRX: 005930; ~$200B revenue) is the world's largest NAND flash memory manufacturer with ~33% global market share. Samsung's NAND operations span the Pyeongtaek P3 complex (South Korea) and — critically — the Xi'an, Shaanxi, China facility, which is Samsung's largest single NAND fab by capacity. Samsung received a one-year BIS export control exemption (later extended) to continue upgrading Xi'an equipment under US restrictions. Samsung pioneered 3D NAND V-NAND technology in 2013 (first commercial 3D NAND) and now produces 200+ layer V-NAND. Also produces DRAM (world's largest) and logic chips (Exynos, foundry).
Supplies these inputs
LED Package / Chip (GaN)
Replaceability
Substitutability 50% · 6 mo to replace
Business segments
World's largest gallium-nitride LED chip (epitaxy/wafer) maker; also compound-semiconductor (GaAs/GaN) foundry.
Supplies these inputs
LED Package / Chip (GaN)
Replaceability
Substitutability 30% · 9 mo to replace
Business segments
Where it's made
2 facilities producing inputs that feed lighting & lamps.
REV Fire Group · Ocala, Florida · assembly_plant
E-ONE (REV Group subsidiary) primary manufacturing facility. Pioneer of extruded aluminum modular fire apparatus body construction. Produces pumpers, aerials, and quints. Part of the three-company fire apparatus oligopoly (Pierce, REV Group, Rosenbauer) that controls 70%+ of US market.
Qorvo Inc. · Richardson, Texas · gan_rf_fab
Primary facility for Qorvo's defense GaN-on-SiC RF chips. Holds DoD MRL 10 qualification — the only commercial fab with this certification for GaN. Supplies GaN power amplifiers for F-35, Patriot missile, THAAD, and classified defense programs. Single facility concentration creates strategic vulnerability.
