LED Grow Lighting Market in 2024

LED Grow Lighting Market in 2024

    In 2024, the global LED grow light market continued its expansion, reaching a market size of $1.315 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 6.6% (TrendForce data). This growth is the inevitable result of technological innovation and policy incentives resonating together, with its driving mechanisms broken down into three dimensions:

    

Technological Leap as the Industrial Core

    

    The surge in vertical farming and the shift toward high-value crops are direct drivers. Sustained investments in vertical agriculture across Asia, the Middle East, North America, and Europe, combined with the demand for precise light environments for high-value crops like medicinal plants and solanaceous fruits, have pushed LED equipment toward higher photosynthetic photon efficacy (PPE) and photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD). Next-generation multi-channel tunable lighting products, with dynamic spectrum control, have achieved breakthroughs such as a 15-25% increase in strawberry yields (CAS-Sanan UV-B technology case) and a 15% increase in polysaccharide content in Dendrobium. These advancements significantly expand the premium space for technology. The maturity of technology directly drives diversification of application scenarios:

• Saudi Arabia NEOM smart city project uses 650W high-power LED modules, achieving 8-12 times the yield of traditional farmland in desert greenhouses.

• MLS, in collaboration with Xiaomi’s ecosystem, launched Ra90 high-color-rendering lamps supporting the 660nm red light band, allowing users to adjust light cycles via the Mi Home app, with a 42% repurchase rate in home gardening.

• NASA quantum dot LED tests successfully grew potatoes for Mars, and Chinese“lunar lettuce lamp” project achieved full-cycle lettuce cultivation on the International Space Station, marking the continuous expansion of technological boundaries.

  
  

Global Competitive Landscape

• Philips (Signify): In 2024, its lighting fixture sales reached $170 million, accounting for 13% of the global market. It leads in North American medical cannabis equipment for professional cultivation, with a 58% market share in 2023. In 2025, Philips plans to focus on promoting container farm solutions and advancing spectrum optimization technology (DynamicGrowth system, patented in 28 countries).

• AMS Osram: Its LED grow lights are renowned for precise spectrum control and energy efficiency. In 2025, it will collaborate with Dutch company LumiGrow to develop an AI-driven light recipe system, targeting the Middle East’s 650W high-power lighting market.

• Technological Updates: Innovations include Cree LED’s 660nm+730nm dual red peak chips, MIT’s optogenetic microfluidic chips enabling single-cell light control, and Seoul Semiconductor’s quantum dot LEDs (±5nm spectrum precision), collectively forming technological barriers for international companies.

  
  

Chinese Players  

Upstream Chips Independence: Breaking the Spectrum Algorithm Bottleneck

• Sanan Optoelectronics: Its 660nm red light chip achieves international-standard wall-plug efficiency (WPE), with its gallium nitride chip improving light efficiency by 15% annually (from 220lm/W to 253lm/W). Vertical integration reduces costs to 65% of comparable international products.

• Silan Micro: Its blue-green light chips are successfully applied in the Netherlands' Venlo-type greenhouse supplemental lighting systems,  while Changelight Optoelectronics' 730nm far-red chips improve light efficiency by 28%-32% in North American industrial cannabis cultivation.

• Technological Breakthroughs: Innovations like cascade phase modulation waveguide array chips reduce spectrum customization costs by 80%, promoting technology democratization.

 Midstream: Dual-Driven by Scale and Scenario Adaptation

• MLS: In collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, its pasture plant cabin technology secured orders worth hundreds of millions in Xinjiang’s 10,000-acre alfalfa fields, addressing the challenge of fresh grass supply in winter.

• HonglI: Its "smart lighting + light control system" solution shortens the lettuce growth cycle to 28 days, with Mirai plant factory data showing a 27% improvement in light efficiency.

• Sosen: Its driver power supplies, certified with IP67 protection, operate reliably in Southeast Asia’s high-temperature, high-humidity environments, with constant power technology ensuring.

Downstream Applications: Penetration of High-Value Scenarios and Global Expansion

• SNC Optoelectronics: In deep collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, it achieved breakthroughs in 2024-2025 with full-spectrum plant supplemental lighting and blue/far-red composite light recipes, enhancing efficiency in high-value scenarios like medicinal plants and high-latitude fruits and vegetables. Leveraging production bases in Vietnam/Mexico and global channels like Signify, it accelerates the global penetration of vertical farming and urban plant factories.

• In Maoming City: Foshan Lighting, in partnership with NationStar Optoelectronics, developed a red-blue light spectrum (60% red-blue, 2:1 ratio), extending the dragon fruit production period and increasing sweetness, boosting annual yield by 15%. In collaboration with the Heilongjiang Academy of Sciences, it developed intelligent spectrum equipment to regulate light cycles, promoting blueberry flower bud differentiation, earning the “China Small Berry Industry Development Contribution Award.”

• Export Substitution: R2T Grow Technology, a North American medical cannabis lighting expert, provides ODM/OEM customized spectrum solutions through partnerships with local brands, with over 70% of its revenue from the North American market.

  
  

Differentiated Competition: Technology Democratization vs. Ecosystem Barriers

        In the global plant lighting industry competition, Chinese companies are carving out a differentiated path through three dimensions: technology democratization, scenario adaptation, and energy synergy:

• Technology Democratization: A disruptive 90% cost reduction in spectrum chips lowers the technical barrier for small and medium-sized farms.

• Scenario Adaptation: A dual-track strategy targeting high-margin markets in Southeast Asia and cost-effective markets in Africa to mitigate regional risks.

• Energy Synergy: Through the “photovoltaic + hydrogen storage” model, transforming plant factories into regional energy hubs.

  
  

China's Breakout Path in Global Comparison

        While international companies maintain advantages in patent barriers and high-power equipment, Chinese firms are gaining an irreversible edge in cost, delivery timelines, and scenario adaptation through a combination of downstream data-driven R&D, full industry chain cost reduction, and precise regional market penetration. This approach is reshaping the value distribution of global agricultural infrastructure.

        This landscape underscores that plant lighting is not only a technology-driven industry but also a focal point of global competition.

Future Trends

        The continuous expansion of plant lighting applications validates its broad technological applicability and fosters a differentiated global market demand pattern. These differences stem from regional policy orientations and are closely tied to local resource endowments and industrial foundations. Notably, this regional divergence is driven by the deep integration of technological breakthroughs and market demands.

    For example:

• North America: The ongoing legalization of medical cannabis drives 12-15% demand growth in 2024, heavily reliant on Philips’ DynamicGrowth system with six-band spectrum control (patented in 28 countries), holding a 79% market share.

• Europe: The energy crisis has spurred a 22% year-on-year increase in vertical farming orders, supported by PlantLab’s cascade phase chips (±5nm precision) and EU green energy policies.

• Southeast Asia: Thailand’s cannabis legalization has led to a 22% surge in lighting imports, closely tied to China’s spectrum chip technology democratization.

  
  

Spectrum Chip Localization Drives Technology Democratization

        China’s breakthroughs in technologies like cascade phase modulation waveguide array chips have reduced spectrum customization costs by 80%, fostering a tiered competitive landscape:

• Top-Tier Monopoly: Philips DynamicGrowth system (six-band dynamic control) maintains dominance in high-value markets with an 85% share in North American medical cannabis equipment.

• Mid-Tier Rise: Sanan Optoelectronics boosts light efficiency by 15% annually (from 220lm/W to 253lm/W) with gallium nitride chips, expanding its advantage in consumer markets like home gardening.

• Grassroots Accessibility: Open-source spectrum databases (e.g., Dutch Priva Connext), covering 12,000 crop light recipes, lower technical barriers for small and medium-sized farms.

Carbon Neutrality Goals Reshape Energy-Production Coupling Model

        While technology democratization advances, global carbon neutrality policies are profoundly reshaping the energy logic of the plant lighting industry:

• Energy Synergy: Middle Eastern desert greenhouses achieve 8-12 times the yield of traditional farmland, integrating photovoltaic and hydrogen storage technologies for all-day energy supply, with water consumption reduced by 60-70% compared to conventional methods.

• Negative Carbon Practice: Zhejiang Pinghu’s “hydrogen-light-storage-charging” integrated system (5.8MW capacity) validates commercial feasibility through off-grid operation, sequestering 3,800 tons of carbon annually, aligning with the EU’s 2030 goal of 55% emission reduction.

• Policy Pressure: The EU’s carbon tariff (2026, €65/ton CO₂) compels companies to incorporate microgrid compatibility into core designs, as seen in a Dutch underground farm securing subsidies with over 40% green energy usage.

  
  

Competitive Focus Shifts: From Technology Monopoly to Ecosystem Adaptation

        With spectrum chip costs dropping 8% annually, corporate competition has shifted from standalone technical parameters to ecosystem adaptability involving “light recipes + microgrids + data chains”:

• Technical Adaptation: AI-driven demodulation algorithms enable dynamic spectrum responses (e.g., reducing strawberry deformity rates from 12% to 2.3%), meeting Europe’s stringent standards for light efficiency (3.8μmol/J) and carbon footprint (0.4kg CO₂e/kg lettuce).

• Energy Adaptation: The success of the Middle East“photovoltaic + hydrogen storage” model and Pinghu off-grid system validates the commercial necessity of green energy integration.

• Scenario Adaptation: High-priced lighting in Southeast Asia and cost-effective solutions in Africa form a strategic hedge.

Conclusion

    The rise of plant lighting technology marks a shift in human agriculture from “relying on nature” to a “light recipe-driven” era of technological empowerment.  From Philips’ six-band spectrum control to Sanan Optoelectronics’ gallium nitride chips, the core of this competition has evolved from single-technology monopolies to collaborative ecosystem building.  As the industry predicts: “Whoever masters light recipes holds the key to the future of agriculture.”

    

    In summary, the plant lighting industry is brimming with potential but faces challenges such as unifying technical standards, intensifying market competition, and navigating regional policy differences. Only companies that can form a strategic closed loop through technological independence, energy synergy, and scenario insight will continue to lead in this global competition.