The present invention discloses an alternating current (AC) light emitting diode (LED) having half-wave light emitting cells and full-wave light emitting cells. The AC LED has a plurality of light emitting cells electrically connected between bonding pads on a single substrate. The AC LED includes a first row of half-wave light emitting cells each having an anode terminal and a cathode terminal, a second row of full-wave light emitting cells each having an anode terminal and a cathode terminal, and a third row of half-wave light emitting cells each having an anode terminal and a cathode terminal. In the AC LED, the second row is arranged between the first row and the third row, and the third row includes a pair of light emitting cells that share a cathode terminal with each other. The cathode terminal shared by the pair of light emitting cells in the third row is electrically connected to the anode terminal of a corresponding light emitting cell of the half-wave light emitting cells in the first row through a conductor that is electrically insulated from the full-wave light emitting cells in the second row.