Recently, Samsung Electronics, the world's largest maker of liquid crystal displays, and Samsung SDI, a plasma display panel maker, announced they will set up a joint venture to develop an organic electroluminescent display panel.

According to counters Jeff Shepard, president of Darnell Group, the impending displacement of cold-cathode fluorescent lamps by LED backlights in the laptop computer market is only one of the most visible indicators, and analyzed over 50 application sub-segments in detail to arrive at our growth trajectories. Growth in these applications will drive down the cost of LEDs is quite faster. And growth is accelerating in numerous market segments including video signs and billboards, automotive lighting, and others.

It's reported Seoul Semiconductor has recommended a new Top-View LEDs with high CRI, high efficacy and high reliability. Generally, the Warm White part (CAWT722-S) has a CRI of 96 and achieves 68 lm/W, while the Pure White (CWT722-S) has a CRI of 92 and produces 70 lm/W. moreover, it is important to note that these figures are for a drive current of 60 mA and a power consumption of 0.192 W. The light output of the pure white and warm white devices is only 13.9 and 13.1. lm, respectively.

According to the expert's analysis, OLED lighting is more than twice as efficient as regular incandescent light bulbs by using a new process that involves tiny micro lenses, cranking out 70 lumens of light per watt of power, compared with the 30 lumens per watt of GE's latest OLEDs. While these fantastic new lighting sources won't light up every house for a few more years, they'll be a whole lot better than current compact florescent bulbs.

It's reported Toshiba Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. Ltd. said that they will mass produce next-generation organic displays, spending roughly $140 million to cash in on the growing market for the ultra-thin screens On July 22.

It's reported Taiwan-based LED chipmaker Arima Optoelectronics has stressed that its finances and operations remain healthy despite heavy losses in 1Q.The company saw its June sales drop 59% on year to NT$104 million, with a net loss of NT$82 million for the month. It posted net losses of NT$124 million for the first quarter of 2008. It attributed the poor results to the spinning off its laser diode business last August, and fierce pricing amid weak demand.

It's reported Osram is claiming a record for luminous flux and efficacy from an LED driven at 350 mA. It says that its development engineers have achieved new records for the brightness and efficiency of white LEDs in the laboratory. Under standard conditions with an operating current of 350 mA, brightness peaked at a value of 155 lm, and efficacy at 136 lm/W. White prototype LEDs with 1 mm2 chips were used. The light produced had a color temperature of 5000 K, with color (x,y) coordinates at (0.349, 0.393).

It's reported that Asif Anwar, Director of the Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Technologies Service, will be presenting his paper, "LED Device and Material Market Trends," at the 5th China International Forum on Solid State Lighting conference on July 24 - 26, in Shenzhen, China. He will outline the market prospects for LEDs and highlight future substrate market trends that will have an impact on LED markets.

During the industry's traditional peak season in the second quarter, LED demand did not surge, however, LED makers are expected to see improved gross margins in the second quarter as compared to the slow season in the first quarter.It’s said that affected by weak demand for LEDs used in backlight units for small- to medium-size LCD panels, Unity Opto Technology saw its revenues in the second quarter drop 11% sequentially, but its gross margins are expected to increase to around 16-17%, up from 10% in the first quarter.

It's reported TOKYO (AP) -- Toshiba Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. will start making next-generation displays at their joint plant by the second half of 2009.

Cree expects LED lighting production costs to drop fast, coming close to the levels of fluorescent lamps by 2012. XLamp MC-E has been widely adopted by clients for commercial lighting, flash lights, street lamps and others.

The technique overcomes prohibitive costs of current LED technology by building the diodes on low cost silicon wafers, instead of currently-used sapphire. LEDs are said to be four times more efficient than conventional incandescent lights, more environmentally friendly than compact fluorescent lights, and have a far longer lifespan of up to 15 years.

Recently, Toshiba released new LED lights that are shaped like midget reflector and beam lamps.LED-based midget Reflector and Beam Lamps can be used with the existing light bulb sockets without any special adjustment because they have the E26 base. The new lights use Nichia Corp's LED. The light source comes in two types, with one incandescent and the other white. They are expected to be used as the illumination lighting for signboards, facilities and shops.

According to High Power executive, Charles Wei, president of Taiwan-based High Power Lighting, LED lighting will see explosive growth in 2010 when production costs are expected to halve compared to present levels, which focuses on high power LED design, packaging and module manufacturing.

Recently, Japanese LED maker Nichia Corporation has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany against its Korean rival, Seoul Semiconductor Co. Ltd. The lawsuit claims that Seoul's Acriche series white LED product infringes the Nichia patent EP(DE)622858. Seoul's German subsidiary, Seoul Semiconductor Europe GmbH, and its German distributor, Conrad Electronic SE, are also listed in the lawsuit, which seeks injunctive relief and compensation for damages.

Recently, Australian company, BluGlass, has developed low-cost manufacturing technology for growing GaN-based material for LEDs, has opened its new headquarters and demonstration plant at Silverwater, Sydney. The facility was opened by Peter Garrett, Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts.

With the race for leadership in the next-generation display market between Korea, Japan and even Taiwan getting increasingly fierce, signals of a market reshuffle are looming large at Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics.Compared to the current mainstream liquid crystal display (LCD) panel with a known contrast ratio of 1,000:1 or a plasma panel with 20,000:1, an active-matrix light-emitting diode (AM OLED) panel is said to have more than a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. Moreover, the display can handle fast motion, such as movement in video games, very smoothly, analysts say.

Recently, Merck KGaA and DELO Industrial Adhesives announced that they had formed a strategic partnership in the field of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) technology. Within the scope of their agreement, the companies plan to develop future system solutions for OLED applications. The companies will join forces to market OLED adhesive products from DELO through Merck’s extensive marketing and sales channels.

Recently, Luxell Technologies Inc. (TSX:LUX) is pleased to report it has now been issued an additional U.S. patent (No. 7372436). The patent specifically relates to reducing ambient light reflections off of the display face and provides OLED displays with greater sunlight legibility. The resulting end-display will benefit from an increased readability and from reduced production costs as the use of polarizing filters is no longer required.

Yesterday,Nu Horizons Electronics Corp., a leading global distributor of advanced technology semiconductor, displays, illumination, power and system solutions, announced expansion into India withOSRAM Opto Semiconductors, a specialist in semiconductor technology for lighting, sensor and visualization applications.

Recently, Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc., a renewable energy and energy conservation company, announced that it had finalized an exclusive partnership with Kauffman Consulting, LLC for the design and development of proprietary, high-efficiency LED based solid-state lighting fixtures and solar lighting systems.

Recently, Taiwan`s top-two LED makers, Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. and Epistar Corp., decided to jointly set up a dedicated photovoltaic (CPV) solar power plant in southern Taiwan, the first of its kind in Asia.

Recently, Opto Tech, has landed a big order for LED displays for use on freeways in the U.S. With the new order and its ongoing construction project of a large-sized LED marquee in Suzhou China, which is worth NT$5-600 million, Opto Tech is very likely to see its single-month revenue break the NT$700 million mark, hitting a new high in the third quarter of 2008.

According to company sources, affected by seasonal impact, quite a few Taiwan`s LED (light-emitting diode) makers, including Unity Opto Technology Co., Ltd.,Harvatek Inc. andEpistar Corp. and Opto Tech Corporation, Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd., suffered declining sales revenue in June.

Yesterday, Marktech LED Lighting Products announced the grand opening of their online store, MarktechLEDlighting.com, and spoke to consumers about the importance of energy conservation. At their online store, consumers will find creative illumination ideas that are designed to leave a minimal footprint on the environment.

Recently, Intellectual Property Bank Corp (IPB) has announced its "Applicant Score Rankings" based on the company's proprietary benchmarks for technical competitiveness of manufacturers engaged in the LED lighting system business. According to IPB, a company that provides consulting related to intellectual property, Nichia Corp is the top manufacturer on a basis of competitive technology in the LED lighting system area.

Recently, Sony Corp and other Japanese companies said they will team up to jointly develop key technologies to make large-sized organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for use in TVs.

Yesterday, Analog Technologies Corp., a leading provider of electronic design and manufacturing services, announced the launching of a wholly-owned subsidiary focused on high power LED integration for Solid State Lighting OEM’s. The newly formed operation, Lumagine, LLC will be responsible for design and manufacturing services of high power LED light engines and assemblies.

Recently, Taiwan's share of the growing notebook market is expected to continue slowly rising. But systems makers on the island nation face challenges such as the transition to LED backlights and the need to expand their overseas markets.In Taiwan at least 15 companies currently design and make notebooks for major brand name companies. Two of those former no-name manufacturers—Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer--have established significant notebook businesses under their own brands, thanks in part to their close ties to the many key component suppliers in Taiwan.

It’s reported that the Japanese government is backing Sony, Toshiba, Sharp and some other companies in joint research of new display technology called organic light-emitting diodes, or OLED.An agency set up for encouraging research, The New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization, or NEDO, said in a statement Thursday it has chosen the companies with the aim of developing a 40-inch OLED display sometime after 2015.