Light-emitting diode (LED) manufacturers in Taiwan and mainland China can work together to develop better technologies and create a win-win situation, said representatives from the industry during a cross-strait LED forum held in Taipei on Tuesday, reports The China Post. Taiwan has formed a complete LED supply chain network, with manufacturers having developed expertise in LED applications in notebook PC and LCD TV back-light panels, said Huang Chung-chiu, Taiwan’s deputy minister of economic affairs.

Epistar Corp, Taiwan’s biggest LED chipmaker, Tuesday said that it is optimistic over the next quarter’s prospects, as demand for LED chips used in new applications such as LED TVs keeps growing, reports the Taipei Times. The company plans to expand capacity by 5 to 10 percent this year, with production ramping up by the end of the year, Epistar’s chairman Lee Biing-jye said in an interview during a cross-strait cooperation seminar of the light-emitting diode (LED) industry.

Outdoor LED signs are becoming increasingly popular because it is a targeted medium that speaks to your most important audience, the people who can drive onto your property and purchase something immediately. LED signs have become extremely popular for outdoor advertising. The Small Business Association reports that businesses that choose to install an electronic LED message typically see an increase in business of 15% to 150%.

Everlight Electronics Co. Ltd (TSE:2393) recently introduced the SL-Dolphin Street Light series, following two years of research and development. The product series offers a very wide range of characteristics making it best in class, and adds to the growing portfolio of lighting modules from Everlight. This summer, the SL-Dolphin Street Light series was named the 12th most「Outstanding Photonics Product Awards 2009」from PIDA (Photonics Industry & Technology Development Association Taiwan).

PR Lighting Ltd of Guangzhou, China (which supplies intelligent stage lighting, architectural lighting and LED lighting products) said recently that it had chosen Golden DRAGON LEDs from Osram Opto Semiconductors for its XLED 590 intelligent wash light. XLED 590 intelligent wash light, incorporating Osram'’s Diamond DRAGON RGB LEDs for high-power stage lighting.

Havells India Ltd, a electrical and power distribution equipment manufacturer, has entered the Light Emitting Diode (LED) market with the launch of Endura Lite. LED is the future lighting source in India and are at the forefront of technological innovations.

A survey of electrical and lighting distributors recently conducted shows the importance of the sales channel for LED lighting manufacturers in gaining access to the emerging solid-state lighting market.

Offering the latest energy efficient alternative to traditional chandelier light bulbs, BULBRITE unveils Chandelier LEDs as an addition to its existing line of LEDs.

QD Vision, developer of nanotechnology-based products for lighting and displays, yesterday announced it has been awarded a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II contract by the U.S. Army as part of its Night Vision and Electronic Sensors Directorate (NVESD). Combined with new, additional funds for a Phase I option period, the award totals $775,000.

CIL, the electronics design and manufacturing services company based in UK, has been appointed as a Future Lighting Solutions Integration Member.  This means the company is approved to provide design and manufacturing services in the integration of solid-state lighting systems for customers of Future Lighting Solutions.  This appointment followed a detailed assessment programme during which CIL demonstrated its extensive experience in LED and optoelectronics design and manufacture.

Exar Corporation yesterday announced the XRP7620, a 4 channel, I2C controlled LED driver with independent software adjustable channel current control.

At SID Display Week 2009, LG Display Co Ltd of Korea exhibited a “rugged” 15-inch OLED panel. And the company had surprised the visitors by showing a demonstration video in which the panel was repeatedly being hit with a mallet to prove its toughness.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., (TAEC) has expanded its lineup of compact, high-efficiency white light emitting diodes (LEDs) with three devices in PLCC-2 packages in daylight (or cool) white and two warm whites. These white LEDs are among the brightest white LEDs in Toshiba's current LED product line in this form factor.

New side view 99-211 and top view 62-127 SMD LED packages offer high luminous intensity and energy savings for TFT LCD backlight applications

LED lighting fixtures have accounted for fully half of all Underwriters Laboratories (UL) approvals in Taiwan, reports the Taiwan branch of the safety certification organization, comparing with the average 30% ratio worldwide, according to a report on Taiwan Economic News.

Labsphere and Orb Optronix, two light measurement companies both based in the U.S., have announced a collaboration to accelerate the development of LED measurement instruments. The two companies say they will cooperate on the development of a broad range of new LED, display and light metrology products. Also, selected Orb Optronix instruments for LED testing will be manufactured at Labsphere’s New Hampshire facility.

Last month, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, Bill 150 was given Royal Assent signing into law the new Green Energy Act, 2009. This Act is intended to build a green economy in Ontario, under the leadership of Ontario Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, George Smitherman.

Cree, Inc. announced yesterday that it has signed a definitive agreement with RFHIC Corporation (Suwon, Korea) for Cree to supply GaN-on-SiC transistors to RFHIC for their GaN HEMT amplifier product families.

LEDtronics Inc. has announced the latest addition to its series of high-power PAR30-style LED spotlight bulbs. The white-body, medium-beam PAR30 LED bulb is made up of five 3-W LEDs and replaces filament-based PAR30 bulbs, combining advanced LED technologies, a standard 26-mm Edison screw-in base and a light optimizing design, producing 337 lm of vivid warm-white light.

Wavien, Inc., a U.S.-based lighting provider, recently announced the introduction of its highly efficient "Premien" white LED technology for front projector applications. The output efficiency of the patented Premien technology is up to two times higher than competing LED technologies, with no reduction in lifetime.

Royal Philips Electronics will cooperate with BVB Substrates, a horticultural supplier based in the Netherlands, to develop LED lighting-based applications for greenhouse-based flower and vegetable cultivation. The two companies have signed a memorandum-of-understanding for combining their respective strengths in the development.

Lighting Science Group Corporation (Lighting Science), a global developer and integrator of intelligent LED lighting solutions and Martin Professional A/S, a provider of dynamic lighting systems, yesterday announced a distribution agreement that will give Martin access to Lighting Science's X16 DOTZ LED strings for global distribution. The X16 DOTZ LED string has been well-received in the market since its introduction and will be marketed under the name FlexDOT in Martin's line of LED video products.

Microsemi Corporation, a manufacturer of analog/mixed signal integrated circuits and semiconductors, just extended its comprehensive line of backlight-driving IC solutions with the production release of the company's LX24132 32-port LED backlight controller and LX23108L 8-port LED driver.

CRS Electronics (“CRS”), the operating subsidiary of Podium Capital Corporation (TSX-V:LED), an engineer, designer and manufacturer of LED lighting, today rang the morning bell to begin market trading. CRS’s President and founder Scott Riesebosch along with other company representatives were excited to meet with senior members of the TSX Venture Exchange team to celebrate their new listing in the fast growing clean technology sector.

OSRAM Opto Semiconductors is enriching the projection market with two new LEDs, OSTAR Compact and OSTAR Power Projection. OSTAR Compact is designed for small efficient systems in cell phones, PDAs and MP4 players, while OSTAR Power Projection is targeted at high-performance projection applications such as home cinema systems of 70 inches and more. The LED portfolio from this semiconductor specialist now provides full coverage of the projection sytem range from 1 W to 300 W.   

Steinel, a German manufacturer of intelligent lighting fixtures, has introduced its XLed range of security floodlights powered by LUXEON Rebel LEDs that use one-third of the energy consumed by conventional floodlights. The XLed is available as the XLed 25, with 25 LUXEON Rebel for very high luminous flux and total power consumption of about 60 watts, and the more compact XLed 10 with 10 LUXEON Rebel and total power consumption of approximately 25 watts.

Every year, Everlight Electronics Co. LTD. presents the latest and most exciting exhibition of products at Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition, China and Photonics Festival Taipei, Taiwan. This year, Everlight maintains the role of an LED pioneer and presents multiple LED lighting fixtures. The visitors who visit Everlight’s booth can really experience the difference between LED lighting and traditional lighting, and visitors can realize how much power we can save by replacing LED lighting fixtures.

AIXTRON AG recenlty announced that the Institute of Semiconductors of The Chinese Academy of Sciences, located in Beijing, PR China, has placed an order for one Close Coupled Showerhead (CCS) 3x2 inch MOCVD system. Ordered in the first quarter and to be shipped in third quarter 2009, the new tool will be used for the research and development of semiconductor lasers and LEDs.

At the Society for Information Display’s (SID’s) Display Week 2009 conference in San Antonio, TX, Sharp Microelectronics of the Americas (SMA) announced an expansion to its LED-backlit and touch screen display product lines. Two new TFT-LCDs – one 5.0-inch panel with resistive touch and one 7.0-inch panel – deliver LED backlighting rated at 50,000 hours of operation. Additionally, both panels feature built-in LED drivers, saving engineers time, effort, and expense.

NEC LCD Technologies, and its sales and marketing channel in the Americas, NEC Electronics America, Inc., last week announced the development of a new amorphous-silicon color thin-film-transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) module that achieves an ultra-wide color gamut for 100 percent of the Adobe® RGB color range by incorporating a newly developed LED light-source unit into the backlight system and a newly developed color filter.