Osram announced a confirmation about the possible buyout by Bain Capital and Carlyle Group and revealed that it is engaged in detailed discussions with the interested parties. After Osram reported its declined business performance in the first quarter of fiscal 2019 and said it has “taken a number of measures to improve revenue and returns,” the Germany company confirmed the market rumors that Bain Capital and Carlyle Group are eyeing the buyout of Osram. In November 2018, Bloomberg reported that the U.S.-based Bain Capital has been considering acquiri...

Signify has been increasing its investment in fast-growing areas including horticulture, solar, and LiFi as they go in line with the company’s sustainability principle. LiFi was particularly addressed as Signify has recently acquired Firefly LiFi, a LiFi company with offices in the U.S. and Germany. According to the news covered by LiFiReport, Signify has bought FireFly LiFi with the transaction completed in December 2018. The lighting company has also acquired a French LiFi company by the end of 2016 and started a trial in Paris with a French real esta...

Austrian sensing solution provider ams announced that it will showcase several industry-first technologies for mobile devices at Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2019 in Barcelona during February 25 -28. ams will demonstrate state-of-the-art sensor solutions for mobile, computing and consumers including 3D sensing technology, behind screen solution color sensors and medical-level wearable devices. The industrial and automotive applications of these technologies will also be presented by ams. (image: ams) The 3D sensing technologies for mobile devices include active stereo ca...

Dublin, the capital of Ireland, is planning to convert its public street lights into LED lighting, aiming to initiate smart city applications. The project proposed by Dublin City Council will replace up to 40000 city lights with LED and install smart city applications as well as restore 120 columns with heritage luminaires to original design. The cost is estimated to be EUR 80 million (US$ 90 million) and the project is currently at tendering stage. The city is famous for its ornate historical street light with Georgian style decoration including shamrocks and crest...

Seoul Semiconductor announced that its SunLike Series natural spectrum LEDs have been adopted for horticulture LED lighting by Rofianda, a Netherlands-based lighting solution company. According to Seoul Semiconductor, its SunLike Series natural spectrum LEDs produce light that closely matches the spectrum of natural sunlight. Adopting the SunLike LEDs, the horticulture LED lighting by Rofianda achieved a full spectrum of light wavelengths from 380nm to 740nm which is similar to the spectral curve of natural sunlight. In co-operation with Rofianda, Seoul ...

In the modern society, the majority of people spend about 90 percent of their time indoor, leading to the issue of lacking explosion to natural sunlight. This further causes disruption of people’s circadian system, which connects to sleep disorder and depressed moods that would negatively affect productivity for work and study. In order to solve the problem, human centric lighting (HCL) applications have attracted more attention. HCL mimics natural light with adjusted colors that shift from bright blue-rich white during the day time to keep people alert and focus to relaxin...

Followed the notice released by the end of January, Osram announced the results of its first quarter of fiscal 2019. The company posted a revenue of EUR 828 million (US$ 934.65 million) which declined by 15% YoY with revenue dropped in three of Osram’s business segments. The Opto Semiconductors division recorded an on-year decline in revenue of 17% and its revenue of automotive segment decreased by 11 % YoY. In the Digital segment, revenue fell by around 17% YoY due to weak market development in the general lighting segment. Olaf Berlien, CEO of Osram...

Last week at Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) 2019 in Amsterdam, Korean electronics producers LG and Samsung both introduced their latest LED and OLED technologies for signage applications. Samsung presented a range of 8K digital signage products including QLED displays and the 2019 version of The Wall display while LG demonstrate a transparent and curving OLED signage as well as a full lineup of LED products. Samsung showcased a new 82-inch QLED 8K signage, a 292-inch The Wall display in 8K, Multi-Link LED HDR technology and semi-outdoo...

Signify, the largest lighting company in the world, reported its financial results for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year of 2018. With increased LED-based sales, the company announced improved adjusted EBITA margin for the fourth quarter of 2018. For the fourth quarter of 2018, Signify posted a revenue of EUR 1.73 billion (US$ 1.96 billion), dropped by 8.8% YoY. The adjusted gross margin was EUR 647 million (US$731.93 million) which declined 11.6% YoY. However, the adjusted EBITA of 4Q18 grew by 3.2% YoY at 214 million. For full year of 2018, the ...

Velodyne LiDAR announced that it has provided LiDAR sensors for a new autonomous driving technology from HoloMatic to provide autonomous parking service to free travelers from the burden of time-consuming searches for parking spots. The HoloMatic system, called HoloParking, is China’s first smart valet parking solution that operates 24/7 and in all weather conditions. Unlike parking assistance systems, HoloParking does not require the vehicle to be driven next to a parking spot. Rather, it allows a driver to leave a vehicle at the entrance of the parking lot. U...

Researchers at the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) and the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) have achieved new technology developments including foldable flexible perovskite LEDs and a core chip for 3D image sensors respectively, reported BusinessKorea. The research team at UNIST announced that it has developed foldable perovskite LEDs (PeLED) with a transparent material as electrode of the device. PeLED uses perovskite material as light emitting layer through electricity. In the study, resear...

Samsung Electronics announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and the fiscal year of 2018. The revenue and profit of 4Q18 declined due to global market uncertainty but Samsung still reached its annual goal in fiscal 2018. For 4Q18, Samsung posted a KRW 59.27 trillion (US$ 53.22 billion) quarterly revenue, which decreased by 10 percent YoY. The quarterly operating profit was KRW 10.8 trillion (US$9.7 billion), with an on-year decline of 29 percent. The yearly revenue for fiscal 2018 was KRW 243.77 trillion (US$ 218.9 billion) and operating profit cam...

Cree announced its financial results for the second quarter of fiscal 2019, ended December 30, 2018. Revenue for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 was US$413 million, up by 12% YoY. GAAP net loss for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 was US$2 million, or $0.02 per diluted share. This compares to a GAAP net income of $14 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2018. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 was $23 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net loss for the second quarter of...

After revealing its sluggish business performance, Osram announced that it will strengthen its automotive business by acquiring aftermarket specialist Ring Automotive. With the acquisition, Osram plans to expand its aftermarket portfolio and reach end customers via the distribution channels of Ring Automotive in the UK. In addition, Ring's specialization in electronic car accessories complements Osram’s product range. Moreover, Osram will give the ring portfolio access to the US market via the established Osram Sylvania channels and opens up new sales pote...

A research team consists of scholars from Taiwan and China has developed a microscopic imaging system for inspecting Micro LED display surface luminance. Currently the major luminance measurement systems focus on inspecting the total luminance of LEDs which do not meet the requirement of Micro LED as the luminance of each individual Micro LED chips need to be evaluated. To solve the issue, researchers from Xiamen University in China and National Chiao Tung University in Taiwan proposed a method to accurately inspect the luminance of a whole micro-LED array a...

Seoul Semiconductor reported its 2018 fiscal year consolidated revenue of KRW 1194.2 billion (US$1.07 billion) with an operating profit of KRW 99 billion (US$ 88.6 million), as well as a net income of KRW 65.4 billion (US$ 58.53 million) to report two year consecutive sales growth. As a result of stabilization of Seoul Semiconductor’s new manufacturing plant in Vietnam and improved product mix, the consolidated fourth quarter revenue increased by 6% YoY to KRW 300.6 billion (US$ 269.04 million), while operating profit amounted to KRW 36.2 billion (US...

An international research team led by the Georgia Institute of Technology illustrates the potential of next-generation semiconducting materials in transforming lighting technology. . Researchers have found out that the quantum particles of the hybrid semiconductors could create desirable optoelectronic (light-electronic) properties. The particles moving through these new materials also engage the material itself in the quantum action. The researchers were able to measure patterns in the material caused by relating them to the emerging material’s quantum properties and to ener...

Sanan Optoelectronics, the largest LED epitaxy wafer manufacturer in China, announced that it has received funds from its strategic investors including Quanzhou Financial Holding, the China Industrial International Trust, and An Xin Capital. The three organizations plan to provide a joint investment of at least CNY 5.4 billion (US$801.64 million) to Sanan and Quanzhou Financial Holding will offer liquidity assistance of CNY 600 million (US$ 89 million). Sanan Optoelectronics has been through a financial crisis in January with its stock price dropped ...

China-based LED display solution provider Absen announced that it is showcasing three new narrow pixel pitch (NPP) product series at ISE 2019 which is taking place during February 5-8 in Amsterdam. The new display series with Integrated Matrix Device (IMD) and Common Cathode (CC) technologies provide five times the strength as traditional LED screens whilst consuming 20% less power. By combining the two technologies in an innovative way, Absen has further reduced the pixel pitch of its LED screens whilst ensuring maximum durability. Absen’s new A...

Velodyne LiDAR has begun partnership with Postmates, a food delivery startup, by providing its LiDAR sensors to Postmates Serve, innovative self-driving rover providing services for short-distance deliveries. (Image: Postmates) The autonomous rover is equipped with Velodyne’s market-leading VLP-16 Puck™ sensor, which is built into the top of the rover for a high-performance surround view, enabling Serve to detect people and objects as it completes local deliveries. Serve can carry 50 lbs and go 30 miles on a single charge. Also, it can interact wit...

Driving LED by constant power mode has been a popular topic recently. Why do LEDs must be driven by the constant current? Why not with a constant power source? Before discussing the above issue, we have to understand why the LED must be driven by a constant current. As shown in Figure (a) LED I-V curve, when the LED forward voltage changed about 2.5%, the current through the LED will correspondingly change about 16%, and forward voltage of the LED is easily affected by junction temperature. The change of high and low temperature may even make the voltage chan...

2019 may not be a prosperous year for LED manufacturers given the market uncertainties resulting from the changing global politics. Yet, industry players continue their technology developments and expect Mini LED to revive the stagnant market. Mini LED, as an improved version of conventional LED, provides refined diming zones when serving as backlight and can be utilized in curved displays when coupled with flexible substrates. Since last year, several LED makers including Lextar have begun shipping Mini LED backlight products for high end applications such as gami...

Flexible and foldable panels have created a sensation since Royole and Samsung introduced their foldable phones by the end of 2018. Soon after that, LG revealed a stunning rollable TV at CES 2019. Flexible OLED displays are getting more attentions with products launched in the market in 2019. Samsung is expected to launch its folding smartphone in February 20 while its rival LG is also set to reveal a foldable smartphone soon. Meanwhile, Chinese smartphone makers including Oppo, Xiaomi and Huawei have all announced their plans of releasing folding phones in this y...

2019 has just begun but this year seems to be a tough one for global LED manufacturers with continuous global market uncertainty caused by the US-China dispute. Osram, the German representative of the LED industry, unveiled its weak business performance of the first quarter of its fiscal 2019 with a 15 percent YoY revenue drop. The company noted that the revenue for coming quarters might remain “significantly low” due to the general political uncertainties. Taiwanese LED maker Everlight is not optimistic about 2019 either. Robert Yeh, the CEO of E...

Unilumin, the Chinese LED application products and integrated solutions provider, announced that it is capable to mass produce 0.9mm Mini LED and will launch Mini LED solution at ISE 2019. Meanwhile, the company also reported that it is investing a new smart manufacturing facility for the development and production of Mini/Micro LED. According to Unilumin, it is the first to mass-produce 0.9 mm LED for high-end applications which is solving previous technical barriers and addressing the issue of the high cost of traditional SMD display. (Image: Unilumin...

Osram announced that in the first quarter of fiscal year 2019, the company is facing an on-year revenue decline due to the weak Chinese market under the impact of the on-going US-China trade dispute. According to Osram, the declining market in the end of 2018 has led to poor performance of its three business units, Opto Semiconductor, Automotive and Digital. The revenue of Osram for its fiscal 1Q19 was EUR 828 million (US$ 938 million) with a 15 percent YoY decrease. And the Opto Semiconductors unit recorded a 16.9 percent decline in revenue on a comparable basis...

LEDVANCE, the maker of SYLVANIA general lighting in the United States and Canada, announced that global CEO Lawrence Lin will assume managing director responsibilities for the United States and Canada on an interim basis, in addition to his current responsibilities. Jim Johnson, who previously held the position, left the company this month. (Image: LEDVANCE) Lawrence Lin became the CEO and Managing Director of global LEDVANCE in November 2018. He commented, “LEDVANCE continues to evolve to deliver innovative lighting ...

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) has published new guideline for outdoor luminaires and roadway and area lighting equipment with LED technology added. The NEMA LSD 80-2018 Installation Guidelines for Outdoor Luminaires—Grounding Considerations addresses the application of the National Electrical Safety Code® (NESC) as it pertains to the grounding of outdoor luminaires and recommends installation guidelines. New outdoor luminaries contain more electronics (e.g., LED lamps, electronic drivers, and electronic lighting ...

In the beginning of 2019, GE Lighting announced that it is deepening its C by GE portfolio which features hub-free IoT smart lighting with Google Assistant control. The Made-for-Google products are able to connect with Google’s system and be controlled via app on smartphones or portable devices. The connected lights allow app and voice control for changing the color of lights and tuning brightness. Furthermore, they can also combine smart accessories including smart wall plug and motion sensor to manage lighting away from home and by movement. (Image: GE) E...

One essential features of LED lighting is that its wavelength and intensities can be managed to meet various requirements of different applications. Jeff Tsao, a researcher of Sandia National Laboratories, believes that engineered light has great potential to improve human health and productivity. Tsao and his colleagues have published a Nature “Perspectives” article in November 2018 to illustrate the unlimited potential of LED lighting. (Image: SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES) The authors addressed that "LED lighting is o...