With 31- year history in lighting industry, Shanghai Wellmax Lighting (WELLMAX) has been participating in the Canton Fair since its establishment. As the LED Bulb Expert, the company has impressed global clients by its eye-catching brand image, trendy products as well as professional service experience every year. What is new in WELLMAX at the 2018 autumn exhibitions?

A research project led by Brunel University London and a consortium of partners including Marks & Spencer, Tata Steel and AIXTRON plans to reduce the production cost of flexible OLED lighting panels to bring more options for lighting. 

The falling price of LED general lighting products has led to lower profits for LED lighting manufacturers. The trade war and imposed tariffs on LED products have also affected the industry. Worldwide LED producers have taken different measures in response to the impacts.

Automotive applications are the focal points for LED technology applications. Many LED producers have targeted the rapidly growing automotive LED market and searched for niche LED products.

Taiwan-based semiconductor equipment supplier Gallant Precision Machining (GPM) announced in July that the company has been developing equipment for Micro LED production. Its subsidiary, GMM, which focuses on the field, will complete the equipment for mass transferring Micro LED chips by the first quarter of 2019.

Taiwanese LED auto lamps manufacturer Excellence Optoelectronics Inc (EOI) is expanding its production capacities in Michigan which will introduce automated production lines and design department. The new capacities are expected to start functioning by the end of 2019. 

Toshiba Lighting & Technology Corporation announced that it will close its Numazu factory in Shizuoka Ken which produces LED lighting equipment and lighting control by March 2019, reported Nikkei.

Seoul Semiconductor has announced that three of its former employees were charged for divulgence of the company’s LED technology. The police in South Korea have investigated the case and are expected to detain the three individuals. 

A prior research report of LEDinside has pointed out that the scale of India’s LED lighting market is growing rapidly on the back of the Indian government’s policy to turn the country into an export hub for lighting products and the international lighting brands’ plan of setting up R&D and production centers in India. By 2020, the Indian LED lighting market is forecasted to grow to US$1.715 billion.

U.S. based Orion Energy System (Orion Lighting) updated that the company has continued to receive orders and letters of intent from major national accounts. With the orders, the company is expected to reach the 10 percent growth goal for the fiscal 2019 year ending March 31, 2019*. 

Samsung introduced the world’s first Onyx multiplex theater at Shanghai ARCH Wanda Cinema on September 7th. The theater offers six Samsung Onyx Cinema LED screens in one location, creating an entertaining space to offer impressive visual experiences. 

Heliospectra’s horticultural lighting and control system has been selected by a Danish company, Cannabis Pharm for their new production facility. The Danish company has ordered Heliospectra’s ELIXIA LED lighting solutions and HelioCORE™ light control software to fully automate the lighting environment and provide highest quality pharmaceutical products.

Regrowing hair for mice is the new application unveiled by researchers from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) with their red flexible vertical Micro LED technology. They published their result in ACS Nano in August.

Automotive LED lighting module producer Laster Tech has reported continuous shipment of its automotive lighting modules even during the off-peak season for automakers. The company has registered a revenue of NT$ 359 million (US$ 11.64 million) for August with an increase of 17.15% YoY and 0.13% MoM. 

A secondary school in Scotland has joined a pilot project of deploying innovative LiFi, which transmits wireless data through LED lighting.

LED packaging company Everlight has announced revenue of NT$2.21 billion (US$ 71.69 million) for August, up by 9.26% MoM and down by 5.83% YoY. 

The market scale of LED lighting has continued to grow with the driving forces from the emerging market and the transition of traditional lighting to LED lighting. The expanding market has attracted many companies to join, leading to escalating competition and sliding profit. Many LED companies have thus decided to quit their lighting business or to reorganize their strategies. 

The development of Micro LED technology has been a focal point in the industry with worldwide manufacturers continuously reporting their progress and revealing new breakthroughs and applications in 2018. Many leading brands have showcased or launched their latest Micro LED technologies and applications. As the third quarter of the year will soon end, LEDinside has collected the updated Micro LED applications released until now and would like to share the integrated information with the readers. 

The German based research institute, the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology, has developed OLED elements that can be integrated into textile. The development will be presented at the Electronics System Integration Technology Conference (ESTC) 2018 from September 18 – 21, 2018 in Dresden, Germany.

According to the latest research report of LEDinside “2019 Global LED Video Wall Market Outlook - Cinema, Rental Market and Price Trend,” the market scale of global LED display is expected to reach US$ 9.349 billion by 2022 with a CAGR of 12% during 2018 to 2022. Meanwhile, the market scale of indoor fine pitch display is forecasted to reach up to US$ 1.997 billion with a YoY growth of 39%. 

LiteOn Technology announced that its revenue of August came to NT$18.59 billion (US$ 603.73 million), up by 20% MoM and down by 0.15% YoY. 

Taiwanese LED manufacturers announced that the shipment of LED backlight products has contributed to their revenue in 3Q18. LED chip maker Epsitar said the orders for blue LED backlight and four elements LED have grown. Meanwhile, LED vertical integration manufacturer Lextar revealed its escalating revenue for August. 

  The latest research report of LEDinside “2019 Global LED Video Wall Market Outlook - Cinema, Rental Market and Price Trend,” indicated that the market scale of global LED display is expected to reach US$ 9.349 billion by 2022 with a CAGR of 12% during 2018 to 2022. Meanwhile, the market scale of indoor fine pitch display is forecasted to reach up to US$ 1.997 billion with a YoY growth of 39%. 

Chinese smartphone manufacturer Nubia has unveiled a wearable smartphone at IFA 2018. The wearable smartphone, named Nubia Alpha, has adopted a flexible display so the screen can wrap around the wrist. 

Chinese LED packaging company Nationstar has demonstrated its Mini LED applications at Display International, Touch Taiwan and announced its plan to sell its subsidiary at the latest conference call on September 5th.

An old tunnel in South Korea has been transformed into a vertical farm lit with LED growing lights to grow vegetables and fruits as an approach to solve issues caused by the extreme weather and shortages of agriculture land and labor, reported Associated Press. 

Mini LED has entered the market with manufacturers continuously reporting the launch of new products with Mini LED applications in the past few months. Meanwhile, the industry does not intend to stop the progress of Micro LED development. Chinese LED chip maker Sanan Optoelectronics will build its Micro LED epi-wafer and chip production, according to industry sources. 

With the market of Mini LED display thriving in the second half of 2018, LED driver IC company Macroblock has been preparing its technologies and capacities for Mini LED displays.

The development of the LED display industry has been blooming in 2018 with the progresses of Mini LED, Micro LED, Fine pitch LED and OLED showing up one after another. According to the latest report from LEDinside, it is estimated that the market value of Micro LED and Mini LED will reach US$ 1.38 billion by 2022.

Micro LED has been considered as the next generation display technology and many leading brands have continued to report their progress of Micro LED development. Taiwanese LED makers and panel producers have also introduced their latest development of Micro LED display technologies at Touch Taiwan 2018. According to sources from the supply chain, Apple has visited AUO and Epistar to learn their progress of Micro LED technology and discuss the possible cooperation regarding Micro LED display development.