Shareholder Rights Law Firm Johnson & Weaver, LLP is investigating potential violations of the federal securities laws by GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) and certain of its officers. GT Advanced Technologies Inc., a technology company, provides materials and equipment for the solar, light emitting diode (LED) and electronics industries worldwide.

Sapphire manufacturer GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) bankruptcy protection announcement sent shockwaves throughout Wall Street on October 6, 2014. Investors and financial institutes were shocked, no one expected the seemingly promising Apple sapphire supplier to declare insolvency.

GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT), announced that it had, together with certain of its direct and indirect subsidiaries (collectively, GT), commenced voluntary cases under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire. GT expects the court will authorize the company to continue to conduct business as usual while it devotes renewed efforts to resolve its current issues and develops a reorganization plan.

OLED lighting’s short lifetime and high retail prices has been a major obstacle for the luminaires to acquire more market share, but new developments in Japan might be changing this, according to a MoneyDJ report.

Benefiting from Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales, Taiwanese sapphire manufacturer Tera Xtal’s revenue for September 2014 increased 38 percent compared to August. The company set a new monthly record last month, with order visibility extending well into late 2014.

Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Indian state of Kerala, is making little progress in converting the city’s 84,000 streetlights to LEDs, according to a report by The Hindu.

Concerned residents in New Orleans East, Louisiana, U.S. reported new LED streetlights are leaving more unlit areas than conventional streetlights, according to a WDSU New Orleans report.

B/E Aerospace new Emteq unit Diehl Aerospace and other aircraft cabin lighting might be getting LED lighting upgrades from Panasonic in the near future, according to a report by Runway Girl Network.

Cree a market leader in LED lighting, announced preliminary estimates of financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended September 28, 2014. Revenue for the quarter is expected to be approximately US $428 million, with earnings expected below the company’s previously announced target range of $0.25 to $0.30 per diluted share on a GAAP basis. These preliminary financial results are subject to completion of the company’s customary quarterly closing and review procedures.

Molecular Glasses, a division of Molaire Consulting LLC has filed for patent protection for its new class of organic semiconductor materials for OLED and other organic electronic applications.

Advantek announced they have acquired all the assets of Tempo Electronics and the Surftape® product line. Effective immediately Advantek will be offering Surftape® through its extensive global sales organization.

Wrapping up this week’s top news, Samsung might be closing down its LED luminaire business soon, according to a Yonhap report. A bankrupt LED manufacturer’s suicide once again highlights bad financial practices in China’s LED industry that are hurting SMEs. Philips focus onto health applications becomes more evident with the launch of a wearable blue LED light therapy device to treat skin disease. LEDinside’s Senior Analyst Figo Wang gives an in-depth six point analysis on Philips recent business restructure. For more please see below:

The iPhone 6 might not come with sapphire glass cover, but the Apple Watch will, according to MyDrivers.com. Just how much is this tiny piece of glass worth?

Unable to pay back creditors, a bankrupt decorative luminaire manufacturer from Henglan Town in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China chose to end his life by jumping off a building. Videos of the manufacturer leaping to his death have been widely circulated on the Internet. Rumors surfaced that the company declared insolvency after receiving a bad check for several hundred thousand Chinese Yuan. The information has not been confirmed, though.

Korean electronics conglomerate Samsung Electronics intends to close down its LED luminaire business, according to a report by Korean media Yonhap Infomax.

Effective October 1, 2014 Jan-Peter Schwartz will assume responsibility as Head of worldwide External and Internal Communications and as Chief Sustainability Officer at Osram. In this function he will report to Wolfgang Dehen, Chief Executive Officer of Osram.

Inspired by a desire to help wounded soldiers, an international, multidisciplinary team of researchers led by Assistant Professor Conor Evans at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) has created a paint-on, see-through, “smart” bandage that glows to indicate a wound’s tissue oxygenation concentration. Because oxygen plays a critical role in healing, mapping these levels in severe wounds and burns can help to significantly improve the success of surgeries to restore limbs and physical functions.

Noribachi, a leading U.S.-based custom LED manufacturer for high output commercial and industrial solutions, is proud to announce the launch of its 3-tiered binning solution that delivers more light engine customization.

Lattice Power, the first company to commercialize high performance, low cost GaN-on-Silicon LEDs, announced today that its new PAR38 LED lamp has been recognized by the Illuminating Engineering Society Progress Committee as providing an important advancement in lighting. The company's new proprietary GaN-on-Silicon LED PAR38 LED lamp delivers outstanding efficacy, superior brightness and excellent color rendering.

Chinese LED manufacturers scaled up production again, according to a Liberty Times report. German MOCVD manufacturer Aixtron announced it received 50 MOCVD orders from major Chinese LED chip maker San’an Opto. The new equipment will be shipped and installed by fourth quarter 2014. The rebounding LED industry will be impacted if San’an Opto continues to expand production capacity.

Honglitronic announced the company’s application for RMB 4 million subsidiary for “new LED lighting component R&D and commercialization” was approved by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of the People’s Republic of China.

Chinese LED manufacturer Nationstar announced a new round of financing on Sept. 29, 2014 to fund the production expansion for small pitch LED display and outdoor LED display components, according to China Securities Network. After the financing, the company will become a subsidiary of Chinese state-owned Guangdong Guangye Assets Management.

The global lighting market value approximated US $11.16 billion in 2013, and is estimated to grow 4 percent to US $11.62 billion this year, according to statistics compiled by Taiwan’s Photonics Industry and Technology Association (PIDA). Although, the lighting market still mainly consists of fluorescent lamps, incandescent bulbs, and other types of light sources such as halogen lamps; LED lights have become a major market growth driver.

Here at Valuelights we all knew LED lighting was awesome but we didn’t realise how much they had been snapped up in the media, hitting the big screens of Hollywood for their chance to shine with the stars. We’ve compiled the top 10 moments LED has gained its 15 minutes of fame, and schmoozed with the rich and famous.

Thailand is emerging as a lucrative export market for LED manufacturers, according to a latest report from Guangdong Science and Technology News.

NVC Lighting announced the company froze second largest shareholder former CEO Wu Changjiang’s shares in the company, according to a Securities Times report. Wu has a total of 130 million company shares, which is worth about RMB 1.06 billion based on the company stock value of RMB 8.15 as of Sept. 29, 2014.

“LED industry inventory level adjustments hit a peak in July,” a cnYes.com report quoted Epistar Chairman B.J. Lee. Market insiders’ project LED lighting PSS manufacturers Crystalwise Technology, Rigidtech and Aceplux Optotech. The market projects revenues in September and October will be unable to keep up high growth, and the market will be stagnant in third quarter.

MechaTronix, with its headquarter in Kaohsiung Taiwan, and Seoul Semiconductor, the world’s fourth biggest manufacturer of LED components, have drafted a cooperation on the design, production and worldwide distribution of standard LED coolers.Seoul’s new ZC series Chip-on-board (COB) LED arrays deliver a system level performance of 700 lumens to over 6,000 lumens. MechaTronix has developed a wide range of standard pin fin and star shaped passive LED coolers which thermally and mechanically match with all variations of Seoul’s ZC COB’s. 

The Intellectual Property & Science business of Thomson Reuters, the world leader in intelligent information for businesses and professionals, announced its 2014 “Nobel-class” Citation Laureates today. Having accurately forecast 35 Nobel Prize winners since its inception in 2002, the annual Thomson Reuters Citation Laureates study mines scientific research citations to identify the most influential researchers in the fields of chemistry, physics, medicine and economics.

Ford Motor Company is investing in the future as it begins installing LED lighting at manufacturing facilities across the globe. The new lights, valued at more than US $25 million, will save energy and money while improving safety and lighting quality.