Speculations about the iWatch have been floating around the internet, with every analyst giving their take of what technology they think Apple will use. After reading through hundreds of articles posted by U.S. media discussing new Apple patents and technology acquisitions, Tencent has compiled a list of the top five plausible technology and materials that might be seen in the iWatch.

Cree introduces the new XLamp® XM-L2 EasyWhite® LED, delivering more than 1,100 lumens of color-consistent light from a 5mm x 5mm package and enabling a 38 percent gain in light output and efficacy as a drop-in upgrade to the first-generation XM-L EasyWhite LED. Built on Cree’s EasyWhite technology, which combines the industry’s tightest color binning and intense light output from a single LED, the XM-L2 EasyWhite LED is optimized to replace halogen technology.

Due to aggressive market competition in the LED backlighting market, Taiwanese LED manufacturer UPEC Electronics announced termination of its LED backlight package manufacturing business recently, according to a UDN Evening News report. 

Apple was granted a new patent for the use of LiquidMetal by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on Tuesday. The company could be planning to use LiquidMetal in conjunction with sapphire glass displays to form an integrated chassis for future iPhone models. 

In the latest development of the long legal battle between Foshan Electrical Lighting and company stockholders, Guanzhou High People’s Court recently informed lawyers that it upheld previous rulings of the intermediate people’s court in keeping the case in Guangzhou courts, according to a report by Guangdong Yangcheng Evening News Digital Media.

Plessey Semiconductors Ltd today announced that it has purchased another CRIUS II-XL MOCVD system for use in the manufacture of Gallium Nitride LEDs on Silicon wafers (GaN-on-Si). The company is further expanding its production capacities in this area. The Close Coupled Showerhead system recently delivered with a 7x6-inch configuration will supplement an existing production system from AIXTRON.

Electronics USA is shedding new light on high-performance energy efficient LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lighting solutions for commercial applications.

The rebounding LED lighting market spurred Chinese package manufacturers to expand in 2013, with expansions expected to be concentrated in 2014 as a result. But with chip production capacity expansion cycles taking much longer in comparison, subtle changes in the LED chip supply and demand relationship have occurred. With dispersed suppliers and chip prices more susceptible to price fluctuations, chip manufacturers have been unable to greatly raise prices leading to intensified chip shortages.

Shanxi Securities recently investigated San’an Optoelectronics (San’an Opto) to gain a better understanding of the company’s production capacity and manufacturing situation. 

The Public Lighting Authority of Detroit (PLA) announced its LED streetlight initiative in January this year. Detriot proposed a plan to retrofit over 50,000 street lights with LED bulbs over the next two years, saving the city a total of US $1.5 million annually, according to The Detriot News. Street lights will be provided by three firms – Cree, Leotek Electronics, and Walker-Miller Energy Services said Light Authority CEO Odis Jones. 

After recent reports of Panasonic and Sony abandoning OLED TV, the two companies might be returning to the OLED arena through a joint partnership with Japan Display, according to a Reuters report.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science has awarded four Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants targeting advances in solid-state lighting (SSL) technology:

Thailand has seen a drop in energy consumption of one percent over the past four months, said Zhang Shuncai, Department Head of Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT). This drop in energy consumption correlates directly to the current economic situation. There is a chance for a further decrease to 2 percent by the end of the year if political instabilities continue. 

As LED TV market penetration rates reached 95 percent in 2013, the product’s market penetration rates are close to full saturation this year. With high LED TV market penetration rates, LED-backlit TVs are close to overtaking CCFL backlight modules in 2014. In 2014, direct-lit LED TV penetration rates are expected to exceed 50 percent, and clinch the leading position from edge-lit type TVs for the first time.

LED chip manufacturer Epistar has received orders from large European manufacturers including Philips after the launch of their new HV LED products in Germany earlier this year, according to Economic Daily News. The company has had an increase in orders due to the efficiency and cost advantage of the HV LED products. Production capacity operations this quarter have already reached maximum. 

Osram’s latest 2013 financial report revealed LED sales had a 29 percent revenue share, however, the German company projected the figure will “exceed 50 percent” by 2017.

The smart lighting industry involves the use of lighting control systems that deliver correct amount of light when needed. It deals with the technology where lights can automatically perform various operations at set times or under set conditions. It makes use of intelligent lighting control systems to intelligently control light, based on various parameters such as; occupancy, movement, color temperature, amount of natural/daylight and so on. The customers of lighting control systems apply a set of such lighting control strategies using specific technologies and methods to control consumption of light energy. 

EMCORE Corporation, a provider of compound semiconductor-based components and subsystems for the fiber optics and space solar power markets, announced that it has settled the patent infringement case brought by Nichia Corporation before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

It is hard to resist the urge of picking up a dandelion along the side of the road and blowing on it, sending its hundreds of seed scattering in the wind. Studio Drift, based in The Netherlands, combine the soft romantic characteristics of the dandelion into their innovative lighting creations.

Optic inspection is still the mainstream wafer defect detection method in the inspection and metrology field, while E-beam will continue to be a niche market, said KLA-Tencor Chief Marketing Officer Brian Trafas during the opening ceremony of the new training facility held at the company’s Hsinchu branch on May 23, 2014.

This week, Osram announced a new LED assembly plant in Wuxi, China. The new plant will expand the company’s backend LED capacity as well as boost their presence in the world lighting market. Additionally, lighting market demand growth has spurred LED chip market demand to further increase, resulting in expanded market size, according to the latest LEDinside report. India’s LED industry could become the next big market player as the new prime minister pushes for cleaner energy, bringing massive opportunities to the LED industry.

Global process control and yield management product leader KLA-Tencor’s newly launched Taiwan Training Facility continues to reflect the market’s important role in the company’s business strategy.

The U.S. Department of Energy's CALiPER program has released Report 21.2, which is part of a series of investigations on linear LED lamps. Report 21.2 focuses on the performance of three linear (T8) LED lamps and a benchmark fluorescent lamp in five different troffer types. Also included are the results of a subjective evaluation. The LED lamps were intended as alternatives to T8 fluorescents and were chosen for the study primarily based on their luminous intensity distributions (narrow, medium, and wide beam angles).

GE Lighting introduces its most incandescent-like consumer LED portfolio yet, including more than 40 new LED products and fixtures, to meet consumer demand to adequately fill every socket in their homes with energy-efficient LED lighting.

Royal Philips, FC Bayern Munich, the German soccer champions, and its home stadium Allianz Arena, today announced a partnership that will make the stadium the first in Germany and the largest in Europe to feature a dynamic light show made possible by energy efficient connected LED lighting. As part of a three-year agreement, Philips will also become a sponsor of the Allianz Arena and the official lighting partner for FC Bayern Munich. 

Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. ("Everlight") brought an invalidation trial on September 5th, 2011 against the Japanese Patent No. 4,530,094 ("JP'094") owned by Nichia Corporation ("Nichia"). Everlight recently received a prevailing decision from the Japan Patent Office.

In a further move to strengthen its leading position in the market for LED, Osram today officially opened its LED assembly plant in Wuxi, China. The factory has a floor area of about 100,000 square meters and will employ as many as 2,100 people by 2017. Osram is investing a low three-digit-million euro amount to set up the plant.

Women on average are earning 40 percent less than their male counterparts in the optic and photonics industry, according to findings published by The International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE) in its latest 2014 Optics and Photonics Global Salary Report.

Samsung Electronics recently defied previous reports that the company was abandoning OLED production expansions in 2014. According to a Yonhap News Agency report, industry insiders analyzed the Korean manufacturer might be spending up to 25 trillion won (US$ 24.39 billion) in facility investments this year to raise OLED panel production by 8.6 percent compared to 2013.

LEDforum 2014, organized by LEDinside, Cnledw.com and Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition, will be held on June 11, 2014. Top executives from the first-tire international manufacturers like Philips Lumileds, Osram, Samsung, Seoul Semiconductor, Toyoda Gosei, LED chip giants such as Epistar and Sanan Optoelectronics, China leading LED enterprises like Honglitronic, Refond and MLS Lighting will be invited as speakers, dissect the current situation of LED industry on the theme of LED market trends and the development strategy, to create an audi...