U.S.-based LED lighting company Energy Focus announced its 1Q20 financial resulted and posted a 19.1% YoY revenue growth despite the economic headwinds resulted from the COVID-19 pandemic. In 1Q20, the net sales of Energy Focus came to US$3.8 million, increased by 19% YoY compared to US$3.2 million in 1Q19. Commercial products accounted for 45.9% of the revenue and 54.1% of its sales came from military and maritime products, increased from 37.6% in the first quarter of 2019. Gross profit was US$1 million with a gross margin of 27.3%, which increased by 24.2...

LiDAR technology has a wide range of applications, from autonomous driving, industrial automation, to the latest people flow control and social distance maintaining. And now, a group of scientists uses the technology to monitor activity of mosquito. An international research team published a study on Science Advances demonstrating its approach to use LiDAR technology to remotely monitor mosquito activity. Through LiDAR technology, they found the “rush hour” of mosquito in a southeastern Tanzanian village and by identifying the most active time of mosquito, it...

SANANBIO, the joint venture of Sanan Optoelectronics and Chinese Academy of Science, announced that it will work on an indoor farming project in Qatar with its strategy partner Hode Agtech, an agri-tech company based in Guangdong, China. The two Chinese companies signed an agreement to develop vertical farming in Qatar to push agriculture transformation and restructure local agriculture supply chain. (Image: SANANBIO) Located in desert, Qatar is highly depending on food import especially for fresh vegetables. 90% of the vegetable consumed in Qatar co...

COVID-19 pandemic has led to lockdowns across the world with pause in business operation and production, resulting enormous impact globally. The technology industry, as one of the most affected field, not only needs to tackle the challenges brought by the coronavirus but also has to reconsider its strategies and operating plans for the post-pandemic world. As for the LED industry, since the supply chain mostly locates in Asia with the majority of production coming from China, plus high inventory due to oversupply in the past few years, the coronavirus epidemic has relatively s...

Canada-based Elevate Farms announced its agreement with North Star Agriculture for an initial build-out commitment of US$ 10 million to bring vertical farming and ‎‎‎production of leafy green vegetables, to northern Canada including Yukon and other isolated northern territories. Elevate and North Star have agreed to develop and construct a series of automated large-scale facilities (CEF Facilities) dedicated to the mass ‎production of leafy green plants implementing, among other techniques, the use of patented ‎LED lighting, moving grow ‎boxes a...

Recently it is reported that Apple is planning to invest around US$ 334 million for its new facility in Taiwan to push development in Micro LED and Mini LED display technology with its local partners Epistar and AUO. Many believe that the iPhone maker will intensify its display technologies including Mini LED and Micro LED with the mature LED supply chain in Taiwan covering wafer manufacture, chip production, chip testing and display fabrication. LEDinside covered in November 2019 that Apple has almost finished the construction of the new facility in ...

Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and technologies previously designed for mobile devices, such as facial recognition, eye tracking or gesture control, are increasingly making their way into the automotive sector. These technologies are based on infrared light. The smaller and more powerful the required components, the easier they are to integrate into complex designs. Osram’s Oslon Piccolo now offers an extremely compact infrared LED (IRED) that packs enormous power in a small package, making it ideal for customers. (Image: Osram) Autonomous driving w...

LeddarTech, the LiDAR technology supplier from Canada, announced its volume production plan of the LeddarTM Pixell LiDAR Module with Clarion Malaysia, a member of Faurecia Clarion Electronics. (Image: LeddarTech) The Leddar Pixell is based on 3D solid-state flash LiDAR to reach a field-of-view of 180-degree designed and tested for off-road, shuttles, robotaxis, delivery, commercial and heavy industry vehicles in addition to other robotic and automated applications. The Canadian company has proactively strengthened its partnerships with automotive co...

Taiwan-based LED manufacturer Everlight began shipping its first batch of Mini LED products in 2H19. While the company steadily expands shipment this year, mostly on the strength of its Mini LED TV backlights, it is also expected to include automotive display panels in its portfolio next year. The overall market sentiment is optimistic regarding Everlight’s future operations, driven by the forward momentum of Mini LED products. (Image: LEDinside) Comparing to OLED-based products, Everlight’s Mini LED products are highly cost-competitive ...

STMicroelectronics announced that it has become an Associate member of the Zhaga Consortium to advance the deployment of NFC technology in the industrial lighting market. The Zhaga Consortium is a global industry organization that aims to standardize interfaces of LED luminaires. ST’s membership to the Zhaga Consortium sets to facilitate the integration of NFC in lighting products and accelerate the emergence of new standards. One of the key benefits of NFC technology is the ability to improve flexibility and efficiency of LED-driver manufacturing lines....

U.S.-based LiDAR technology developer Velodyn Lidar recently announced its partnership with two 3D mapping technology solutions providers. Velodyne and GeoSLAM, a UK-based 3D geospatial technology supplier, signed a multi-year sales agreement to use LiDAR sensors in the mobile scanner for 3D mapping. LiDAR sensors from Velodyne enable GeoSLAM systems to achieve data capture of intricate measurements from up to 100 meters away. The mobile scanner can be wide applied for building information modeling (BIM), construction, real estate, surveying and mining...

The Customs Tariff Commission of the State Council of China announced the second list of American goods to be excluded from the second round of tariffs countermeasures against the US Section 301 measure. UV lamps and IR lamps are listed in the tariff-free goods. (Image: Pixabay) China published the list of 79 items that will be exempt from extra Chinese tariffs and the exclusion will become effective from May 19, 2020, for one year until May 18, 2021. The already imposed tariff will be refunded with application within six months since May 19. The list includes m...

According to the research of LEDinside, the global LED horticultural lighting market saw a growth of 25% to 30% to US$ 369 million in 2019, with an increase of 31% year-on-year. Currently, LEDinside was fortunate to have an exclusive interview with OSRAM, a global leader in LED horticultural lighting, to learn how the future development of the horticultural lighting market is and how OSRAM’s LED technology supports various horticultural lighting applications. Chi Guangwei, Senior Application Engineer of ILLUmination Department at OSRAM, sh...

Horticulture lighting technology supplier Heliospectra announced that it has received a new order from Turner Construction in Miami, Florida, USA, for greenhouse projects. The order will be delivered in May 2020. Turner Construction is one of the biggest construction company in the U.S. and provides design, construction, and installation services for multiple commercial-scale greenhouse projects across the United States in 2020. The Heliospectra ELIXIA 600W LED light will support the growth of crop in a wide variety of growing environments to insure quali...

According to the latest investigations by the LEDinside research division of TrendForce, owing to the continued shrinking of pixel pitches, LED shipment for video wall is expected to undergo further growth in 2020. Although the current yearly revenue forecast has been revised from the pre-pandemic figure of US$2.261 billion down to US$1.946 billion, it still represents a 3.7% YoY growth. In terms of the overall LED video wall supply chain, TrendForce indicates that, after the traditional peak seasonality of 4Q19, LED video wall manufacturers had relatively low co...

Osram Opto Semiconductors introduced its new LED product family which suits a wide range of applications. The new Synios S 2222 family can be adopted for customized lighting solutions, electronic devices, ambient lighting for trains and planes and architectural lighting. (Image: Osram) Featuring compact size and brightness, Osram’s Synios S 2222 product family provides an efficient and flexible platform for a variety of low- and mid-power applications (from 10 mA to 200 mA). The product family includes colors of white, blue, green, yellow, red and deep red. ...

Seoul Viosys, the subsidiary of Seoul Semiconductor focusing on UV LED technology, announced that its Violeds technology has been adopted in washing machines and are now mass produced by Chinese companies Hisense and Haier. The laundry tank sometimes contains invisible contamination and germs, causing odors and molds in the washing machine. By implementing Violeds technology from Seoul Viosys, the Chinese companies solved the problem of laundry tank sterilization and deodorization. Seoul Viosys posted its 1Q20 financial results last week noting that its business p...

LED lighting technology helps to enhance sustainability not only by reducing general energy consumption, it also prevent wildlife in many ways. Recently in Alabama, USA, a turtle-friendly LED lighting is installed in the Gulf Coast to protect a wide variety of sea turtles living in the area. Also, Bangor University in the UK found that attaching LED lights to big holes in net can guide non-target species to escape and significantly reduce bycatch. Alabama’s Gulf Coast with beautiful beaches attracts more than five million visitors annually with visitors. And...

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) in New York City is using UV lamps to sanitize subway cars and buses for COVID-19 infection prevention, reported New York Daily News. MTA announced that it will close the subway system from one to five a.m. every day since May 6, 2020 to deep clean and disinfect all the trains and buses to combat coronavirus. One of its disinfecting solution is using UV lamps to deliver UVC radiation for diminishing bacteria, viruses and other pathogens in the cars. (Image: Pixabay) The disinfection project applying U...

A research team at Seoul National University (SNU) successfully grew a Micro LED array on a 100 nm-thick sapphire nano-membrane. The results were published on Scientific Reports on May 5, 2020. According to the published paper, the team, led by Euijoon Yoon of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering of SNU, designed the sapphire nano-membrane array to grow an array of multi-faced Micro LEDs sized 4 μm × 16 μm. With the method, the Micro LED chip singulation does not need to go through plasma etching process, leading to a better ext...

Apple has begun construction of its new facility in Taiwan since last year and LEDinside covered the progress of the building in November 2019. Now the iPhone maker was said to develop innovative display technologies, Micro LED and Mini LED, with its partners in Taiwan, Epistar and AUO, according Taiwanese media, Economic Daily. (Apple's new facility in Taoyuan, Taiwan) The facility is said to be focus on Micro LED and Mini LED technology for iPhone or iPad display applications. As the facility is built within the Longtan Science Park under...

GE Current, a Daintree company announced on May 4 that it has opened a new distribution center in the greater Atlanta area in the U.S. With the addition of this location to its distribution network, GE Current will be able to provide same-day and next-day service to its lighting and controls customers regionally. The company aims to meet the growing needs of its customer in the southeastern United State. (Image: GE Current) Georgia State has started to reopen its shops and business amid the coronavirus pandemic since April 24, which could be an advantage for G...

Volvo unveiled its plan to launch its next generation self-driving car in 2022 by integrating LiDAR technology supported by Luminar. Volvo Cars, the Sweden-based company now owned by Geely Holding of China, said that its next generation SPA2 modular vehicle architecture will be available as hardware-ready for autonomous drive from production start in 2022,with the Luminar LiDAR seamlessly integrated into the roof. (Image: Volvo/Luminar) The LiDAR technology of Volvo’ new car is supported by Luminar, a LiDAR startup company aiming to make cost ...

Veeco Instrument posted financial results for the first quarter of 2020 ended March 31, 2020 and announced the recent adjustment of its Board of Directors. The equipment supplier reported that its former CEO and Chairman, John Peelter has retired and is passing the role to Richard D’Amore, who has been a General Partner of North Bridge Venture Partners and served on the Veeco Board for years. Meanwhile, Mary Jane Raymond, CFO of II-VI Incorporated, joined Veeco’s Board of Directors. Veeco’s revenue for 1Q20 grew by 5.13% YoY...

Osram announced its FY2Q20 financial results and said that it has achieved a good second quarter given the global challenges. The company registered a revenue of EUR 821 million (US$ 890.25 million), which dropped by 7.9% YoY. Despite that, the adjusted EBITDA increased by 36.8% YoY and adjusted EBITDA margin also improved by 3.6 p.p to 11.7%. Due to restructuring costs for the change in structural and personnel adjustments, Osram reported a loss of EUR 39.3 million (US$ 42.61 million). Osram CEO, Olaf Berlien, said that the company had reacted very...

Taiwan-based panel maker AU Optronics (AUO) is going to demerge its General Display and Public Information Display businesses and set up a new wholly owned subsidiary Da Qing. By establishing the new company, AUO aims to accelerate the building of ecosystems with partners across diverse domains, extending the value chain for smart display applications, integrating AIoT and novel technologies to seize new market opportunities. (Image: AUO) Facing severe competition in the panel industry and the declining market demand resulted by the coronavirus outbreak, globa...

Compound Photonics (CP), a U.S.-based AR/MR microdisplay solutions developer, announced the launch of its digital backplane which enables Micro LED technology builder for high definition microdisplay subsystem integration. CP re-engineered its market-ready LCoS backplane technology into an innovative constant current drive configuration for Micro LED pixels based on its 0.26-inch (~3 μm pixel) 1080p display format. The technology can be integrated with Micro LED displays to accelerate the manufacture process by bonding the devices to a backplane driven by C...

Florida State University (FSU) researchers have discovered a novel structure for organic-inorganic hybrid materials that shows potential for more efficient technologies. Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry Biwu Ma and his team have published a new study in the journal Science Advances that explains how they created a hollow nanostructure for metal halide perovskites that would allow the material to emit a highly efficient blue light. Metal halide perovskites are a material that have shown great potential for photon-related technologies such as light-emitting diodes and l...

A research team at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) announced their achievement in manufacturing InGaN red LEDS with a peak wavelength of 665nm as well as improved light output power and external quantum efficacy. Their achievement is believed to support more efficient process of full color Micro LED display development. (Image: KAUST) One of the challenges of Micro LED display is producing red LEDs with GaN, which is considered almost impossible, according to Kazuhiro Ohkawa, leader of the research group. Red colo...

Korean giants Samsung and LG announced their financial results for the first quarter of 2020 and they both reported that the COVID-19 outbreak has affected their business performance. Samsung registered a total revenue of KRW 55.33 trillion (US$ 45.11 billion) with an on-year increase of 5.6%. Operating profit is KRW 6.45 trillion (US$ 5.28 billion) decreased by 9.8% QoQ but increased by 3.2% YoY. Compared to the previous quarter 4Q19 which is usually the peak season of the year, the revenue of 1Q20 went down due to seasonality. And the on-year growth was due ...