LG Display has confirmed its plan to cut jobs through voluntary retirement as the company intends to shift its product portfolio from LCD display to OLED display which requires less production workforce, reported Reuters.

Taiwan-based LED packagers Edison Opto and Bright LED Electronics (BRTLED) have reported their strategies in response to the price competition of LED products and the impacts of trade war. 

Taiwanese LED wafer and chip maker Epileds has reportedly continued its progress in developing Micro LED/Mini LED products. However, impacted by the price pressure and severe competition, the company’s performance for 3Q18 turned out flat.

With the advent of the internet-of-things (IoT) era, the IoT-Ready™ alliance (an alliance of lighting, building management, and Internet of Things companies, https://www.iot-ready.org/) has developed a common standard to reduce communication errors between component suppliers in the field of smart lighting, so smart light adjustment, environmental protection, and energy saving can be applied more efficiently in daily life. FSP Group joined the IoT-Ready™ Alliance in 2018 and was the first to introduce a 50W power supply to be used with the Enlighted ESI V4.8 protocol and the latest IoT sensors.

People have continued to discover more applications and functions of LED lights. Researchers at Purdue University have found that blue and red LED can be used to prevent birds from colliding with human structures and vehicles.

Nick Klase, co-founder and CEO of Fluence Bioengineering, has appointed Dave Cohen as the new CEO of the company and he will move into a new role in the company’s R&D team.

Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has introduced its new development of an indoor lighting technology which mimics blue skies and changes colors with daytime to create a natural feel for indoor spaces.

Power management company Eaton has introduced LumenSafe™, an Integrated Network Security Camera system, which enables public and private sectors to integrate connected video technology onto the company’s LED outdoor lighting fixtures.

With the low profit of LED general lighting and the escalating uncertainty of the LED industry due to the trade war, worldwide LED manufacturers are facing unprecedented challenges and have taken different actions to cope with the situation. Some decided to divert their LED lighting business while others are changing their business focal point. However, LEDinside believes that there are plenty of opportunities for LED lighting technology despite the difficult circumstance of the current LED lighting industry.

Osram Opto Semiconductors developed Oslon Boost HX, a new automotive LED which helps headlights to achieve high resolution and to project information onto the roads. 

Many panel producers have reported profit drop in the early 2018 due to oversupply. But in the third quarter of 2018, the enhanced stocking-up demand in the peak season has reversed the over-supply trend, analyzed WitsView, a division of TrendForce.

Dr. Hiroshi Amano, Nobel Laureate in Physics 2014, will deliver a lecture on October 3rd at Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan. The topic of the lecture is “The History of the Development of Blue & UV-LEDs and Their Future Prospects.”

Four Japanese companies, Nichia, Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC), Citizen and National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), reported that they have been granted in the U.S. the patent (U.S. patent No. 10,072,207) to LEDs using a nitride-type red phosphor*.

Cree has released the XLamp® eTone™ LEDs, a new set of chip-on-board (COB) LEDs that delivers 90 color rendering index (CRI) light quality with the same efficacy as the standard 80 CRI LEDs.

A Cincinnati-based indoor farming company, 80 Acres Farms, has announced its plan to build a vertical farm in Hamilton, Ohio, which will be the first fully automated indoor farm in the U.S.

Taiwanese LED manufacturers have been affected by the tepid LED market resulting from LED price declines due to oversupply. The escalating trade war has also impacted the demand of the end market. 

Current by GE and Vodafone have worked together to deploy a new multi-sensor network in part of Vodafone’s London headquarters. Combining sensors of Current by GE, IoT technology and cloud of Vodafone, the new network has adopted innovative visualization software to transform raw data into actionable information.

Semiconductor equipment provider AIXTRON announced that the company has received an order for an AIX 2800G4-TM MOCVD system from Chinese chipmaker Sino-Semiconductor for the production of laser diodes.

Quanergy Systems, a US-based smart sensing solution provider, has announced its partnership with VRCO, a UK-based startup who develops luxury high-end e-VTOL (electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing) crafts. They have reported that VRCO will exclusively use Quanergy’s S3 solid state LiDAR sensors in the testing and market release versions of its latest aircraft, the NeoXcraft XP2.

Korea-based semiconductor designer and manufacturer MagnaChip has announced that the company is offering a multi-channel Mini LED Driver to meet the demands of the rapidly growing digital signage market. 

Garage Isla Verde, LLC is a Puerto Rico-based dealership of Mercedes-Benz and it has deployed the LED lighting and control solutions from Current, powered by GE for its new construction.

Osram Opto Semiconductors has added SFH 5701 A01, a new ambient light sensor (ALS) with integrated circuitry (IC) to its automotive sector portfolio. 

The 3rd annual international Forum and Exhibition “Greenhouse Complexes Russia 2018” is the high-level professional platform to unlock investment in Russian greenhouse industry, discuss development strategies, share experiences, and conclude new lucrative contracts. 

As one of the most important next generation display technologies, Micro LED performs excellently and can be widely applied in wearables, mobile phones, automotive displays, AR/VR, video wall (digital display), TV and others. For solving the technology bottlenecks of Micro LED, the development of technology relies on cooperation between different companies with their expertise in equipment, materials, panels and brands.

LUXEON V2 delivers best-in-class performance and the most usable light for street lights, high-bay/low-bay fixtures, sports stadiums and portable applications.

Held on September 20th in Taipei, Taiwan, Imec Technology Forum Taiwan has gathered professionals from Imec’s R&D center to present their cutting edge technology and achievements in hardware-software integration.

US-based LED lighting producer Luminus has released its new horticulture COB LEDs which are designed for enhancing the growth of cannabis with special spectrums.

Lighting Science has launched Cleanse™, a new LED luminaire that can reduce pathogens in the air. The product is a retrofit LED troffer which sanitizes air with an air circulation and sanitation system.

We have become aware of the damages that blue light can bring to our eyes and the possible benefit of Human Centric Lighting. A psychology researcher at Simon Fraser University, Canada, is looking to explore the effect of LED lighting even more by studying whether innovative LED lighting that mimics natural sunlight can affect the body’s natural circadian rhythms and improve mental health.

According to LED Industry Demand and Supply Data Base, the latest report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, the global LED industry is projected to reach a market value of US$ 18.796 billion in 2018, with an increase of 4% YoY. The market is slowing down as the oversupply situation contributes to LED price declines, together with the impacts of escalating trade war on demand in the end market.