The application of smart displays in retail stores is one of the most discussed topics at Touch Taiwan 2018. With the integration of camera sensors, displays and IoT, smart display technologies can enable retailers to collect data of consumers and to market their products more efficiently. Consumers, on the other hand, will be able to gain more comprehensive details when selecting products and receive updated discount information while shopping. Many exhibitors have presented their state-of-the-art technologies and integrated retail solutions including Innolux, Champ Vision Display and E ink.

According to the latest research report of LEDinside 「2019 Global LED Video Wall Market Outlook - Cinema, Rental Market and Price Trend」, as the demand for LED display in markets including rental market, HDR market application, retail and meeting room boosts, global LED display market scale in 2022 is expected to stand at USD 9.349 billion with a CAGR of 12% during 2018 to 2022. Thereinto, that of indoor fine pitch display in 2018 is expected to be up to USD 1.997 billion with a y-o-y growth of 39% and its CAGR during 2018 o 2022 will reach 28%, which is driven by the continuous development of ultra-fine pitch display in the future.

Last week a Korean Media, The Investors, reported that LG would release its first Micro LED TV at the IFA electronics trade show in Germany. The news has been confirmed real as LG unveiled its 173-inch Micro LED display module at the show. 

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. 

The 2018 Internationl Micro LED Display Conference has gathered AUO, eLux, Nationstar, Lextar, X-Celeprint, Veeco, Lumiode, San’an, TOPCON, Chipone, PlayNitride, Orbotech, Sony and ITRI to share Micro LED related technologies and future prospect. The conference has mainly focused on Micro LED epitaxy, transfer, color conversion, detection, drive and equipment.

The “2018 International Micro LED Display Conference” was held by Taiwan Display Union Association (TDUA), at Touch Taiwan 2018 where a special booth for Micro LED/ Mini LED products solutions was set up.

The display show, Touch Taiwan, has kicked off in Taipei, Taiwan. The next generation display technology, Mini and Micro LED, has been the spotlight of the event with several companies showcasing their latest display products adopting the technologies. According to the latest report of LEDinside, the market value of Micro LED and Mini LED products is estimated at US$1.38 billion by 2022.

With judgment dated July 19, 2018 (docket number 2 Ni 55/16 (EP)), the German Federal Patent Court fully confirmed the validity of the German part of Nichia’s YAG patent EP 936 682 (DE 697 02 929). As a consequence, the court completely rejected the nullity action of Everlight Electronics Europe, the German subsidiary of Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight. The judgment of the Federal Patent Court is not final and can be appealed.

Samsung India has partnered with PVR Cinemas, an Indian film entertainment company, to launch Onyx Cinema LED screens in India. Samsung plans to install about five 4K Onyx Cinema LED displays in different cities in India by the end of the year.

Horticulture lighting has been an escalating market for LED applications. Lighting solutions providers and LED makers have continuously reported innovated products with specific functions. Lighting giant Signify and the U.S. based growing lights supplier Fluence Bioengineering have debuted new horticultural LED lighting products respectively to enhance the growth efficiency of crops.

Lextar has announced that the company will launch the latest Micro LED chips with the size smaller than 20 µm and two different Micro LED chip solutions for display applications at Touch Taiwan 2018.

Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT) has reported its progress of Mini LED and its achievement of cadmium-free quantum dots LED (QLED) material development. The company has targeted the automobile market with related applications adopting these technologies. 

By deploying LED lighting, agricultural activities can be carried out in places with difficult environment conditions for providing food locally and diminishing the food miles. Vertical farms have been established worldwide with the aim of producing food with more efficiency and less resource waste. 

Taiwanese LED packaging company Everlight has addressed its continuous portfolio amendment and its further operation direction in response to the company’s share price slide.

Epistar Corporation (“Epistar”) announced today that it agreed to settle its patent litigation against V-TAC USA Corp. (“V-TAC”) pending in the United States District Court for the Central District of California, for the infringement of Epistar’s light-emitting diode (“LED”) filament patents.

Nichia Corporation has announced that two of its latest LED families have been recognized by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) for their unique and significant advancement to the art and science of lighting, per the IES 2018 Progress Report. The IES has noted the innovation and development of Nichia’s Optisolis™ series of LEDs and its discrete colors of the Direct Mountable Chip series of LEDs.

Taiwanese panel manufacturer Innolux is to showcase its latest products including gaming panels, QLED notebook panels and smart watches with flexible OLED displays at Touch Taiwan 2018. 

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Harvatek Corporation is expecting a better performance for 3Q18 with its new production capacities in China and the steady orders of displays and consumer electronics products. 

British smart city applications provider Telensa has announced that the company was selected by Sunshine Coast Council to install its intelligent street lighting system in the Maroochydore City Center for a 24 month pilot smart city project. Meanwhile, in Chicago, 76,000 LED smart streetlights were installed as part of the city’s four-year modernization program. 

A Swiss property company SPG gained a new “second skin” of light and vertical offset glass topped with LED façade luminaires developed by German lighting company ERCO. 

A floating farm built by a Dutch company, Beladon, is expected to open in the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands, by the end of the year, reported BBC. The world first offshore farm has been built in the middle of Merwehaven, aiming to serve as a sustainable food source for the city. 

Rooted in the U.S. since 1901, Sylvania was acquired by SH Felio Acoustics in 2017 and has become a Chinese company, Felio SYLVANIA, with the focus on the global market. Targeting the growing LED lighting market of South East Asia, Sylvania has been proactively expanding its business in the area and has set up branches in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Taiwan. 

Cree has launched XLamp XP-G3 LED S Line, an optimized version of its series for the applications of connected lighting. On the other hand, Tridonic has released its fifth generation 5 LLE module featuring high efficacy.

Quantum Materials Corp, a U.S. based quantum dot manufacturer, has announced its achievement of exceeding 7,000 hour continuous on-time durability test for the company's cadmium-free quantum dots in a remote LED.

In April, the U.S. government has proposed a list of 1300 Chinese exports and announced to impose 25 percent tariffs on these products, following the Section 301 investigation. Later in July, the Trump administration released the second tranche of additional tariffs on US$ 200 billion worth of Chinese goods. As LED products are included in both tariff lists, LEDinside has continued to follow and analyze the impacts of the tariffs on LED lighting business. 

Vietnam’s historical monument, the “Imperial City” in Huế, has been illuminated with architectural LED lighting provided by Signify.

Taiwanese semiconductor component provider TOPCO has announced that it will join the Touch Taiwan display show to introduce materials and components that are crucial for Micro LED/Mini LED technology development. 

SleepScore Labs has released a study to prove that using Good Night® LED Sleep-Enhancing Lights in the evening helps people to fall asleep more easily and feel more rested the next morning. 

Architectural SSL announced today that Lumileds has won a 2018 Product Innovation Award (PIA) from Architectural SSL magazine for its line of Integrated Light Guides under the Matrix Platform Advanced Technologies.