U.S. intelligence services warned Germany that a Chinese takeover of German semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker Aixtron could give Beijing access to technology for military purposes, reported German paper Handelsblatt on Wednesday.

Foxconn, a long term Apple partner, might have lost its bid to assemble the glass backs in iPhone 8, as reports from Nikkei Asian Review point out Chinese sapphire manufacturers will be the major suppliers.

West Kelowna, a Canadian City will be converting 1,750 high pressure sodium streetlights to LEDs, reported Kelowna Capital News.

Smart manufacturing will be the key to upgrading the printed circuit board industry! ITRI exhibited its expertise in innovative PCB manufacturing technology at the TPCA Show 2016, displaying the High Aspect Ratio Maskless Fine Line Printing Technology and Additive Process for Printed Fine Line Circuits, as well as its Intelligent Power Module for Automotive Battery Control. ITRI's innovative technology will assist in propelling the value of both the upstream and downstream sectors of Taiwan's PCB industry, thereby solidifying the foundation in making the industry a trillion dollar one in the future.  

EPISTAR announced it signed a license agreement with Super Trend Lighting (Group) Ltd. (“SUPERTREND”) to use Epistar’s filament patents in its products. Epistar holds key intellectual property regarding the LED filament technology used in making LED filament bulbs. The LED filament patents relate to, among other things, LED filament structure(s), and light-emitting product(s) using LED filament(s). This patent portfolio covers Taiwan, China, United States, Europe and other territories.

Kateeva, the OLED production equipment leader, announced the appointment of Mark Shaw, Ph.D. as Senior Vice President of Human Resources (HR). Previously, Shaw worked at Lam Research and Applied Materials. He joins Kateeva at a time of rapid growth. He’ll build a comprehensive HR infrastructure to support the company’s accelerating global business, with strategic initiatives to attract, inspire and reward top talent, world-wide.

Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaNTM LED technology, announced that its full visible spectrum LED lamps were installed to illuminate the Sacramento-based Crocker Art Museum’s exhibition “Glass for the New Millennium: Masterworks from the Kaplan-Ostergaard Collection”.

Fulham, a leading supplier of lighting components and electronics for commercial and specialty applications, will demonstrate its newest LED lighting products for OEMs, distributors, and lighting professionals at this week’s Hong Kong International Lighting Fair. Included among the Fulham products on display will be the LumoSeries LED drivers, the HotSpot Plus LED and emergency lighting drivers, and the customizable Quik Custom linear LED drivers. Fulham will be exhibiting in booth 1C-C02.

Throughout the industry, it is widely accepted that an estimated 4% error currently exists with most LED light measurements. This 4% error is responsible for a massive loss in revenue across the industry as manufacturers and laboratories undervalue their own LEDs or send out product that does not perform as expected. Much of this 4% error traces back directly to the current source and methods being used during testing. To reduce the error and improve LED light measurements, Vektrex introduces the Performance Current Source Series. These high performance current sources are the only current sources that employ precise, accurate pulsing with microsecond rise times and low-jitter triggering. The resulting ideal current waveforms reduce uncertainty and enable accurate LED measurements with excellent measurement repeatability. 

Hubbell Lighting, a world leader in lighting innovation, announced that Litecontrol has modernized its market-leading MOD product line, which has set the standard for linear slot lighting, by delivering a full family, cost sensitive solution for general lighting in architectural spaces.

A CHIP OFF THE OLD BLOCK… BeveLED BLOCK from USAI Lighting provides an elegant solution for those that love the industrial exposed ceiling style, but hate the exposed electrical connections. The innovative, unique design of BeveLED BLOCK completely encloses surface mounted junction boxes in concrete ceilings, creating beautiful modern spaces with high performance LED lighting.

Erik Lief a leading writer for American Council of Health (ACH) writes an analyses on earlier reports by American Medical Association..

Acuity Brands announced Peter Y. Ngai, Vice President-Technology, has received the Illuminating Engineering Society’s (IES) MEDAL in recognition of meritorious technical achievement for furthering the profession, art or knowledge of illuminating engineering. Ngai was honored during the IES 2016 National Convention held October 23-25 in Orlando, Florida, U.S..

The City of Henderson in partnership with McKinstry, a design-build company specializing in energy-based retrofits, will replace more than 6,200 light fixtures across the city with energy-saving LEDs that will pay for themselves in just over seven years.

Martin Moss, the automotive marketing manager at Texas Instruments shares in this blog post how to create a 24W power supply for automotive LED lighting systems.

Quantel Laser announced the opening of a new service center in China at the offices of their long-time partner, Titan Electro-Optics (TEO). The service center, inaugurated at a gala grand-opening ceremony in Beijing on October 24, 2016, will provide local service to all Quantel customers in China. Local service will be available at the company’s Beijing headquarters as well as in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

Xicato announces it is now shipping XIM Gen4, its 4th generation intelligent module that integrates Bluetooth Low Energy wireless communication, beacon capability and fully featured light control with the industry's tightest specification light source.

Custom manufactured low order sapphire waveplates that extend IR polarization control into the infrared, beyond fused silica optical waveplates, are available from Meller Optics of Providence, Rhode Island.

Optronics International, a leading manufacturer and supplier of heavy-duty LED vehicle lighting, announced that it will display its most advanced Opti-Brite LED Headlamps for the first time in booth 3328 at the 2016 AAPEX Show in Las Vegas, Nevada. Optronics’ new LED headlamps feature advanced retroflective LED technology engineered to emit a wider, brighter beam for increased visibility and safety, and an eye-catching LED conspicuity array that enhances the lamp’s style and appearance.

DENSO announced that the image sensors provided by Sony Semiconductor Solutions Corporation has helped DENSO improve the performance of its in-vehicle vision sensors* and can now detect pedestrians during night conditions. This improvement helps strengthen DENSO’s suite of Advanced Driver Assistant systems used to help prevent traffic accidents.

LED powerhouse Lighting Science® announced its latest innovation with the release of its high-performance linear lighting solution, the L-Bar™. Delivering up to 4,500 lumens, the L-Bar is so powerful that one linear luminaire can replace a standard 2’ x 4’ fluorescent troffer, making it the ideal solution for new commercial construction and for legacy fluorescent lighting replacement.

In conjunction with ENERGY STAR Day, MaxLite today announces the release of a 60-watt equivalent LED A-lamp value pack that makes saving energy and protecting the climate an easy and affordable choice for consumers.

The value of the global market for UV-C LEDs used in sterilization and purification equipment will grow at a CAGR of 56% from US$28 million in 2016 to US$257 million in 2021, according to the 2016~2021 UV LED and IR LED Application Market Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. The UV-C LED technology is expected to advance rapidly as an increasing number of major LED suppliers are scheduled to launch related products towards the end of 2016.

Indian government’s energy efficiency program is in place for Bengaluru. LED tube lights will be distributed at subsidized prices, reported Times of India.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published a white paper that discusses new requirements that help reduce energy consumption in commercial buildings. NEMA WD ARCP 1-2016 Automatic Receptacle Control to Meet ASHRAE 90.1-2010 and California (CA) Title 24 explains the controlled receptacle requirement now appearing within non-residential energy codes, as well as a summary of typical application settings.

AIXTRON SE, one of the world’s leading providers of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced today that the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Energy has withdrawn vis-à-vis Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund LP, as indirect shareholder of Grand Chip Investment GmbH, its Clearance Certificate (Unbedenklichkeitsbescheinigung) issued on September 8, 2016 and announced a reopening of review proceedings in connection with the takeover offer by Grand Chip Investment GmbH.

A total of 8,875 ThinkLite LED retrofit tubes were recently installed in Boston’s Prudential Center Garage, the largest parking garage in New England. This immediately reduced energy consumption for lighting by a dramatic 73% from the existing 32W Fluorescent tubes, down to a ThinkLite 8W LED Retrofit Tube kit.

Chinese LED manufacturers have been very active in international acquisitions in recent years. One of the most successful representatives in the LED lighting industry this year has been Forest Lighting (MLS) and a consortium of Chinese investors acquired Osram’s general lighting business LEDVANCE. Other Chinese investors also showed interest in absorbing the company recently, with market rumors about San’an Opto’s acquisition of Osram spreading like wildfire recently.

Lextar Electronics, the vertically integrated LED maker in Taiwan, is setting the trend with human-centric lighting, a combination of LED lighting fixtures with a control system that can simulate day and night to change the color temperature of the light. At the same time, the company also launched “Solar White”, its latest LED light quality upgrade technology capable of generating an LED light source similar to natural sunlight. Lextar will attend the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (Autumn Edition) from 27-30 October 2016, where it will once again publicly display its concept of human-centric lighting in the form its ALLUXIA flat panel lights.  ALLUXIA has won the German Design Award and the Red Dot design award 2016.

Sharp might be shutting down its LED display plant in Hiroshima Prefecture in Japan in 2017, as part of its restructuring efforts implemented by parent company Foxconn, sources familiar with the matter told Japan Times recently.