Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaN™ LED technology, launched today a complete new line of high performance MR16 LED lamps powered by the world’s most efficient LED—the company’s third generation GaN on GaN™ LED. Featuring the company’s signature elements of full visible spectrum light, Soraa’s new MR16 LED lamps feature a 30% improvement in efficiency, creating a no-compromise lighting solution for restaurants, retail, high-end residential, and office environments where superior light quality and smooth dimming are essential.

Sapphire manufacturer GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) bankruptcy protection announcement sent shockwaves throughout Wall Street on October 6, 2014. Investors and financial institutes were shocked, no one expected the seemingly promising Apple sapphire supplier to declare insolvency.

GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT), announced that it had, together with certain of its direct and indirect subsidiaries (collectively, GT), commenced voluntary cases under chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Hampshire. GT expects the court will authorize the company to continue to conduct business as usual while it devotes renewed efforts to resolve its current issues and develops a reorganization plan.

OLED lighting’s short lifetime and high retail prices has been a major obstacle for the luminaires to acquire more market share, but new developments in Japan might be changing this, according to a MoneyDJ report.

Benefiting from Apple iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus sales, Taiwanese sapphire manufacturer Tera Xtal’s revenue for September 2014 increased 38 percent compared to August. The company set a new monthly record last month, with order visibility extending well into late 2014.

Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of Indian state of Kerala, is making little progress in converting the city’s 84,000 streetlights to LEDs, according to a report by The Hindu.

Concerned residents in New Orleans East, Louisiana, U.S. reported new LED streetlights are leaving more unlit areas than conventional streetlights, according to a WDSU New Orleans report.

B/E Aerospace new Emteq unit Diehl Aerospace and other aircraft cabin lighting might be getting LED lighting upgrades from Panasonic in the near future, according to a report by Runway Girl Network.

Cree a market leader in LED lighting, announced preliminary estimates of financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended September 28, 2014. Revenue for the quarter is expected to be approximately US $428 million, with earnings expected below the company’s previously announced target range of $0.25 to $0.30 per diluted share on a GAAP basis. These preliminary financial results are subject to completion of the company’s customary quarterly closing and review procedures.

Molecular Glasses, a division of Molaire Consulting LLC has filed for patent protection for its new class of organic semiconductor materials for OLED and other organic electronic applications.

Barbara Horton’s infectious enthusiasm for lighting design was apparent as we sat down for a candid discussion about her experiences throughout her career. Over the last 30+ years Barbara has compiled a portfolio of notable projects and is known for her expertise in designing urban lighting for parks, streetscapes and monuments. Combining her passion for lighting with her inquisitive nature and visionary perspective, she uses a pragmatic approach to develop unique solutions for each project she takes on. As the President/CEO of Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design in New York City, as well as the current President of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD), Barbara is focused on giving back and improving the industry for future generations of lighting designers.

Advantek announced they have acquired all the assets of Tempo Electronics and the Surftape® product line. Effective immediately Advantek will be offering Surftape® through its extensive global sales organization.

Building on its line of flexible outdoor lighting solutions, MaxLite announces a new family of adjustable, installation-friendly LED Wall Packs and the launch of LED Bullet Flood Lights.

The Green Trade Project Office under Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs is set to stage its fourth exhibition event for the 2014 Green Light campaign at the CEATEC JAPAN exhibition, scheduled to be held on October 07-11 at the Makuhari Messe exhibition complex.

Wrapping up this week’s top news, Samsung might be closing down its LED luminaire business soon, according to a Yonhap report. A bankrupt LED manufacturer’s suicide once again highlights bad financial practices in China’s LED industry that are hurting SMEs. Philips focus onto health applications becomes more evident with the launch of a wearable blue LED light therapy device to treat skin disease. LEDinside’s Senior Analyst Figo Wang gives an in-depth six point analysis on Philips recent business restructure. For more please see below:

The ALTLED 46W panel light is a sleek panel light which emits beautifully distributed light without glare. The product is equipped with premium aluminum thermal management which quickly dissipates unneeded heat generated from the chipset. The product adopts side-lighting type backlight module as opposed to the conventional direct-lighting type backlight module, which may be brighter but a lot thicker and provides uneven area light source, creating unwanted dark spots.       Side-lighting type backlight module has the advantag...

The iPhone 6 might not come with sapphire glass cover, but the Apple Watch will, according to MyDrivers.com. Just how much is this tiny piece of glass worth?

Philips announced on Sept. 23, 2014, it would separate its health care and lighting businesseses into a twonew companies, each ofy which would continue to leverage the Philips brand.

Unable to pay back creditors, a bankrupt decorative luminaire manufacturer from Henglan Town in Zhongshan City, Guangdong Province, China chose to end his life by jumping off a building. Videos of the manufacturer leaping to his death have been widely circulated on the Internet. Rumors surfaced that the company declared insolvency after receiving a bad check for several hundred thousand Chinese Yuan. The information has not been confirmed, though.

Korean electronics conglomerate Samsung Electronics intends to close down its LED luminaire business, according to a report by Korean media Yonhap Infomax.

Effective October 1, 2014 Jan-Peter Schwartz will assume responsibility as Head of worldwide External and Internal Communications and as Chief Sustainability Officer at Osram. In this function he will report to Wolfgang Dehen, Chief Executive Officer of Osram.

With the rise of global environmental awareness, incandescent bulb is banned in various countries successively which drives traditional lighting manufacturers to transform into LED lighting. Aiming for this opportunity, the Taiwanese LED packaging manufacturer, Edison Opto, branches out into filament market and releases 0.8W LED filament. Used in 4W bulb, the LED bulb can replace 40W incandescent bulb, bringing the advantages (energy saving and high efficiency) of LED into full play. Edison Opto can assist traditional incandescent bulb manufacturer in entering LED lighting market.

The Netherlands, LUXeXceL Group; Worlds only additive manufacturer of optical components, today announces both the launch of a new additive manufacturing platform that delivers high speed and precision as well as the introduction of a new clear material “LUX-Opticlear”, allowing high quality optics manufacturing up to 20mm in height.

Inspired by a desire to help wounded soldiers, an international, multidisciplinary team of researchers led by Assistant Professor Conor Evans at the Wellman Center for Photomedicine of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Harvard Medical School (HMS) has created a paint-on, see-through, “smart” bandage that glows to indicate a wound’s tissue oxygenation concentration. Because oxygen plays a critical role in healing, mapping these levels in severe wounds and burns can help to significantly improve the success of surgeries to restore limbs and physical functions.

Noribachi, a leading U.S.-based custom LED manufacturer for high output commercial and industrial solutions, is proud to announce the launch of its 3-tiered binning solution that delivers more light engine customization.

As one of the leading Taiwan professional high power LED packaging house, ProLight Opto, have been devoted its R&D on developing the best AC-HV LED technology. We will showcase our high voltage (HV) LED in 3030 and 3535 package size at the 2014 HK International Lighting Fair.

GlacialTech., the lighting technology manufacturer, is attending the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair 2014 (Autumn edition) fromOctober 27-30 to showcase its latest energy efficient LED lighting products and introduce its new surface mounted down lights, bay lights, DALI products, and LED thermal solutions. GlacialTech invites all to visit the company's booth at the Hall 3 # 3D-C07.

Lattice Power, the first company to commercialize high performance, low cost GaN-on-Silicon LEDs, announced today that its new PAR38 LED lamp has been recognized by the Illuminating Engineering Society Progress Committee as providing an important advancement in lighting. The company's new proprietary GaN-on-Silicon LED PAR38 LED lamp delivers outstanding efficacy, superior brightness and excellent color rendering.

Chinese LED manufacturers scaled up production again, according to a Liberty Times report. German MOCVD manufacturer Aixtron announced it received 50 MOCVD orders from major Chinese LED chip maker San’an Opto. The new equipment will be shipped and installed by fourth quarter 2014. The rebounding LED industry will be impacted if San’an Opto continues to expand production capacity.

Honglitronic announced the company’s application for RMB 4 million subsidiary for “new LED lighting component R&D and commercialization” was approved by Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) of the People’s Republic of China.