China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) recently announced it will be strongly promoting energy efficiency and carbon emission reduction policies in 2014, according to a Chinese-language Huagu.com report. The implementation of the country’s “2014-2015 Carbon Reduction Plan” is expected to spur LED market development in China. 

Apple has filed for a new flexible OLED display patent, and is rumored to be developing a bezel-free iPhone display, according to numerous media reports.

U.S. singer Katy Perry’s favorite clothing brand CuteCircuit, recently showcased its latest collection of interactive wearable LED miniskirts, jackets and accessories controllable by iPhones at Mercedes Benz New York Fashion Week on February 12th at 5pm.

Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) will be showcasing its latest breakthrough technologies at “Light + Building 2014,” the world's largest trade show for lighting and architecture, held in Frankfurt, Germany, from March 30. The company will exhibit demonstration models using flexible OLED lighting panel prototypes with two unique features: the world's first color tunable function* and the world's thinnest* form factor.

Hubbell Lighting, a world leader in lighting innovation, announced the release of the 2014 lighting education course schedule at its state-of-the-art Lighting Solutions Center (LSC).  The schedule is available at www.lightingsolutionscenter.com.  

Soraa, the world leader in GaN on GaN™ LED technology, will display their new AR111 lamp at EuroShop this month. The lamp is the market's first full-visible-spectrum LED AR111, and brings Soraa's signature elements of light quality to the large lamp arena: vivid colors, unique whiteness rendering, and perfectly uniform beams casting sharp single shadows.

Uncontested as the thinnest and easiest to install LED Puck Light on the market, Outwater’s Venus Ultra Bright LED Puck Light readily mounts to any surface with a single screw, which is merely inserted through a small, inconspicuous, recessed hole in the middle of the fixture, thus negating the need for pre-drilling.

Taiwanese LED secondary optic lens manufacturer LedLink has received orders from three major international lighting brands and from other regional LED luminaire manufacturers this year, according to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News report. The company hopes its market share will increase from 35 percent in 2013 to 40 to 50 percent in 2014.

Affected by the global economic downturn, there has been rising cases of city bankruptcies, which has led to city management increasing value of sustainable development. Among cities public lighting expenditures, outdoor lighting construction and maintenance costs have gradually increased over the years. City managers are also focusing their attention to making suitable living environment on limited budgets with low investment and maintenance costs.

The LED industry has been in a slump for the past 2-3 years, but 2013 marked a turning point. Rise in LED lighting demands brought new opportunities for the industry, but low price and low cost trend caused many manufacturers to incur losses and struggle financially. LED chip manufacturers with high capital expenditures were the most affected, with many still stuck in the situation. Chip scale packaging (CSP) products are the industry's latest attempt to lowering costs, as the technology is able to eliminate wiring bonding and lead frames during the production process. The product has become a hot topic in the industry upon its release. With improving CSP products technology and rising market acceptance, CSP developments in 2014 are highly anticipated by the industry.

The financial industry’s interest has obviously increased as the Taiwan LED industry recovers. Rising LED lighting market penetration rates will lead to improvements in Taiwan LED industry demand and supply situation resulting in overall industry growth. In turn, manufacturers’ better gross margin performances will also boost stockholders Return On Equity (ROE), 

Taiwanese LED manufacturers Jan. 2014 performances showed stellar results spurred by rising lighting and backlight demands. Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Everlight product growth momentum was evenly distributed in 1Q14, and there has been good backlight and lighting demands, said the company Chairman Robert Yeh. The company expects increased 1Q14 revenue growth compared to 4Q13.

Two U.S. cities Detroit and Philadelphia have recently announced plans of upgrading to LED streetlights, according to recent U.S. media reports.

Three new LED arrays from Cree, Inc. redefine what is possible for LED lighting in high-intensity applications. The Cree® XLamp® CXA2590, CXA1850 and CXA1310 High-Density LED Arrays double the light output of existing standard-density CXA LED arrays without increasing the size. 

At Euroshop (Feb. 16-20, 2014), Philips, the global leader in lighting, presents a new LED lighting solution that offers brands bespoke light signatures to help project their brand image and differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive market.

Rubicon Technology, Inc., a leading provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, semiconductor, and optical markets, announced that it will showcase large-diameter patterned sapphire substrates (PSS) as well as its line of 6”polished sapphire wafers for the LED industry at LED Korea 2014 at COEX, Seoul, Korea, February 12-14, 2014. Rubicon will exhibit its line of sapphire products in Booth #4707.

CIMCON Lighting, Inc., a provider of intelligent, centralized Wireless Outdoor Lighting Management Systems, today announced its immediate support for the NEMA's recently published "ANSI C136.41-2013" standard for external locking type dimming and management controllers into its iSLC series of Street and Roadway Lighting product line.

NEC Display Solutions of America announced the L102W LED projector, the newest addition to its mobile projector lineup, which alleviates cumbersome technology setup and offers intuitive design for people on-the-go.

StrongLED new product Dot Sirio is a high brightness dot light. The dots are constructed on a flexible cable with a customizable pitch containing up to 30 dots 9-LED or 30 dots 6-LED (dependant on length of lead cable and pixel pitch). The dots, which are for pixel array, designed to show the video, animation, image and various patterns of color, are single dot controllable by DMX. Our software, Strong Player, makes it become a simple large-scale installations.

A global manufacturer of high performance and innovative cable management solutions has almost quadrupled light levels in its Manchester factory thanks to an LED lighting solution.Thanks to the innovative lighting provided by MHA Lighting, HellermannTyton has almost quadrupled the light levels in parts of its Manchester manufacturing site from an average of 90 lux to 400.

Tanlong Photoelectronics will benefit from Apple’s push in the sapphire substrate market, Aastocks.com cited a member from the Chinese company’s security department saying. Although, there has been no growth in the company’s sapphire growth furnace orders, increased downstream demands are expected to spur the company’s furnace sales.

Vietnam Int’l LED/OLED Technology Show 2014 (LEDTEC ASIA 2014), Vietnam’s foremost LED/OLED industrial trade show presents the latest technology and trend, along with global business and networking opportunity from May 8th to 10th, 2014 at SECC, Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam.

Mexico’s Secretariat of Energy has announced the effective date for 40W and 60W incandescent phase out will be extended to Dec. 31, 2014, according to an article by Chinese-language media CAIT. The effective date of the phase out was first announced in Dec. 2010 and originally scheduled for Dec. 31, 2013. 

Certain events beneficial to the LED industry have occurred in the past few weeks. UBS Analyst Fredric Stahl noted Philips LED lighting business 4Q13 revenue has soared 48 percent compared to the same period in 2012. Osram also reported the company’s LED lighting business had grown 28 percent in 4Q13 compared to 4Q12,

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published white paper NEMA LSD 68 Remote Phosphor Devices Used in LED Lamps, Engines and Luminaires.

Turn indicators, taillights and brake lights all covered by one and the same LED family? The new Oslon Black Flat does just that. The latest addition to the family emits yellow light and various red tones and is exceptionally bright. Specially designed for light guide applications, these LEDs can also be used for more complex solutions in the rear lighting for vehicles.

LG Electronics USA has unveiled its next-generation line of digital signage products - led by the world's slimmest bezel (3.5mm) LED displays for giant video walls as well as industry-leading Ultra High-Definition 4K commercial displays – underscoring LG's commitment to leadership in scale, resolution and color depth for commercial displays.

Philips, the global leader in lighting, will be showcasing its Fresh Food LED lighting portfolio at Euroshop (Feb.16-20, 2014), offering supermarkets the perfect lighting for different types of fresh foods. Light recipes, or optimized light spectrums, can increase sales by highlighting the freshness of the food on display. 

The Center for Process Innovation (CPI) has produced a range of flexible OLED demonstrators. Manufactured on CPI’s OLED/OPV Prototyping Line, the devices have been built on a range of substrates with thickness ranging from 50µm to 125µm. The device structure consists of an Indium 

SACHEM experts will be on hand to discuss our proven product lines designed specifically for the microelectronics manufacturing industry at SEMICON Korea, booth #1242. Additionally, SACHEM is unveiling two new solutions in the In-Ga-Zn-O (IGZO) and smooth silicon etching processes.