Morgan Stanley’s recent report shows that the use of flip-chips in direct-lit TVs has increased, according to a report by Apple Daily. This will give a boost to LED chip and package manufacturers this year, as well as contributions from the rise in average price for TV backlighting. The firm is optimistic that Epistar and Everlight will benefit and has boosted Epistar's ratings and maintained Everlight's ratings.

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Ledtech revenue and preliminary profit for January was affected by the shorter Chinese New Year holidays. Consolidated revenue for January only reached NT $137 million (US $4.5 million), a monthly drop of 19.65 percent and YoY decrease of 7.48 percent. January preliminary pre-tax profit was NT $11.6 million, YoY decrease of 32.3 percent and EPS of NT $0.1 (before tax).

Patent wars are intensifying and spreading as the LED industry rebounds. Patent disputes within the industry are not solely centered on LED package manufacturers Nichia and Everlight. The industry has begun to focus on Boston University’s  expanding extent of legal actions taken towards patent infringement.

In 2014, Opto Tech Corporation (OPTOTECH) announced the launch of a new P3 LED display that provides a high level of flexibility in terms of applications, and which represents a major step forward compared with traditional display; this new product is the fruit of R&D work by OPTOTECH's team of experienced, creative R&D engineers. OPTOTECH has been awarded a patent for this new display product. 

The Chinese government LED equipment subsidy policies lead to a global increase of more than 1,000 MOCVD equipment in 2011, which is the root to the industry’s oversupply situation, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. Manufacturers have yet to fully install and utilize all the units purchased.

Global leading LED company, Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. has announced on February 13th that it has achieved the company’s greatest sales revenue, reaching 1.0321 trillion Korean won and an operating profit of 965 hundred million Korean won in 2013. In comparison to 2012, the company’s sales increased by 20% and the operating profit by 190%.

Across the UK our seven million streetlights clock up an electricity bill of more than £300 million each year. Although this is one of a local authority's largest single costs, fewer than one million lamps are low energy. The legacy of this old technology is higher than necessary energy consumption, costs and environmental impact.

At Euroshop, the world's leading fair for the international retail sector, Osram is demonstrating how retailers can win over customers for their products with light, ranging from lamps to complete solutions. The highlight of the fair is a spotlight that brings the quality of museum illumination to the classic retail sector, and a real eye-catcher is Osram's design study of a fitting room: Using LED screens and variable light, customers can test in the store how swimming trunks for example will look later on the beach. Euroshop takes place from 16-20 February in Düsseldorf, Germany.

A new cause campaign, ‘Brighter Lives for Refugees’ will run in IKEA stores globally from 3 February to 29 March 2014. For every LEDARE (LED light bulb) sold during the campaign, the IKEA Foundation will donate Є1 (US$1.37) to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Funds raised by the campaign will help to provide solar street lights, indoor solar lanterns, and other renewable energy technologies such as fuel efficient cooking stoves in UNHCR refugee camps in countries including Ethiopia, Chad, Bangladesh and Jordan. 

ForceField Energy Inc., an international manufacturer, seller and distributor of energy products and solutions, announced the launch of a turnkey LED lighting retrofit program for franchisees at the 2014 Caribla and Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees ("AKFCF") Convention being held in Orlando, Florida from February 14-17, 2014.

The crypsis lighting system allows users to move LED sources by hand to various locations without the need of wires or batteries.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Power Photon announced the release of a Direct Evaporative Cooled-40W omni-directional LED Light Bulb. The company claims this is the best bulb cooling solution on the market. 

Brilliant Radiance Panel (BRP), Chi Lin Optoelectronics new generation of lighting product based on light guide technology, is not only used as traditional lighting, but also provided with special one-direction transparency when illuminating the panel. BRP replaces normal glass in office and house for the function of decoration and compartment, so it can be widely used in ambient lighting, interior decoration, business space, advertising panel, and building material.

EASLITE INDUSTRY CO., LTD is a LED manufacturer in Taiwan. The company was founded in October 2010, with headquarters in Taipei, Taiwan. The company has experts from different fields including plastic aluminum heat sink molding technology, lens, IC design, PCB design, lighting electrical engineer.

LEDinside team would like to wish all a Happy Valentine’s Day and a merry Lantern Festival. This week more exciting Apple rumors, LEDinside Senior Editor Pinchun Chou latest scoop points to iPhone 6 specs becoming thinner, lighter and wider screened. In addition, the LED specs for the phones will be upgraded as a result of the much slimmer designs. 

As countries kick off incandescent bulb phase out policies, soaring LED lighting demands has attracted market attention. Credit Suisse latest report is optimistic that the LED industry will enter another expansion phase in 2014. In addition, LED stocks will also be on the rise this year. 

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.