After a year full of strife in 2013, the LED industry has finally seen signs of market rebound. As China gradually establishes national LED standards, leading enterprises have also increased R&D. The LED industry’s oversupply frozen state is gradually being melted away, and the industry is opening up to a new phase of explosive growth, according to a Chinese Business News report.

The possible blue light hazards in LEDs on  the eyes have become a hot global topic. The expanding application field for LED lighting has raised consumer awareness towards the possible risks of blue LEDs. In order to clarify the consumers misgivings towards LED lighting products, the China National Lighting Fitting Quality Supervision Testing Center (CLTC) has released a report addressing the dangers of blue lights in LEDs. The CLTC advises that single LED package components with 1W power must strengthen structural protection measures and that color temperature for indoor lighting must not surpass 4000K.

Spurred by LED lighting and mobile device market demands, sapphire substrate manufacturers have been actively expanding their production capacity, according to TrendForce subsidiary LEDinside’s “Global Sapphire Substrate Market 2013” research report. The top five sapphire ingot manufacturers for instance, have seen 2-inch equiv. sapphire substrate monthly production capacity grow by 75% to 7800Kmm compared to 2012.

For LED outdoor display manufacturers in the lower rung of the industry competitiveness will be supported by three cores: their ability to obtain resources, innovative technology and creative strategy. The extent of control and balance over these three resources will decide whether they will have the ability to construct competitive technological barriers, according to a report by Chinese-language online media CIEN.

On November 22, 2013, Nichia Corporation filed an amended complaint in its on-going patent infringement lawsuit against Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. and Everlight’s U.S. subsidiary Everlight Americas, Inc. (collectively “Everlight”), originally filed on September 11, 2013, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) thanks all who participated in the eighth annual Solid-State Lighting Market Introduction Workshop, held November 12–14 in Portland, Oregon. More than 200 attendees gathered to share the latest updates and strategies for successful market introduction of high-quality, energy-efficient SSL solutions.

Guam Senator Thomas Ada, who belongs to the U.S. ruling Democrat party, has proposed a new bill to establish the Guam Streetlight Financing Authority to fund the island’s replacement of some 15,000 incandescent streetlights to LED, according to an article by Pacific News Center. Ada’s stated the obtainment of US$ 16 million funding would be required to replace the island streetlights. Below is the senator office’s press release posted on Pacific News Center website: 

Peter Bauer (53) is the new Chairman of the Supervisory Board of OSRAM Licht AG and OSRAM GmbH. He is taking over both offices from Siegfried Russwurm (50), who stepped down from the committees at the end of the day on November 26, 2013. Roland Busch (49) will take his place as a member of the Supervisory Board of both entities. He was in each case elected additional Deputy Chairman by the Supervisory Board. Osram had stated in its prospectus in June 2013 that Mr. Russwurm planned to step down from his Osram mandates before the end of the calendar year 2013.

Photometric Testing has increased its laboratory and workshop space four-fold over their old facility and installed a second goniophotometer which means that that they now have the added capacity to handle everything from a one-off test right up to the photometry of a complete catalogue of products.

Australian man takes Christmas light decorations to the extreme, breaking the world record with other half a million LED Christmas lights strung around his property, according to Digital Trends.

With the keen competition of LED market, products of different qualities have flooded the industry. Every manufacturer states that the lifespan of their products can up to tens of thousands of hours and their efficacy is extremely high. But without specification, the real performance of those products is doubtful. In view of this phenomenon, California Energy Commission (CEC) developed the quality LED lamp specification in 2012. 

Ledzworld announced its latest version of MR16 Platinum has, like its predecessor, obtained Energy Star certification.

NTL Lemnis, the LED Lighting solutions company, launches a wide range of LED lighting products under the “Pharox” brand especially for the Retail sector. NTL Lemnis has created three special categories of products for the Retail industry – Down Lights, Track lights and Spot Lights. 

Designed and built by University of St Joseph (Macau) third- and fourth-year architecture students, Pulse Bamboo Pavilion was on display at Plaza Sai Van, adjacent to Macau Tower, from 1-10 June 2013. Led by two guest professors, the students choose Traxon’s Dot XL-9 system to create an astonishing lighting effect at night.

With continual falls in large sized backlight LED TV prices, penetration rates for direct-view type LED TV (aka Chubby TV) is expected to grow in 2014. EMC lead frame drivers have advantages in 1-3W power range, and is expected to lead the mid to high power market. It is also the most commonly used LED chip in direct-view type LED TV. However, with improvements in PCT lead frame driver power output to 1-1.2W, manufacturers are also launching PCT products for direct-view type LED backlight TV. 

The industry is focusing its attention on LED lighting market growth performance in 2014. The demand for LED lighting will surpass that of LED backlight during the beginning of 2014, according to a recent report by J.P. Morgan. The dispersed LED lighting market is rewriting market game rules. LED manufacturers are hoping to overcome consumer congestion which led to limited bargaining space. With the arrival of a new era in LED lighting, manufacturers hope to enjoy more stable gross profit performance and larger space for price negotiations. 

Currently 80 percent of sapphire applications are used in sapphire substrate while the other 20 percent is for non-substrate materials, according to Chinese-language online media Finance.com.cn estimations. Sapphire that is used in substrate is mainly applied in LED lighting and Si On Sapphire (SOS) related products, with LED lighting accounting  for over 90 percent. Therefore demands from LED lighting directly affect sapphire substrate and is the market’s main focus. 

On November 22, 2013, Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) filed an amended complaint in its on-going patent infringement lawsuit against Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. and Everlight’s U.S. subsidiary Everlight Americas, Inc. (collectively “Everlight”), originally filed on September 11, 2013, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.

Providing quality illumination through a sophisticated LED lighting system, the Evolve™ LED Canopy Light is ideal for outdoor lighting that must hold up in hot summer days and cold rainy nights. The new GE Lighting fixture meets illumination requirements for such under-canopy applications as gas stations and convenience stores.

Goldee today revealed the Goldee Light Controller – a reinvention of the light switch that redefines how people interact with light. Goldee translates information from your surroundings into smart functions that respond to your lighting needs. Today starts the crowd- funding campaign during which customers can pre-order Goldee for an exclusive price of US$ 249 directly at getgoldee.com.

Using an LED lighting solution from Lumenpulse, the Kennedy Space Center has become the first museum to display a space shuttle in full flight mode. Suspending the space shuttle Atlantis 30 feet in the air, the museum's new exhibit uses advanced lighting techniques to reveal the orbiter as it would appear in space.

FZLED is pleased to release the latest collection in T8 series LED Tube: T8-05L LED Tube Lights. It uses SMD LED and offers 10, 18 and 20 watt in two feet (58 and 60cm) and four feet long (120cm). It is direct replacement for traditional T8 tubes and fits standard G13 sockets with an AC voltage range of 100-240V. 

Shenzhen, China - AOTO (China A- Share: 002587) is proud to announce that its self-developed indoor high-definition LED display system was unveiled at the Macau International Airport before the Middle Autumn Festival.  

The 20th Cross Strait Conference on Lighting Technology and Marketing organized by Taiwan Lighting Fixture Export Association (TLFEA) and China Illuminating Engineering Society (CIES) was held in Taipei, Taiwan on November 26th and 27th . On the afternoon of 26th Nov., the conference was divided into two chambers to discuss lighting technology and lighting application respectively. Most of the designers shared one common idea on lighting application and design issues: less is more.

Following LED automotive lighting already having become a new standard in automotive accessories, high luminosity LEDs have expanded their application in the automotive lighting market. With the constant increase in capabilities of LED lighting, LED headlight demands are also continuing to rise. New facets are opening up propelling the market forward.

Honglitronic’s LED packaged products, mostly used in lighting applications, are being produced at 750KK to 800KK per month, said a member from the company’s Securities Department. Those in the industry believe the LED manufacturer’s profits will surface at the end of 2014.

The LED market for 2014 will see continued growth for the general lighting market and supply shortage of LED chips due to increasing demands from the LED lighting market, according to a recent report from UBS. In the report, the financial service company provides their outlook for Everlight and Epistar 2014 operation performance.

Automotive lighting has evolved from just merely lighting up the road ahead to beautiful interior decoration. As seen at the 2013 Frankfurt Motor Show in September, automotive lighting applications are evolving. LEDinside’s car lighting specialist Duff Lu shares insights on lighting trends in this article.

Universal Display Corporation, enabling energy-efficient displays and lighting with its UniversalPHOLED® technology and materials, today announced a collaboration and evaluation agreement with Philips Technologie GmbH, Business Center OLED Lighting. Under this agreement, Universal Display will begin supplying Philips with its highly efficient phosphorescent OLED (PHOLED) materials for solid-state lighting applications.

Efore’s recent acquisition, Italian-based ROAL Electronics is launching a new, higher power Intelligent LED Driver series. First introductions were at the Strategies in Light, in Munich and at Luxlive, in London last week.