Smartphones are driving up demands for flash LED. Aside from Philips Lumileds, Cree, Osram and other leading global manufacturers in the flash market, Taiwanese and Korean manufacturers are also entering the market. Samsung plans to switchits flash LED package specs from 4139 to 2016. Following various manufacturers  production launch, industry insiders estimate larger price cuts for flash LEDs in 1Q14.

Taiwan package manufacturer Harvatek reported a turnaround in 3Q13 after seven straight quarters of loss. Benefiting from an increase of 50 to60 percent in production capacity utilization rate in 3Q as well as investments of NT $22.39 million (US $758 thousand) in 3Q, revenue reached NT $1.24 billion, a quarterly growth of 9.86 percent.

Taiwanese LED packager Edison Opto’s  3Q13 financial results showed the company’s consolidated revenue reached NT$ 826 million (US$ 27.99 million) and underwent a Year-on-Year (YoY) growth rate of 44.89 percent and Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) of 1.6 percent. Under market cutthroat price competition in 2Q, consolidated profit margin was up 7.7 percent compared to 2Q13 to 19.97 percent.

Building owners and operators are becoming increasingly aware of the impact lighting can have on energy costs and the way it can contribute to savings. But the best lighting technology for each application must first be identified before maximum savings can be achieved.

Built in honor of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Center (SZGMC), or “Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan Mosque,” is an extraordinary building that attaches special symbolic importance to light. With a grandiose structure in traditional Islamic style, it offers a sublime ambience all day long.

The advancements made in chip architecture and phosphor technology are the key ingredients to the performance enhancement of the new high-power LED Z5-M1 series.The efficacy enhancements in the new Z5-M1 series not only ensure a reduction in luminaire development costs incurred by Seoul Semiconductor customers, but also enable the best possible color over angle homogeneity with the new phosphor coating technology

Konica Minolta Sensing Americas, Inc. (KMSA), the worldwide leader in the industrial measurement of color and light, is continuing to build on its industry-leading position in light and display measurement technology by exploring new business opportunities and gaining entry into new markets with the newly acquired Instrument Systems GmbH (IS) product line. Beginning third quarter 2013, the company gained exclusive distribution rights to Instrument Systems product portfolio in North America and Canada following the acquisition by Konica Minolta Optics, Inc. (KMOP).

To help Filipinos devastated by Typhoon Haiyan, Watts of Love has launched an emergency disaster relief campaign to deliver as many as 10,000 solar LED lanterns to the Philippines. A donation of $40 will cover the cost of one disaster relief light and power kit with a built-in cell phone charger and radio charger.

Ultra-modern LED projection technology: Once behind the wheel, the Opel Monza Concept whisks you away into a completely new and unique world of instruments and infotainment with a wide, sculpted multi-function panel that sweeps from door to door.

The Empire State Building towers will light purple today in honor of the third annual World Prematurity Day. Parent groups and organizations worldwide are joining together to raise awareness of the serious problem of premature birth. An estimated 15 million babies around the world are born too soon every year, including nearly half a million in the United States. Learn more about what you can do to help, and send your family and friends a “virtual hug” to show you care about premature babies at facebook.com/WorldPrematurityDay. Special thanks to the Empire State Building for supporting 2013 World Prematurity Day.

SmarteXite enables solutions for digital dimming, wireless control and sensor control while supporting unprecedented time to market, optimised LED bulb quality and production yields

Royal Philips shared its new brand positioning, which builds on the company’s heritage of creating innovations that matter to people. As part of its new positioning Philips introduced the new brand line “innovation and you”, which is rooted in Philips’ strong belief that innovation is only meaningful if it delivers on people’s unmet needs and desires. At the same time the company presented a new design of its well-known shield on the façade of the company’s headquarters in Amsterdam.

Why should we pay attention to OLEDs? Rumors this week pointed Apple plans to make iPhone 6 an OLED phone. With the company’s previous trend setting records, it might be creating a window of opportunity for OLED displays to go mainstream. More Apple news, TechCrunch gives an in depth analysis on the company’s recent hefty sapphire substrate investments in GT Advanced Technologies and technology behind it to keep sapphire substrate costs low. LEDinside has also released its new price reports this week. Please see below for more:

Embattled Taiwanese LED packager Everlight and Japanese manufacturer Nichia both published press releases on Nov. 6, 2013 regarding their latest YAG patent dispute in China. The two companies ongoing patent wars has rekindled LED industry interests on patent issues. Aside from potential patent disputes from Nichia, Taiwanese manufacturers should also pay attention to Philips patent alliance formation, said Hsieh Chia-fen, Engineer for Electronics and Optoelectronics Technologies at Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). 

Shenzhen Refond Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. announced on November 13th that the Refond joint venture proposal with TCL and Yu Star Enterprise was passed during the second annual board of directors 5th deliberation meeting held on July 16th, 2013.

Taiwan package manufacturer Everlight released their 3Q financial data on November 13th 2013. Benefitting from street light recognized bids and recognized revenue from German subsidiary, the company’s 3Q revenue reached NT $6.99 billion (US $ 236 million), growth of 17.74 percent from 2Q. Gross profit reached NT $486 million, an increase of 21.23 percent from Q2. Earnings per share was NT$ 1.18 for 3Q13.

Although, mid and large sized LED backlight market was affected by the economic downturn, LED prices for backlight applications overall declined stably at 3-6% in 4Q13, according to LEDinside’s 4Q13 LED price trend report. LED prices for lighting applications also maintained a slow downward slide. The extent of price falls varied among different product specs. 

Cheil Industries, a Samsung Group company specializing in textiles, will invest up to 1.8 trillion won (US $1.7 billion) for the next three years in high value-added electronic and chemical materials. The company said this on November 7 in a regulatory filing. The areas it will focus on include OLED (organic light-emitting diode), rechargeable battery separators, and polarized film.

Two more interface specifications for LED light engines have been published by the Zhaga Consortium. Zhaga is an international organization that is enabling the interchangeability of LED light sources made by different manufacturers.

The EU’s GLADIATOR project (FP7 grant agreement number 604000) began on 1st November 2013 and will finish in April 2017 after 42 months. GLADIATOR seeks to improve the quality and size of CVD graphene sheets, and to reduce their production costs, in order to make the use of graphene more attractive e.g. in applications such as transparent electrodes for large area organic electronics. According to analysis by OLED-info, the new technology developed will be demonstrated in the production of large flexible OLEDs. 

The Eindhoven region will receive the first innovative bicycle path in the Netherlands. The 600 meters long bicycle path runs where Vincent van Gogh lived from 1883 to 1885 and will have a unique design comprising thousands of sparkling stones designed by artist Daan Roosegaarde. The bicycle path will be designed by Studio Roosegaarde and Heijmans and is part of a joint venture between the municipality of Eindhoven, Van Gogh Brabant, Vrijetijdshuis Brabant, Eindhoven 365 and Routebureau Brabant.

EarthTronics announced that its Energy Star rated 23 watt LED Recessed Fixture Retrofit kit,  13 watt BR30 floodlight, and 13 watt A19 omni-directional LED light bulb exceed the voluntary California Quality Light Emitting Diode (LED) Lamp Specification issued by the California Energy Commission (CEC) for LED lamps used in residential applications. This new specification, commonly referred to as “CEC” or “California Quality Spec,” has set a LED lamp performance baseline for utilities to consider that is more stringent than Energy Star.

The USS Missouri has signed an agreement with Axis LED Lighting to retrofit the museum battleship with state of the art LED lighting and has retained the consultant firm Allana Buick & Bers to assist them in the overall energy retrofit. LED Lighting will greatly reduce the energy needed to light the historic site. Axis LEDs reduce energy consumption by up to 70%, last three times longer than conventional lighting and generate virtually no heat when compared to conventional lighting. 

ADVS-technologies is pleased to file the patent application, and to begin development of the intelligent ParallelView™ LED illuminated MagicLight™ products, which are configurable for a variety of applications, providing the most pleasant general lighting environment for the users.

Banner Engineering introduces new WLC90 and WLC60 Heavy-Duty LED Lights. Designed to withstand high-pressure washdown and exposure to oils and coolants, Banner’s heavy-duty LED lights are ideal for diverse harsh environments, including food and beverage processing, machining centers and general industrial automation.

Chinese display manufacturer BOE Technology Corp. (BOE) has released their 3Q13 financial report. Gross revenue for July-Sept. 2013 reached RMB 8.52 billion (US $1.4 billion) with a gross profit margin at RMB 499 million, doubling from last year. Furthermore, the company has profited for four straight quarters.

Korean manufacturers are still planning to increase direct-type LED TV shipment volumes, according to LEDinside, a research subsidiary of global research institute TrendForce. In addition, as Chinese Lunar New Year approaches in January, most LED manufacturers are working hard to release higher Price/Performance (P/P) products in 2014. In face of fierce competition and conventionally low season in 2014, companies are developing new flip chip LED and EMC package technologies to increase their competitiveness.

Solid-state lighting based on light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is the most efficient source of high color quality white light. Nevertheless, they show significant performance limitations such as the "efficiency droop". Blue laser diodes operated in stimulated emission offer a potential alternative.

Wireless micro-LED devices are allowing researchers to use optogenetics to uncover information about molecular and cellular events in the brain that underlie stress, addiction and depression.

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced that the Guangdong Redsolar Photovoltaic Tech Co., Ltd (Redsolar), a leading producer of concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar cells in China, has purchased multiple TurboDisc® K475™ As/P MOCVD (metal organic chemical vapor deposition) Systems. The TurboDisc K475 MOCVD tool is a fully integrated deposition system that creates high quality compound semiconductor layers for CPV devices.