LED manufacturers have consecutively released their November financial reports.Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar revenue has been driven by increased shipment demands for  AlInGaP and backlight products and LED chip manufacturer Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI) also showed good revenue performance in November benefiting from flip chip products.

Roshow Technology has released an abnormal stock price announcement after experiencing three days of inflation on stock prices surpassing 25 percent. The listed company does not manufacturer sapphire substrate. It expressed that rumors on the Internet claiming the company has invested a total of RMB 1.1 billion (US$?) to produce 4 million LED sapphire substrate pcs annually is false.

As part of cutting energy waste and doubling energy productivity by 2030, the Energy Department today announced nearly $10 million to support research, development, and manufacturing of solid-state lighting (SSL) technologies across the country. This funding will help accelerate the development of high-quality light-emitting diode (LED) and organic light-emitting diode (OLED) products with the potential to reduce lighting energy use for American families and businesses by one half and enhance U.S. global competitiveness.

America will conclude its three-year farewell to inefficient general-purpose incandescent light bulbs on December 31, 2013, the National Lighting Bureau advises.

Merck and LG Display have entered into discussion regarding the possibilty to jointly develop a printing method for the production of organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, according The Korean Times.

Eight city corporations in Bangladesh will be replacing fluorescent and sodium street lights to energy saving LED lights, according to local newspaper The Daily Star. The replacement to LED is estimated to save the province 10 megawatts (MWs) of electricity per day. In other words, additional 5,000 households can be powered every day as the lights consume less than 30 to 40 percent energy than existing lights.

Continuing with its focus on providing the best of innovation and technology, India’s leading electrical solutions manufacturer – Anchor Electricals Pvt. Ltd (A Panasonic Group Company), today opened its first state-of-the-art LED lighting showroom in Mumbai. This showroom gives consumers a ‘see, touch and feel’ experience of a diverse range of world-class home decorative lighting concepts and functions. The company will focus on residential lighting.

An ideal gift for skateboarders this Christmas might be additional LED light equipment from Third Kind. The lights come in a package with all the hardware into a kit that can be mounted in minutes, according to a Gizmag article. The package comes with a rechargeable battery pack mounts via the truck hardware, indicating skateboarders will not have to modify the board or worry about the pack from falling off. The skateboard light strips comes in a size of 51 cm (20-inches) and is stuck on the board like a sticker.

Taiwan LED secondary optical lens manufacturer LedLink consolidated revenue for November reached NT $108 million (US $3.7 million), monthly growth of 12.62 from October and up 34.14 percent from November last year. December revenue is expected to decline due to effects from stock checking.

Inspired by a classic holiday poem, “Twas the Night Before Christmas,” this year’s National Christmas Tree on display in front of the White House will feature GE’s new, energy smart® Sugar Plum light-emitting diode (LED) holiday lighting.

Larson Electronics has revealed their new low profile LED lighting fixture for hazardous locations. The HAL-24-16W-LED-1227 is designed to provide a high output and ruggedly durable hazardous area lighting solution for applications where Class 1 Division 2 compliance is required.

Hubbell Lighting announced its latest energy-saving dimming controls solution—Hubbell Building Automation's new CX Dimming Option Card. Now, any of Hubbell Building Automation's popular, low-cost CX Lighting Control Panels are fully dimmable.

With 4Q coming to a close, this week has seen a substantial number of companies releasing their financial reports. Financial firms, such as UBS, have also released market forecasts for 2014.

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Edison Opto consolidated revenue for November reached NT $213 million (US $7.2 million), a monthly decrease of 2.23 percent but yearly growth of 32.2 percent. With the year drawing to a close, clients are observing the market before ordering. December revenue is forecasted to remain level.

Taiwan LED package manufacturer Unity Opto Technology (Uni) November consolidated revenue reached NT $530 million (US $18 million), a 27.93 percent slide from last November. However, revenue for November remained consistent with last month showing unusually good performance for a typically slack season. 

Sapphire substrate application has come a long way from the original usage in military applications in the 1960's. This year alone has seen some major shifts in application with Apple's new integration of sapphire substrate into smartphone design. While LEDs and general lighting continue to make up a major chunk of sapphire substrate market share, 

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Lextar’s November revenue reached NT $1.17 (US $39 million), growth of 10.1 percent from October and 49.5 percent from November last year. The company’s accumulated revenue from Jan.-Nov. was NT $12.64 billion.

Sapphire substrates have been around for a very long time. First chemically synthesized by French chemist Auguste Verneuil in 1909, sapphire has developed from fake jewelry in 1940s, SOS applications in 1960s, to military applications in late 1960s, according to a paper by Daniel Harris, Naval Air Systems Command, China Lake, California. U.S. and Russian manufacturers dominated military application fields before Asian manufacturers found their golden opportunity in LED applications. 

Before 2012, the largest market for sapphire substrate applications was LED and the entry of many players led to an oversupply situation, with most manufacturers still suffering from losses, according to LEDinside analysts. Sapphire substrate prices remained low over the last two years due to this oversupply situation, according to a LEDinside report published in May 2013. Over the last few months, though, developments in the industry especially in the non-LED application field have shown a likely price rebound in 2014.

The LED and sapphire substrate industry has a very close relationship. Through the use of industrial equipment, crystals are grown from raw materials which are then grinded into crystal bars. These bars are then sliced into sapphire substrate wafers. The majority of which are supplied to LED production. Due to the hardness and suitable structure of sapphire substrate for LED applications, the two have long been used in combination. 

Cree, Inc. is building on the industry’s most versatile LED street light portfolio with the LEDway® High Output (HO) LED street light. With its higher lumen output, the new LEDway HO LED street light enables the LEDway Series to address large multi-lane freeways and expressway applications, easily replacing inefficient High Pressure Sodium (HPS) lighting up to 400W from a single platform. The Cree® LEDway HO LED street light provides highly focused, directional light at nine adjustable lumen output levels, reducing energy consumption by more than 50 percent compared to outdated HPS street lights in most roadway applications.

PHI Group, Inc. announced that the Company has signed a business cooperation and investment agreement in conjunction with a letter of intent to acquire a 65% equity interest in Nord Energy Co. Ltd. ("NE"), a Vietnam-based company with proprietary advanced light-emitting diode (LED) lighting systems that can save 80% of electricity compared to traditional sodium lights.

A daily household object has taken on a new twist thanks to designers Idan Noyberg and Gal Bulka. They have designed a solar powered clothespin called Lightly which includes a small colored LEDs.

Intematix Corporation announced the commercial availability of ChromaLit® Linear, a remote phosphor offering uniform luminance over any length, high flux density and a sleek, white off-state finish. This product received the Lux Award by Lux Magazine for Light Source Innovation of the Year and recognition by the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES) in its Progress Report featuring the most promising new lighting products.

Non-LED sapphire substrate applications have remained off manufacturers radar for a while. Even in 2013, the sapphire substrate industry is dominated by LED applications, while non-LED remains relatively small with around 36% market share, according to LEDinside’s latest sapphire substrate report. However, a consistent trend in 2013 has been the rise of smartphone sapphire substrate applications mostly leads by Apple’s introduction of sapphire substrate into iPhone 5 and iPhone 5S. But what about other applications?

Sapphire substrate application has come a long way from the original usage in military applications in the 1960’s. This year alone has seen some major shifts in application with Apple’s new integration of sapphire substrate into smartphone design. While LEDs and general lighting continue to make up a major chunk of sapphire substrate market share, non-LED application usage has had a dramatic increase this year. Increasing penetration rates for LEDs and rise in non-LED applications, the next few years look bright for sapphire substrate market growth. 

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. announced plans to offer $125,000,000 aggregate principal amount of convertible senior notes due 2020 (the "Notes") and 12,000,000 shares of its common stock ("Common Stock") in concurrent underwritten registered public offerings (collectively, the "Offerings"). In addition, the Company expects to grant the underwriters a 30-day option to purchase up to an additional $18,750,000 aggregate principal amount of Notes and 1,800,000 shares of Common Stock from the Company, respectively. The Offerings are subject to market and other conditions.

When NC State sought a lighting solution for Wolf Ridge at Centennial, the university’s first residence hall planned for LEED Silver certification, they chose industry-leading LED lighting from Cree, Inc. to help the building achieve the rigorous certification and significantly reduce energy and maintenance costs. Luminaires installed in two of the project’s six buildings are already delivering positive results. Powered by Cree TrueWhite® Technology, the luminaires deliver the industry’s best color quality, creating more inviting and better lit environments for student residents while significantly reducing the school’s operational expenses compared to outdated lighting technologies.

Finnish photographer has been creating spooky images with light for four years, ever since he accidently discovered the medium. Janne Parviainen uses only a camera and a child’s LED torch to create his uniquely creepy photographs.

Plessey announced today availability of its next generation GaN-on-Silicon mid-power LEDs. The product family doubles the efficacy of Plessey’s first generation MAGIC™ (Manufactured on GaN-on-Si I/C) products released in February 2013. Using standard silicon semiconductor production techniques, Plessey is able to achieve high flux output LED products at substantially lower cost. The PLW114050 is the first in a family of entry level LED lighting products that will be released.