Toshiba Electronics Europe (TEE) has announced two new integrated constant current LED drivers that provide high accuracy and fast response time in a small SSOP package. These eight-channel devices reduce component count and board space requirements in applications that use displays with multiple LEDs.

ElectroniCast Consultants, a market & technology forecast consultancy, announced the results of their study of the global market consumption of packaged LEDs used in selected Test/Measurement & Medical Science Devices.

C. Crane, a pioneer in direct-replacement LED light bulbs, is now shipping the new GeoBulb® MR16 LED Light Bulb. The GeoBulb® MR16 runs on just 3 Watts and can be used as a direct replacement for a 20-Watt halogen bulb. C. Crane estimates that, over five years, for each standard 20 Watt MR16 bulb a business replaces with a GeoBulb® MR16, they could save about $200.00* in bulb replacement and electrical costs. GeoBulb® MR16 bulbs have standard bi-pin bases and should require no retrofitting of any kind.

After acquiring LCD maker Chi Mei Opto electronics (CMO), the Hon Hai Group is said to make LED business its next consolidation target in light of rising substitution of LEDs for cold cathode fluorescent lamps as backlights in many LCD applications including laptops.

Recently, The US Department of Energy (DOE) has issued a Gateway report on LED freezer-case lighting in Eugene, Oregon, as well as the summary report of round 9 of CALiPER testing.  DOE has published the final report from a demonstration retrofit of LED freezer-case lighting in an Albertsons Grocery store in Eugene, Oregon. This Gateway demonstration report provides an overview of project results including lighting performance, economic performance, and potential energy savings.

Recently, Silicon foundry giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Ltd. (TSMC) has taken a big step in the LED arena. TSMC is looking at the energy sector for good reason. On Tuesday (Nov. 10), TSMC has approved capital appropriations of $46 million to set up a production line and product development lab for solid state lighting. This implies that it is looking at LED production. It is unclear if TSMC (Hsinchu) will devise LEDs on a foundry basis. The company did not elaborate on its intentions.

It’s reported that Osram Opto Semiconductors has apparently conducting R&D on the growth GaN-based LEDs on large-diameter silicon substrates, using technology developed by Azzurro Semiconductors. The agreement was signed a year ago, and the transfer of the GaN-on-Si process technology is exclusive to Osram Opto Semiconductors until November 7, 2010. Outside the Osram agreement, Azzurro is able to license its technology to other parties, and continues to supply GaN-on-Si epiwafers to other customers.

Larson Electronics' magnalight.com added several new LED lights, including the LEDSM-3X60 and the LEDSM-1X60 mounts for flat and tubular mounting of small LED lights. The LEDSM-3X60 LED light consists of three 250 lumen watertight, potted LED lights encased in an machined aluminum billet housing. The LEDSM-1X60 LED light is similar in construction with only a single water tight LED capsule. The individual LED pods contain 15 LEDs and are fully potted. Each LED has a red and black lead for 12 or 24 volt power.

Nanometrics Incorporated, a supplier of advanced process control metrology systems used primarily in the manufacturing and packaging of semiconductors, solar photovoltaics and high-brightness LEDs, today announced multiple orders from new and existing HB-LED customers for RPMBlue™ and IVS185™ metrology systems, which will be used for photoluminescence (PL) mapping and critical dimension and overlay control, respectively. These systems are scheduled to be delivered and qualified in the fourth quarter of this year.

EcoTek Lighting has installed high performance, energy efficient indoor light boxes with Direct Backlit LED Array technology for Lee® Jeans at the company’s Crossings Premium Outlet Store in Tannersville, PA. Three 36” x 72” vertical backlit LED light boxes are paneled together to form one 108” x 72” spectacular light box display behind the store cash wrap counter.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published the final report from a demonstration retrofit of light-emitting diode (LED) freezer case lighting in an Albertsons Grocery store in Eugene, Oregon. This GATEWAY demonstration report provides an overview of project results including lighting performance, economic performance, and potential energy savings. In this project, upright freezer cases were retrofitted with LED striplights combined with occupancy sensors, and compared against standard fluorescent lighting on the opposite side of the aisle. Key findings include:

The diversified technology company 3M is including OSRAM Opto Semiconductors’ LEDs in its new micro projectors, which can be connected to mobile phones and cameras. The small, bright, energy-saving diodes are the key to developing micro projectors, which could not be implemented with other light sources. They make screen sizes of more than a metre possible.

QD Vision's green-tech Quantum Light™ technology platform lit up President Obama’s recent tour of laboratories at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where low-power, long-life Array™ Lighting LED lamps from Nexxus Lighting, Inc. are utilizing breakthroughs in quantum dot technology from QD Vision, Inc. to emit high-quality warm LED light.

Orders of MOCVD equipment from China LED makers are significantly large. Many of them place their orders with ten as their least procurement unit, says John R Peeler, Veeco’s CEO, at the opening ceremony of its Shanghai office. Veeco has already sold 85 units of MOCVD equipment in China, and the figure is expected to 100 soon.

Superior Lighting announced the launch of several innovative new Compact Fluorescent Bulbs and LED lamps from TCP. These new products further enhance Superior Lighting’s already comprehensive online line-up of energy efficient bulbs.

LED industry research institute indicated that Taiwan listed LED manufactures’ October revenues reached NT$6.974 bn in total, up 0.7% MoM and 23% YoY growth - of which, LED chip makers’ total revenue in October added 7.3% MoM to NT$ 3.151 bn, while LED packagers posted a 7.3% MoM decline to NT$ 3.823 bn.

2010 World Expo will be held from 1 May to 31 October next year in Shanghai, China. Sun Valley is one of a six giant funnel-shaped canopies that are currently springing up in preparation for the event. Not just a pretty sight, the LED towers will also collect rain water and act as massive sun collectors that filter daylight to the causeway and levels below.

Renaissance Lighting, an innovator in the development of LED downlight fixtures, introduced its new solía™ brand high-efficiency all-white solid-state downlighting at the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Phoenix, AZ.  

Daktronics Inc. in conjunction with the Orlando Magic and the City of Orlando, announced yesterday that it will provide an integrated scoring, video and advertising display system for the new Amway Center scheduled to open in Orlando in the fall of 2010. Installation of the first displays of the multi-million dollar system will begin in early 2010.

Neo-Neon Holdings Ltd. will spend around US$30 million to open an LED chip production facility in Yangzhou, China, according to an article on Taiwan Economic News.

AIXTRON AG announced that a further AIX 200/4 RF-S MOCVD system has been installed and successfully started operation at Tokuyama R&D center in Tsukuba, Japan. The reactor has already been shipped in the fourth quarter of 2008 and is being used by Tokuyama for the development of AlGaN-based ultra-violet light emitting diodes (UV-LEDs).

Nichia Corporation recently announced that it filed a lawsuit against Shenzhen Jiawei Industries Co. Ltd., a Chinese corporation, Jiawei Technology (HK) Ltd., a Hong Kong corporation, and Jiawei North America Inc., a Canadian corporation, in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, alleging the defendants infringe patents held by Nichia. In the lawsuit Nichia seeks an injunction and damages against the alleged infringement.

LEDnovation, Inc. introduces a new LED lighting product, the white A19 LED bulb for the North American Market, and the company claims the bulb is with the world’s highest efficiency state-of-the-art design.

SemiLEDs Corporation, a Taiwan-based LED chip manufacturer, today announces the establishment of its new state of the art fabrication facility in Foshan, China. The brand new, state-of-the art facility will produce LED wafers and high power LED chips using SemiLEDs’ patented vertical LED on metal technology. The development for SemiLEDs new facility will be in three stages with the initial stage, seeing an investment of USD $96 million, set to be ready for full scale production by October, 2010.

Applied LED lighting technology specialist Dialight Plc. today announced that an agreement has been signed with a second major US telecom tower operator, for its LED white strobe technology. The commitment from the operator is to use Dialight’s unique LED technology for all new towers, all light replacements and repairs. Initial shipments have already commenced and the agreement will continue through at least the end of 2010.

Cree Inc., a leading provider of LED lighting, will double its chip production capacity next year to meet strong worldwide growth, the China Daily reports, citing a top executive of the company. The company Monday (Nov.9) signed an agreement with the local government of Huizhou in China, to build the world's largest manufacturing plant, with a floor area of 55,000 sqm, for LED chips. The company would further expand production capacity depending on market performance, said Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO.

LED fixture manufacturer Sunovia Energy Technologies, Inc. announced that it formed a partnership with Solar Electric Power Co., a maker of solar electric lighting, to provide outdoor lighting that uses no electricity. The companies expect to produce thousands of solar-powered LED lighting fixtures under the new agreement.

Brillia(TM), a provider of LED light engines, announces a new line of LED modules for luminaires utilizing Thermadjust(TM) technology. Thermadjust is a revolutionary new concept for LED modules that further enhances the usability of LED technology for general illumination.

Veeco, a leading LED equipment provider, hosted a grand ceremony to celebrate the opening of its new Shanghai office on November 5th. Major upstream LED companies, including Taiwan’s Formosa Epitaxy Inc., HUGA Optotech Inc., Genesis Photonics Inc., GaN Epi, Inc., Crystal Applied Technology Inc., and mainland China-based SANAN Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., Epilight Technology Co., Ltd., Huaguang Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., Shenzhen Century Epitech LEDs Co., Ltd. and Dalian Luminglight Co., Ltd. all attended the ceremony.

Backlighting and general illumination are two major application fields of LEDs, with the former already adopted by the global leading providers of relevant products, while the latter holds significant business potential, though its development has not reached maturity. LEDinside recently interviewed James Liang, CEO of the lighting specialist, Aeon Lighting Tech (ALT), and invited him to analyze the possible development of the LED lighting market in 2010, based on his expertise in High Power LEDs.