A riot of color in a compact package - Smallest multicolour LED extends OSRAM product portfolio

NeoPac Opto launches NeoPac Universal Platform (NUP) and Standard Solid-State Light Sources for accelerating adoption of LEDs for illumination applications

Luminus Devices, Inc. announced the introduction of the CSM-360-W PhlatLight LED, the newest in a series of white LEDs designed specifically for general lighting applications. Luminus said the CSM-360-W combines the benefits of large monolithic chips in a multi-chip configuration to deliver a Chip-on-Board LED package capable of delivering 6,000 lumens.

Avnet Electronics Marketing China, part of the global technology distributor, Avnet, Inc., turned the spotlight on energy efficient, high brightness (HB) LEDs at the "Symposium on Sustainability Driven Innovative Technologies" implemented by the Hong Kong Productivity Council.

Opto Tech Corp., a Taiwanese LED provider, has successfully outbid its counterparts to supply large-sized LED display screens for China Pavilion of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, according to the company.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) recently funded LED lighting maker Liquidleds Lighting Corp. NT$26 million (US$764,700) through its venture capital fund VTFA and has acquired 11% stake in the LED provider. The investment is considered as part of its plan to develop strong presence in green technology field. Liquidleds was co-founded in 2005 by a former iD SoftCapital Group executive. The company reportedly has introduced the first AC LED bulb in the industry.  In LED filed, TSMC has invested in epitaxy-wafer maker BridgeLux of the U.S.

Micron Technology is requesting for $20 million stimulus fund through the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to help the company expand into the LED industry and create new jobs in Idaho. LEDs (Light-emitting diodes), which use one-seventh as much energy as conventional lighting and can last much longer, can be used in lamps and fixtures, municipal streetlights and outdoor lighting such as street lamps, traffic signals and auto lights.

The top three global LED vendors, Nichia, Osram and Lumileds/Philips, are threatened by the fast growing Korean and Taiwanese companies, as competition in the global LED market becomes tougher, according to a market research firm.

Advanced Analogic Technologies, Inc., a developer of power management integrated circuits, announced yesterday a new set of flash and backlight White LED (WLED) drivers for the highly competitive feature phone market. Offering new efficiencies in power usage in highly compact packages, the AAT3176 flash driver and the AAT3351 white LED driver promise to help handset designers extend battery life and reduce product footprint.

Cree Inc is "cautiously optimistic" that demand for its products will pick up in the coming months, and it could tap the debt markets to help fund its growth, said Cree’s CEO Chuck Swoboda in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday. With no outstanding debt and more than $400 million in cash, Cree is not currently planning a debt issuance, but it would be better to issue debt before the company was in need of cash, said Swoboda.

Seoul Semiconductor announced on May 12 the launch of its 120lm/W high-efficiency, SMD type LED for general lighting. The LCW100Z1 delivers over 120lm/W with an enhanced primary optic including enhanced heat transfer and the metal substrate, according to the company, while the pricing of the LCW100Z1 is comparable to similar-sized Chip LED’s that can tolerate only half of the current.

CAP-XX Limited, developer of the supercapacitor-driven BriteFlash Power Architecture, recently announced availability of supercapacitor-optimized LED flash drivers from several power management integrated circuit (PMIC) companies to facilitate design of high-power LED flash units for high-resolution camera phones and digital cameras.

Savage Marine, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of lighting to the yacht market has halved the energy consumption of its ultra bright interior and exterior downlighters by adopting state of the art 10W LED technology from Marl to replace halogen lights.

Light Emitting Diodes (LED) are being installed in India’s Nagpur to replace incandescent lamps for major traffic signals, as part of the traffic improvement plan of the city.

Carmanah Technologies introduced its next generation of solar-powered LED lights at the LightFair International tradeshow and conference in New York City. As part of a new "General Illumination" (GI) product line, the company featured a range of solar-powered lights for street and parking lot applications, including the new EverGEN 1500, along with a preview of the company's new EverGEN 1700-series design. 

Korean scientists announced Monday they have developed a new kind of highly efficient light emitting diode (LED) that can help develop next-generation displays and computer chips. The research team of Seoul National University said they have perfected a new production method that can produce high-quality green quantum dot LEDs with superior brightness and purity characteristics that are easier to make than existing products. The development was published in the latest edition of "Advanced Materials," and was featured in the April 22 issue of "Asia Materials."

UPEC Electronic Corp., well known for innovative ways of combining design and LED technology, announced an enhanced version of Fish Lamp. LED technology is now regarded as the lighting solution of the future. Its unique characteristics, such as low energy consumption and extreme long-life, make the use of this technology attractive in terms of practical lighting, decoration and the special application as well.  

On Lightfair International 2009, the lighting industry’s annual trade show at the Javits Center in New York last week, LED bulbs and fixtures dominated nearly every booth on the show floor. Though most people think of LEDs as the lights blinking from inside electronic devices, they are being used increasingly to light rooms.

The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) of Hong Kong will spend about HK$270million on green upgrades for Wan Chai's Lee Tung Street and Kwun Tong town center. The green initiative is to encourage developers and the community to adopt more environment-friendly practices, authority chairman Barry Cheung Chun- yuen said Sunday.

BluGlass Limited recently announced that it has signed a term sheet outlining the material, terms and conditions to be encompassed in an Exclusive Sales and Marketing License Agreement with BLK CO., LTD (BLK) of Korea. This term sheet is a significant advancement in the commercialization of BluGlass and marks the first steps towards a full customer agreement.

Samsung LED, a light-emitting diodes (LED) unit of Samsung, the global electronics giant, has set up its first overseas manufacturing base in Tianjin, China. Tianjin Samsung LED Co., Ltd, was established with a starting capital of 30 million U.S. dollars, according to the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (Teda) Administrative Commission. The spokesman Zhang Liang said Saturday that initial investment to the Tianjin manufacturing base would reach 90 million U.S. dollars.

The City Council of San Ramon, U.S. will consider another application for federal economic stimulus money for a $215,600 grant to replace city parking lot lights and street lights with energy efficient LED ones. According to a city staff report, installing the energy efficient lights could reduce city energy costs by 50 percent. LED street lights also last 50,000 to 80,000 hours longer than traditional lights.

In Tenderloin district of San Francisco, U.S., the city government has installed "smart" LED (light-emitting diode) street lights, which is part of a wide effort by the city to cut spending and reduce energy use. The LED panels are connected to servers over existing power lines, from which the city manages the operation of the LEDs. Based on data retrieved from the panels, management consoles can remotely turn off or dim lights depending on time, weather and traffic.

Taiwan’s first Automotive Optic Design Center (AODC) has recently been inaugurated by the Automotive Research & Testing Center (ARTC) of Taiwan, with the aim of vertically integrating the island’s automotive-lighting industry. ARTC president Joe Huang (second from left) signed IAH and DLS technical-transfer and consulting agreements with private companies.

At this year’s Lightfair, some LED supplier are peddling their cutting-edge, LED lighting products resorted to trashing — literally — fluorescent and incandescent lamps in their sales pitches.   For instance, a transparent trash pail filled with standard and C.F.L. bulbs was set up at a booth belonging to Digital Light, and. A glowing, LED-powered light stood triumphantly above the refuse.   

Epistar Inc., the No.1 LED chipmaker in Taiwan, is reportedly to be acquiring Huga Optech Inc., the island`s second biggest LED provider, to ease its straining capacity, and is near the end of the acquisition.

A report on the state of the LED-based traffic light market in China has recently been published on Reports-research.com. The report indicates that the market for LED-based traffic lights in China still has significant room to grow in the future from demand in small and medium sized cities.

TT electronics Optek Technology has just announced its new multi-chromatic tuned light engines to provide lighting designers with highly consistent LED color matching capabilities. The company’s chromatic tuning process produces solid-state lighting solutions with high module-to-module consistency, such that differences in color temperature of each light engine are indistinguishable to the human eye.

Leviton Manufacturing Company, Inc., manufacturer of electrical and electronic wiring devices for OEM lighting fixture customers, and Molex Incorporated (NASDAQ: MOLX and MOLXA), supplier of interconnect products worldwide, have entered into a strategic alliance to deliver LED lighting solutions to manufacturers of commercial, industrial and residential lighting fixtures.

AIXTRON and Semileds has just announced their successful cooperated fabrication of GaN-based blue LED chips on 6-inch sapphire wafers. Not only were optical results encouraging but also the process is sufficiently close to production compatibility that the company should soon be able to reap the rewards from larger wafers.