Recently, IST Ltd has appointed three new strategic partners to distribute its downlighters, LED drivers and other LED lighting products in Sweden, Finland, Poland and Ireland. IST’s growing network of distributors will be Stockholm Lighting Company in Sweden and Finland, Alfa-Zeta in Poland and Enlighten, part of the Fantasy Lights Group, in Ireland.

LED market is expected to be a rare bright spot—no pun intended—in what is forecast to be an otherwise dismal year for the semiconductor industry in 2009, according to a recent report. The reported noted that aided by rising demand from LCD TV makers, revenue from LEDs is expected to increase by 2.9% in 2009, following 10.8% growth in 2008. In contrast, the overall semiconductor market is set to decline by 9.4% in 2009.

Three innovative patent design LED is energy-saving, vibration resistant, compact, and low in power consumption and attenuation; it also has other numerous advantages such as long service life, suitable for low-temperature environments, and high luminous efficiency. LEDs have much potential in indoor lighting development, yet their cooling problem is the bottleneck that affects high-power LED to be popularized.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has released the first draft of Energy Star criteria for integral LED lamps and has posted these potential criteria on its web site. DOE has also explained why integral LED lamps are being included in the Energy Star program at this point and given an overview of the approach the agency took to decide on certain criteria. Also listed are several key issues that are up for debate and the expected timeline for revising and finalizing these criteria. What is an integral lamp?

Due to short-term market demand and uncertain outlook, Royal Philips Electronics has announced that it will impair the book value of its Lumileds business by EUR 232 million (approximately $305 million). During the company’s investor and analyst day, this move was initially indicated. Philips said the value adjustment was a consequence of reduced short-term market demand and uncertain outlook caused by the current macro economic downturn.

The following photos show us a wedding dress that is not traditional wedding dress due to LEDs. This wedding dress was made unique with the addition of 300 warm white LEDs made even more special with a soft random flickering pattern. The lights were placed around the skirt of the dress with the batteries and controls hidden under a wider part of the gown. The special lighting effect on the dress was activated by remote control.

Opto Tech Corp. and Nichia Corp. will go further on LED cooperation, with Nichia pledging to increase supply of LED chips to its partner in return for Opto Tech’s commitment to making its chips on a contract basis and selling more of Nichia-branded chips to packagers.

LED industry would recover earlier than other industries this year in consideration of incremented uses of the lamps in notebook computers, monitors, LCD TVs, lighting fixtures and outdoor signages, according to estimation form Taiwan LED makers. Tatung Group, one of leading Taiwan manufacturer of household appliances and information-technology products, says the company will contract Formosa Epitaxy Inc. to supply LED chips this year.

Over the past few years, Taiwan LED manufacturers, from chipmakers and packagers to lighting-module and lamp makers, are beginning to see a payoff from energy efficient products. Taiwan has ranked No. 2 in the global LED supplier, with 2008 revenue estimated to reach around US$1.9 billion, or 26% of world’s total.

Cree, Inc.announces that it has entered into an exclusive patent license agreement, subject to some exceptions, with Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation (MCC), a well-known and respected materials supplier.

Toronto-based Lumolar has developed unusual fish-shaped LED luminaries. The company says they can shift from looking like Chinese lanterns to changing colors like the aurora borealis, with the help of LED solutions support provided by Future Lighting Solutions.

Recently, Taiwan’s No.1 LED chipmaker Epistar Corp. entered into alliance to tap LED lighting market with Delta Electronics Inc. Both companies’ executives have confirmed reports related to their cooperation on the lighting business. Delta has pledged to buy its partner’s chips.

The incandescent bulb is about to become obsolete is lost on the vast majority of the public. The phase-out begins in three years as part of the energy bill signed in 2007. They will be edged out by LEDs. So light bulb makers have to revamp some plants, shutter others, and invest enormous sums of money in preparation for a technological shift.

Recently, Leadis Technology, Inc., announced sample availability of the LDS8160, a new LED driver featuring its proprietary LED-Sense Temperature Compensation engine and its patent-pending PowerLite Current Regulator.

Luxo Corp. has developed a dimmable high-output LED ring light. It not only can maximize light output and distribution, but can prevente harmful glare and reflections, the company says this ring light can be used for a wide variety of inspection, assembly, and rework applications. Its pure-white LED light makes it well-suited for inspecting circuit boards, surface cracks and defects, welds, solder joints, flux residues, and hairline stress cracks.

Delta Electronics Inc., a world-caliber supplier of power supplies for mobile devices, has unveiled a series of LED lightings, showing its ambition to venture into the market. Bruce Cheng, chairman of Delta, stressed that his company has won several orders for the new product line and is scheduled to start mass production and delivery in the first quarter and the second quarter, respectively. These orders have enhanced Cheng’s confidence in welcoming a promising year in 2009, despite the lingering global economic downturn.

ON Semiconductor has introduced a new 4-amp supercapacitor LED flash driver. The new CAT3224 addresses the emerging requirements for true high-intensity LED flash capability in high megapixel camera phones and standalone camera applications. The CAT3224 supercapacitor LED driver supports three key functions: precise supercapacitor charging control, management of the current discharge into the LED flash, and constant current for LED torch mode.

LED lighting has long held the promise of replacing energy-thieving incandescent bulbs without the drawbacks of fluorescent lighting and is finally taking hold in some sectors of the marketplace, says Chuck Swoboda, CEO of Cree Inc.

With recent significant advancements made in LEDs, some insiders claim may be the next wave in green lighting. LEDs are currently some of the most energy-efficient lighting, even exceeding compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

BBE LED, Shenzhen Bang-Bell Electronics Co., Ltd., as a China Top LED Street Light, LED Light Bulb, LED Traffic Light Factory, Manufacturer, Supplier and Exporter, have exported their LED Traffic Light to more than 80 countries till today, the photo is from one of their Mexico Project.

Intematix Corp., a phosphor-technology powerhouse, has begun to carve out its niche in the global LED lighting market by poaching expertise, acquiring facilities, and upgrading LED know-how. The program began last year, the company has opened its Taiwan subsidiary Intematix Technology Center (ITC) in Taoyuan County, northern Taiwan; acquired a phosphor factory in Suzhou, China; and named Jeff Lagaly, the former Global Sales Director for Cree Lighting, as Vice President of Sales, LED Lighting.

Recently, Taiwan’s Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) introduced two patented LED innovative technologies-AC LED and LED healthcare lighting, which will help Taiwan hone the competitive edge of its LED industry via generating royalty income. Semiconductor devices, as computer chips and LEDs have been designed to work at low current ever since day one due to inherent characteristics, but call for direct-current (DC) transformers to be powered by household AC (alternating current).

At CES 2009 some TV makers showed off their LED LCD TVs including Samsung, LG, Toshiba and so on. LED will be the next light source for flat panel displays in future. For many reasons such as LED light sources allow for lower power consumption; LED is solid state technology and improves ruggedness; LED allows for improved front-screen performance; LED allows for ultra-thin LCD modules, etc. Lower power consumption

TT electronics Optek Technology has integrated four 1W LED die into a single assembly for multi-colour and monochrome solid state lighting and has developed a star-shaped red/green/blue/amber LED assembly with exceptional thermal performance.

Cree Inc., announces that University of California, Davis is joining the LED University™ program in conjunction with the unveiling of new bi-level LED lighting at UC Davis’ South Entry Parking Structure. The LED light fixtures, featuring activity-sensing technology adapted and developed at California Lighting Technology Center (CLTC) at UC Davis, provide enhanced nighttime visibility while reducing energy consumption by up to 80% compared with the metal-halide fixtures that were replaced.

Taiwan LED driver IC leading provider Macroblock has developed a 16-channel constant current LED driver - MBI5037. The company says the driver with smart power-saving modes and advanced error detection, is especially designed for long use of LED traffic sign applications with power saving up to 99%.

Recently, LEDinside paid a visit to Ecomaa (Taiwan), a new company whose brand wasn’t heard ever. We’re interested in their technology integration and their cooler LED bulbs.  

Minnesota-based Seasonal Impressions has launched new LED retrofit bulbs that will give commercial and recreational users more flexibility in their lighting displays.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) have developed and demonstrated a new type of LED with significantly improved lighting performance and energy efficiency. The researchers worked in collaboration with Samsung Electro-Mechanics to develop the new polarization-matched LED that they say exhibits an 18 percent increase in light output and a 22 percent increase in wall-plug efficiency, which essentially measures the amount of electricity the LED converts into light.

Microsolar Corp. provides a copper-aluminum bonding Service and products. With the state-of-the-art technology called copper-aluminum bonding, Microsolar's LED lamps are allowed to input over 1.5Amp current into a 40milx40mil single chip with over 250 lm brightness.