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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Audi first introduced a green automobile R8 sports car, while this vehicle lighting that can be green and reduce carbon emissions that have nothing to do with fuel economy.

This year retailers have offered more LED holiday lighting choices than ever before and at lower prices. To demonstrate the energy efficiency of LED lighting and to reduce energy use, Otter Tail Power Company replaced about 780 C7 incandescent bulbs outlining the roof and corners of its general office building in Fergus Falls with C9 LED bulbs, whose bases were compatible with the existing light sets.

During the economic downturn, many manufacturers are setting to reduce the output and dismiss workers at manufacturing lines. But, small and mid-size LED makers are busy running manufacturing lines.

Artist Leo Villareal has completed a light sculpture along the walkway connecting the East and West buildings of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC. The work, called Multiverse, uses about 41,000 LEDs that run along the 200-foot-long corridor.

LiquidLEDs is a Taiwanese LED manufacturer, which is experienced in developing AC LED lighting solution. It recently made AC LED bulbs the only lighting source for its new office in Taipei, Taiwan. This office is the first in the world to use AC LED bulb as it's main source of lighting.

Recently, RiTdisplay Corp., a reinvested company of Taiwan’s larges-sized disc maker RiTek Corp., has received orders for 35 million units of passive matrix organic light emitting diodes (PMOLEDs), with 30 million units to be delivered this year, making it the world’s No. 1 supplier of this product presently.  

Recently, ilumisys, Inc., developer and producer of next-generation solid-state lighting technology, announced that LED Lighting Inc. is becoming a reseller of ilumisys lighting.  

Recently, PowerSecure International, Inc. announced that Walgreens will purchase the Company’s state-of-the-art green EfficientLights LED lighting technology for refrigerated cases installed in the majority of their new store openings in 2009.

Cree Inc. has announced revenue of $140.4M for its fiscal 1Q09, ended September 28, 2008. This represents a 24% increase over revenue of $113.4M in 1Q08 and a 3% increase over 4Q08 revenue.

Recently, Littelfuse Inc. has introduced the PLED 6 series, an open LED protector that provides a switching electronic shunt path when a single LED in an LED array fails as an open circuit. This ensures that the entire array of LEDs will continue to function even if a single LED in the array does not.  

Recently, Atlanta-based Acuity Brands, a lighting and cleaning products company, said that it's entered into a strategic partnership with Herndon, Va.'s Renaissance Lighting to work on the commercialization of LED lighting. Under the deal, Renaissance is licensing its intellectual property, including its Constructive Occlusion optical system, to Acuity. Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.  

It’s reported that new research from Boston University's College of Engineering, funded by a National Science Foundation grant, indicates that LEDs may be not only the integral lighting component of the future, but may also form the backbone of future wireless networks. The US government is funding research into using next-generation LED lighting as data network access points. Room or street lamps would link with devices using visible light, carrying data beyond over existing power lines.

In the past few years, LEDs have made huge advances in energy efficiency. Industry sources and outside experts say LEDs are now the most energy-efficient lighting source available. They use far less energy than other bulbs, last a lot longer, and cost less to use over their lifetime.

Recently, The UK Technology Strategy Board (TSB) has announced funding for twelve innovative research projects to accelerate the development of more energy-efficient lighting, lasers and displays. The R&D projects are intended to help British manufacturers to stay ahead of international competition - and contribute to the UK's climate change goals.

It’s reported that WieDaMark, LLC, launched WDM Lighting this quarter. WDM Lighting, a company of WieDaMark, LLC, will showcase the WDM product line and national distributor program. It specializes in LED and energy-efficient lighting solutions for residential, commercial, and entertainment industries.

It’s reported that Russian and German scientists revisited the idea of light produced this way Nearly 20 years later. The light was still of such poor luminance that the idea nearly died again. The science of electroluminescence languished in obscurity for a while. It didn’t begin to gain favor again in the 1950s until some British scientists started experimenting with it again. This led to the first infrared LED. From this technology came the first visible spectrum LED, in red, from GaP.

It’s reported that Japanese consumer electronics maker Sharp Corp announced it aims to generate sales of $1.8 billion from LED market by the business year to March 2013. Moreover, Sharp would enter the lighting gear market with energy-saving LED technology to establish a new earnings pillar in addition to its flat panel and solar cell businesses this month.

It’s reported that LG Display, the world's No. 2 supplier of LCD panels, will build a joint venture with Nasdaq-listed Cree in LED packaging in Nanjing, China. LG Display is able to cut costs in LED lighting business amid growing demand for the component in notebooks and television sets, adding the company could avoid possible patent infringement troubles if the plan is realized. It's a win-win strategy.

It’s reported that the market for high-brightness light-emitting diodes (HB-LEDs) in lighting applications grew 64% in 2007 to $337m, up from $205m in 2006. According to related analysis and forecast, the HB-LED lighting market should reach $1.65bn in 2012. In recent years, HB-LEDs have demonstrated dramatic improvements in performance, as well as significant cost reduction, such that they are undergoing a period of rapid market growth in a variety of niche and general lighting applications.

LEDinside recently conducted an in-depth interview with Liquidleds Lighting Corp (Liquidleds) CEO, Mr. Kun-Yuan Chiang (Chiang), in relation to the industry of LED.

According to High Power executive, Charles Wei, president of Taiwan-based High Power Lighting, LED lighting will see explosive growth in 2010 when production costs are expected to halve compared to present levels, which focuses on high power LED design, packaging and module manufacturing.

In many of Africa's towns and villages, smoky kerosene lamps are all that keeps the darkness at bay after sunset. However, kerosene is a dangerous and increasingly expensive source of light for Africans who do not have access to electricity -- about three-quarters of those living on the continent, according to the World Bank. Lighting industry entrepreneurs are hoping alternative devices such as solar-powered LED lights will replace the kerosene lamps.