U.S. UV LED manufacturer, Sensor Electronic Technology, Inc.(SETi), is selling deep UV LEDs to the Chinese market to extend the life of fresh product on store shelves, reported Fresh Plaza recently.

The LED lighting industry outlook for invisible LED business opportunities has been increasingly optimistic, with many international and Taiwanese companies jumping in this new blue sea market. Japanese, Korean, European and American manufacturers are all developing UV LEDs for curing, sterilization, medical, water and air purification systems. Security, retina recognition markets that require IR LED, are also presenting new business and technology opportunities for LED companies specializing in these fields.

Japanese UV LED manufacturer Nikkiso is collaborating with Formosa Plastics Group to build the world’s largest UV LED factory in Taiwan, reported Japanese media Nikkei.

Sensor Electronic Technology (SETi) has announced that it has acquired the commercial operations of UV LED developer and manufacturer, Nitek, strengthening its position as global leaders in the UV LED marketplace.

Nobel physics laureate Shuji Nakamura recently said importance of Ultraviolet LEDs will grow as the next generation LED technology can also help prevent the spread of deadly diseases, and possibly eradicate them, according to a Korea Times report.

The LED backlight industry might still experience an exceptionally cool season in 2016, but breakthroughs are expected in the tube light replacement market, said Epistar Chairman B.J.Lee at the 2015 Pan Wen Yuan Prize Award Ceremony at the Shangri-La's Far Eastern Plaza Hotel in Taipei, Taiwan earlier today.

The sluggish global economy triggered the downtrend in the LED industry in 2015, and next year is expected to be just as challenging for manufacturers in the backlight and general lighting market, said Katsuyuki Akutagawa, Chief Legal & IP Officer and Company Board Director of Nichia (the company) at a press conference held in Mandarin Oriental Taipei, earlier Wednesday. 

World renowned UV LED solution company Seoul Viosys announced on November 5th its plan to partner with Watersprint, a Swedish company developing water purification products and systems to develop a clean water supply solution.

Several factors have caused manufacturers to flood emerging blue sea markets, such as China’s soon to be implemented 13th five-year plan; drying up LED subsidies; price wars in lighting industry that have resulted in pricing and selling bulbs per kilogram; and industry restructures which have benefited the expansion of big players on the market. SMEs in the industry have been treading on thin ice.  When the UV LED emerged as a blue sea market in the LED industry, only a few manufacturers were competing in the market sector. Fast forward to present, manufacturers once standing on the sidelines speculating are starting to jump in. In the near future, it is possible that this niche market might be on the same road as blue LEDs and become another hotly contended red sea market.

Left bleeding from price wars over the past few years, LED manufacturers are seeking alternative markets and restructuring business strategies. Epistar for instance is looking into niche markets including GaN power devices and specialized lighting, said Carson Hsieh,Vice President, R&D Center,Epistar during his presentation at LEDforum 2015, which took place recently at Room 201, National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center, Taipei, Taiwan.

Most speakers highlighted niche market applications including UV LED, IR LED and automotive lighting market applications and opportunities, during the afternoon session of LEDforum 2015 this year, which took place last Friday at National Taiwan University Hospital International Convention Center in Taipei, Taiwan.

World leading UV LED solution company, Seoul Viosys(CEO Jaejo Kim, www.seoulvisys.com) and leading U.S. based short-wavelength UV LED pioneer and manufacturer Sensor Electronics Technology Inc (CEO Emmanuel Lakios, www.s-et.com) signed an agreement for joint-commercialize and expand related sales of the Violeds technology which was reported used by NASA aboard the International Space Station.

Appropriately themed “Envision the future of lights” after its mission, the 20th edition of the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition had participants sharing inspirational ideas and innovative technologies. Dialogue of this nature is essential in shaping the future of the lighting industry. Held from 9 – 12 June 2015, the fair spanned across 21 halls and occupied 225,000 sqm. The show closed with a 4.7% increase in visitor figures from the previous year, totalling 135,990 professional visitors (2014:129,885) from 131 countries and regions including over 5500 domestic and overseas delegates. These numbers were duly matched by a record-breaking 2,698 exhibitors (2014: 2,621) representing 27 countries and regions.

Phoseon Technology, the leader in UV LED curing solutions, today announced a major milestone for UV LED light sources. As a result of Phoseon's rigorous reliability efforts, lifetime testing of lamps has now surpassed 50,000 hours of operational on-time with lamp irradiance being greater than 80% of its original output when the test first began five-plus years ago. For perspective, utilizing a single shift workweek of 2,000 hours per year, 50,000 hours equates to 25 years of UV LED operating on-time. 

Kenall Manufacturing introduced Indigo-Clean™, a light fixture that uses Continuous Environmental Disinfection technology to continuously kill harmful bacteria linked to hospital acquired infections (HAIs). The technology behind Indigo-Clean™ inactivates a wide range of micro-organisms that are known causes of HAIs, including MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), C.difficile and VRE (Vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus).

A special UV or IR pavilion was set up at this year’s Photonics Festival in Taiwan, which took place earlier this month in Taipei, Taiwan.This is the first time that the show organized by Taiwan’s Photonics Industry & Technology Development Association (PIDA) has highlighted niche UV and IR LED applications, which has benefited attending manufacturers and visitors.

EVERLIGHT ELECTRONICS 【TSE:2393】, a leading player in the global LED and optoelectronics industry, exhibiting diversified products at the IR/UV zone of Photonics Festival in Taiwan 2015 (Taiwan International Lighting Show 2015) owing to the increasing demands of IR products and special applications, where IR products are widely applied for mobile devices, smart phones and surveillance systems, UV LEDs are applied for printer drying, disinfection and counterfeit detection, thoroughly demonstrating EVERLIGHT ‘s high-end technology and multiple dimension.

The Tracerline® OPTI-PRO(TM) Max (P/N TP-8630) is a cordless, state-of-the-art, True UV LED leak detection flashlight. It makes heavy duty/fleet vehicle leaks easy to spot, while slashing valuable diagnostic time for technicians.

The second day of IR+UV Expo 2015 special forum that took place in late April in Yokohama, Japan started off with a semiconductor components for laser diodes (LD) and UV LED developments presentation by a senior researcher from Japan’s prestigious research institute, Riken.

Charles Wei, the Chairman of HP Lighting shed some light on UV LED product development trends and solutions in an exclusive interview with LEDinside at IR+UV EXPO 2015, which took place in Pacifico Yokohama, Japan, from April 22-24, 2015.

Most LED manufacturers were displaying UV or IR LED related applications at SPIE Photonics West, and many of these new applications covered LED chips, dies, package and other products.

Applied Ventures, the venture capital arm of Applied Materials and a leading corporate venture firm, announced today that it has participated in a Series B financing round for RayVio Corporation, an advanced UV LED solutions company developing proprietary semiconductor-based technology for manufacturing solid state ultraviolet (SSUV) LED products and applications. RayVio's patented technology is intended to enable large-scale adoption of UV LEDs for the industrial, digital health and consumer sectors, with a variety of applications to benefit society.

Nitride Solutions a developer and manufacturer of advanced nitride substrates for LEDs, lasers, and power electronics—announced today that it has successfully closed US $3 million in new funding as Hansol Chemical, Greenpoint Global Mittelstand Fund, and Silicon Pastures Angel Investment Network joined the company’s investor group. Funds will be used to expand production of the company’s aluminum nitride substrate offerings, as well as to accelerate market introduction of its high-performance thermal management coatings.

Leading global LED manufacturer Nichia’s product lineup for 2015 will include UV LEDs, Mn 4+red phosphor powder, and laser diode products, company representatives revealed at a recent press conference at Hotel Okura in Taipei, Taiwan.

Despite leading the global LED component market in 2014, Taiwanese LED manufacturers are entering LED niche markets, according to an UDN report.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer AOT projected significant growth in the UV LED market after recently announcing last month’s revenues, according to a Chinese-media LaoYaoBao report.

Nikkiso America, a world leader in the development and commercialization of deep ultraviolet LEDs, has announced that it has initiated shipments of the world’s highest power deep UV-LEDs, featuring three times more optical power output than is commercially available from other sources in the UV-C and UV-B range. The Nikkiso UV-LED business will introduce the new high-power deep UV-LED product line for the first time in North America at the SPIE Photonics West exhibition in San Francisco February 10 - 12, 2015, North Hall Booth #4815. The Nikkiso UV-LED products are designed for applications in biomedical instrumentation and treatment, germicidal purification and sterilization, and industrial curing and printing.

Phoseon Technology, the leader in UV LED curing solutions, today announced the launch of the FireJet™ FJ800 area curing solution for electronics manufacturing. The new air-cooled solution is optimized for production lines with large area applications such as micro speakers, camera modules and flat panel displays. Starting from a base curing area of 100mm x 100mm, these modular products can scale in all directions and provide contiguous, uniform UV output. The FJ800 light sources are available in 365nm and 395nm wavelengths and come with a separate controller that uses a simple, intuitive graphical interface.

This year’s Lighting Japan continued to feature Asian LED technologies, material, equipment and lighting developments that the global industry has been closely following. The exhibition also featured next generation lighting designs including LED and OLED light sources. Some of the advanced application concepts were showcased in better exhibition locations.

The XD070 single pass inkjet printer from Engineered Printing Solutions is ‘image direct’ from computer to print. It comes integrated with UV LED curing technology. This offers the perfect solution for short or long runs with quick changeovers and variable data. This printer is ideal for multi-color printing on flat and semi-flat surfaces on a variety of substrates and can be customized to meet various printing needs.