After China’s biggest LED chip manufacturer Sanan Optoelectronics was named in the red-flag list of “unverified” entities last week, American top chip equipment supplier Applied Materials reportedly stopped business with Sanan “immediately.” The response of Sanan Optoelectronics noted that Applied Materials as an equipment provider has limited impact on Sanan’s business operation since the US company is not an exclusive equipment provider for the chip maker. Sanan said that it can also purchase equipment from other Chinese supplier ...

SemiLEDs Corporation, a developer and manufacturer of LED chips and LED components, has posted its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of fiscal year 2018, ended August 31, 2018. (Image: SemiLEDs) Revenues for the fourth quarter and for the third quarter of fiscal 2018 were both approximately US$2.0 million. GAAP net loss attributable to SemiLEDs stockholders for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 was US$1.1 million, compared to a loss of $326 thousand in the third quarter of 2018, or a net loss of US$0.32 per diluted share, compared to...

LED Engin, an Osram business, has unveiled the LZ7 Plus, the world’s first 50W seven-die LED emitter. The new LED emitter is designed to meet the trends of stage lighting fixtures.

As Micro LED still encounters certain technical bottlenecks, some companies are currently focusing on the transition technology Mini LED instead. The squad proactively developing Mini LED applications includes panel giants (Innolux and AUO), LED chip makers (Epistar and Lextar), and LED packaging firms (EVERLIGHT, AOT, and Harvatek).

Total global LED chip production capacity has entered a new peak expansionary phase in 2017, according to the latest LED market supply and demand analysis by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. This recent surge of capacity expansion for LED chips has been a response to the rising demand from Chinese LED package suppliers that had started raising their production capacities earlier in 2016.

ROHM has recently announced the availability of the industry's smallest class (1608 size) of 2-color chip LEDs. In addition to their breakthrough size, the SML-D22MUWfeatures a special design that improves reliability along with a backside electrode configuration that supports high-resolution displays.

Chinese LED chip maker San’an Opto kicked off 2017 with a new round of product price hikes.

MLS (also known as Forest Lighting) announced Tuesday, the company will be pumping in another RMB 500 million (US $71.95 million) in a subsidiary of Chinese LED chip manufacturer Aucksun Opto to expand in the upstream LED sector.

Cree introduces the XLamp® XHP50.2 LED, which delivers up to 7% more lumens and 10% higher lumens-per-watt (LPW) than the first generation XHP50 LED in the same 5.0 mm x 5.0 mm package. The new XHP50.2 LED enables lighting manufacturers to quickly improve the performance of existing XHP50 lighting designs. Capable of producing more than 2,500 lumens from its 6mm light emitting surface (LES), the XHP50.2 can reduce the size and cost of new designs and enable innovative solutions to address applications ranging from spot to street lighting.

In 2016, Epistar lead the Taiwan LED industry business model transition from unprofitable product portfolio to refocusing on more profitable client orders. Other LED companies have caught onto this trend, such as Unity Opto, which slashed LED bulb production capacity by 70%, reported China Times.

Lumileds introduced FreshFocus Technology for bread & pastries, LEDs used to show food items in their most appetizing light. FreshFocus Technology is part of the LUXEON Stylist Series, Lumileds transformative line of LEDs designed to provide the perfect lighting environment for fashion retail, fresh food and restaurants.

SunLED is excited to release a series that redefines high intensity, low current LEDs.  Designed and built to meet and exceed the most demanding visibility requirements, the XZxxxx55W-8 series outshines nearly all other LEDs.  Developed from a combination of AlInGaP and InGaN dies, this series ensures a long and robust lifespan while outputting a brilliant array of colors.

World class LED company Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd (www.seoulsemicon.co.kr), announced on September 5 that they are currently mass producing new products with a luminous efficiency of 210lm/W (350mA) called “WICOP”. As a product that is composed of a LED chip and phosphor only, it does not require packaging for wrapping the chip, such as frames and gold wires, etc. Therefore, this is a new concept LED product which does not require equipment or parts which need to be packaged, something that used to be deemed essential for LED manufacturing.

In an environment of intense price wars, nothing can grab LED manufacturers attention more than "price hikes." Chinese LED manufacturers MLS, Kinglight and other manufacturers all raised their product prices in March 2016. Another wave of price hikes occurred in May, when San’an Opto and Taiwanese LED manufacturer Epistar increased prices. Recent market rumors point towards another round of price upticks.

Thin fine pitch indoor LED displays have caught on the market in recent years, but a big challenge for the industry is miniaturizing LED suitable for display smaller than 100-inch, said Min-Hsun Hsieh, Vice President (VP) of R&D Center at EPISTAR during a recent interview with LEDinside.

Epistar announced it will be raising certain LED chip costs by 15% in mid- May 2016, which excited certain media and investors, who projected LED chip prices would soar. There is nothing to support this theory, though. More than a month has gone by, and none of the other manufacturers have raised prices. A closer inspection raises questions on the LED chip pricing strategy, and whether it will reach the aim of reducing the company’s revenue losses requires further observations, however, the company is at risk of losing clients.

Toshiba is considering to sell its less profitable semiconductor businesses including its System LSI business to concentrate resources in advanced NAND, flash memory, and nuclear power generators and other coal fire equipment, according to a recent Nikkei report.

Osram announced by raising the share of semiconductor sales from the global general lighting market could help it reduce the total cost of producing chips for LEDs at its new factory to be opened in Malaysia, reported Bloomberg.

On September 15th at Pudong Marriott Hotel, Shanghai, China, the global Seoul Semiconductor specializing in LED (CEO Chunghun Lee,www.seoulsemicon.co.kr) announced a new product, or the new concept Wicop LED which does not need processes such as Die Bonding, Wire Bonding, etc. which were necessary for the conventional LED Package production nor main LED package component parts such as Lead frame, Gold wire, etc.

The global market value from the external sales of LED chips grew 18% from US$3.677 billion in 2013 to US$4.35 billion in 2014, according to the 2015 Global Sapphire and LED Chip Market Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. The share of Chinese companies in the external sales market also rose from 27% in 2013 to 36% in 2014. 

The Taiwanese LED packaging manufacturer, Edison Opto, has been focusing on new product and technology development. Recently, they have introduced several highly competitive products, including Flash Series, CSP 1616 and AC COB modules. Combined with application examples, Edison’s new products will be showcased in 2015 Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition.

Duris S 10 is the latest addition to the Chip Array SMD family (CAS) from Osram Opto Semiconductors. This new LED is characterized by high efficiency, high light output and uniform color appearance. Efficient SMD technology (surface mounted device) makes assembly simple. These properties lead to significant cost savings in system and optic design, which may be as high as 30 percent depending on the particular customer application. The new Duris has a compact footprint and is available in two output classes with up to 1400 lumen. It simplifies the design of lamps and luminaires and is ideal for use in spotlights, downlights, and directional and omnidirectional retrofits.

Most of Thailand LED manufacturers directly import LED chips and components from China, as a result only a handful of LED chip and package manufacturers displayed products at LED Expo Thailand 2015, which took place from May 21-24, 2015 at IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Center.

LEDinside recently interviewed Louis Lam CEO of Osram Opto Semiconductors Asia about the company’s future LED product outlook for niche market applications, including IR LED, laser diodes, and the automotive lighting market and German government subsidies that are supporting industry developments.

Osram Opto Semiconductors is extending its Duris product portfolio with a compact version without a classic package. The Duris S2 is in the low to middle output range and offers a high typical luminous efficacy of 160 lm/W, excellent color homogeneity and color stability. It is therefore capable of achieving homogeneous illumination in LED products designed as replacements for fluorescent tubes.

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.

LEDinside recently had a chance to interview one of the top Russian electronic component distributor, Platan. Their spokesperson gave a very comprehensive overview of LED chip developments in Russia, and the LED market outlook in the aftermath of economic sanctions imposed on the country by Europe and U.S. during the Ukrainian Crisis last year.

A fully optimized production concept for LED components and light modules in which all the process steps are coordinated with one another could give rise to completely new types of LED and also reduce their manufacturing costs. The declared objective of the “InteGreat” project is therefore to research new approaches to the production of high-efficiency light emitting diodes along the entire production process, to remove the boundaries between the individual value-added stages and as a result to create new functionality and high flexibility. 

No more packaging – Package-less Package. That is the fundamental solution which LED manufacturers are looking for to meet the market demands. Unfortunately, the era of Flip Chip-Chip Scale LED Package (FC CSP LED) is, however, emerging. It will make the time of the wide spread of LED light coming slowly step by step. Any LED manufacturers who aggressively jump over FC CSP LED and current leading-edge packaging technologies would be expected under the paradigm of no more packaging. A little of endeavour has been conducted to fulfil package-less package like Phosphor on Die and Package Free Chip.

Costs. That is the only thing LED chip manufacturers think about, and who can blame them? LED chip prices are expected to drop to 50 cents for a 1,000 lumen LED lamps in 2015, said Epistar Chairman B.J. Lee at 2015 LED Executive Summit hosted by SEMI at TILS 2015 in TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall, Taipei, Taiwan. Moreover, manufacturers might be facing the challenge of raising LED efficacy to 3,000 lm/$ within two years. Tightening profits are spurring manufacturers to develop new technology to drive down costs.