The value of the global market for UV-C LEDs used in sterilization and purification equipment will grow at a CAGR of 56% from US$28 million in 2016 to US$257 million in 2021, according to the 2016~2021 UV LED and IR LED Application Market Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. The UV-C LED technology is expected to advance rapidly as an increasing number of major LED suppliers are scheduled to launch related products towards the end of 2016.

LED display can be categorized into indoor display, outdoor display and semi-outdoor display. The main clients are business owners. Displays are mainly used in public space for videos advertisements, posters display. Applications of such used to utilize low-end LED products. These displays adopt fewer LEDs and have larger pitches between each LED, generating relatively lower resolution. Thanks to the advancement in LED chips and LED packaging technology, the pitches could be minimized. Fine pitch LED display now provides even higher resolution. Consumers are able to tell the difference simply by comparing conventional display and fine pitch LED display products. High-end display market saw a growing number of orders for fine pitch LED display.

LEDinside, LED industry research brand under TrendForce, observes that prosperity of LED industry recovers in 2016, and price decline causes the LED penetration rate  to further improve. In addition, due to the impetus of India, Southeast Asia and other emerging markets, the LED market demand has significantly increased over the same period. In recent years, many large manufacturers have signed the strategic cooperation agreement and collaborative signs are more obvious, so those manufacturers’ market share will continue to increase, which is the main driving force of their production expansion.

Several Dubai-based Visual Light Communication (VLC) companies are working with the aim of making this Middle East city the first in the world to offer Li-Fi coverage, reported Khaleej Times.

As the global LED lighting markets experiences slowing growth, LED and LED lighting companies have quickly expanded into the emerging markets where new blue ocean opportunities could be found. The latest analysis by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, finds that Vietnam’s LED lighting market is projected to reach US$348 million in 2016, up 28% from US$271 million in 2015. The steady growth of the Vietnamese market has caught the attention of LED lighting companies worldwide.

The scale of the global market for chip-on-board (COB) LEDs used in the lighting application will reach US$580 million in 2016 and exceed US$700 million in 2021, achieving a CAGR of about 4% during the forecast period. This figure includes COB products belonging to ceramic and EMC packages. The above data and additional details can be found in the 2016~2021 Global LED Industry Demand and Supply Database Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce.

Prices of LED light bulbs were steady through September as the global LED market picked up significantly and LED chip prices remained stable, according to the latest report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce.   “The global average sales price (ASP) of 40-watt equivalent LED light bulbs fell 1.3% in September compared with the prior month to US$9.3, while the global ASP of 60-watt equivalent LED light bulbs dropped 0.9% monthly to US$12.7,” said LEDinside analyst Allen Yu.

LEDinside, a division of the global market research firm TrendForce, held LEDforum 2016 at National Taiwan University Hospital (NTUH) International Convention Center on September 30. This conference, which focused on micro-LED as the next-generation display technology, featured presentations by industry and research heavyweights including Epistar, Trillion Science, hTC, PlayNitrides, OSRAM Opto, Macroblock, Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), X-Celeprint and CEA-Leti.

Entire family of 2-ft Tubular LEDs and fixtures are first competitive choice for Navy in nearly 70 years

​Researchers from the Graphene Flagship use layered materials to create an all-electrical quantum light emitting diodes (LED) with single-photon emission. These LEDs have potential as on-chip photon sources in quantum information applications.

The value of the infrared (IR) LED market worldwide continues to grow due to rising demand in various applications markets, according to the 2016~2021 Global LED Industry Demand and Supply Database Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. Applications such as security surveillance systems , virtual reality (VR) devices and facial and iris recognition solutions will push up the value of the global IR LED market from about $300 million in 2016 to US$792 million in 2021. Note this estimation excludes revenue from the optical sensor market. “Surveillance systems currently makes up the largest mainstream application market for IR LEDs,” said Joanne Wu, assistant research manager of LEDinside. “Demand for surveillance cameras with night vision ability has been rising on a yearly basis as countries across the globe invest more in their anti-terrorism capabilities and security infrastructures. This in turn help boost the value of the entire IR LED market.”

In 2016, UV LED technology has been rapidly expanding into various application markets including curing, sterilization and purification equipment. The total value of the UV LED market worldwide is estimated to grow from US$166 million in 2016 to US$555 million in 2021 at compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 27%, according to the 2016~2021 Global LED Industry Demand and Supply Database Report byLEDinside, a division of TrendForce.

The latest report from LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, finds that LED chip suppliers raised their prices in August, slowing down the price decline for end products. Thus, prices of LED light bulbs will be on a stable trend in the short term.    “Compared with July, the global average sales price (ASP) of 40-watt equivalent LED light bulbs fell just 0.4% in August to US$9.4,” said LEDinside analyst Allen Yu. “The global ASP of 60-watt equivalent LED light bulbs also dropped 0.3% to US$12.8.”

“Network Ready” forward-compatible TLED enables lighting controls and minimizes total cost of LED lighting retrofit

The upconversion of photons allows for a more efficient use of light: Two photons are converted into a single photon having higher energy. Researchers at KIT now showed for the first time that the inner interfaces between surface-mounted metal-organic frameworks (SURMOFs) are suited perfectly for this purpose - they turned green light blue. The result, which is now being published in the Advanced Materialsjournal, opens up new opportunities for optoelectronic applications such as solar cells or LEDs. (DOI: 10.1002/adma.201601718)

Lumileds today introduced FreshFocus Technology for red meat, marbled meat and fish, 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.

Mid-power LEDs have become a mainstream product in the LED package sector, showing strong growth in the market over the past few years. The global lighting market scale is estimated to reach US $3.74 billion by 2020, and it is projected mid-power LEDs will comprise the majority stake in the market due to its high reliability and performance, estimated LEDinside. Taiwanese LED package manufacturers have released mid-power LED products including 3030 LED, 5630 LED, and other major LED package products, EVERLIGHT for instance has been shipping large volumes of these products.  In an exclusive interview with LEDinside, Ewing Liu, Technical Marketing Manager at EVERLIGHT, talked about the company’s outlook for mid-power LED market and latest market trend developments.

Lumileds today revealed its FreshFocus Technology for produce, LEDs to showcase fruit and vegetables in their freshest and most appealing state. FreshFocus Technology is part of the LUXEON Stylist Series, Lumileds transformative line of LEDs designed to provide the perfect lighting environment to sell products in fashion retail stores, fresh food markets and restaurants.

Prices of LED chips and packages in China rose again during the final week of this August mainly on account of the strong demand from the fine-pitch LED display market, reports LEDinside, a division of TrendForce.    According to LEDinside, major China-based chip supplier San’an Opto and LED display package supplier Xinda Opto announced price hikes of 10% and 5%, respectively, around the same time in August. LEDinside’s analysis furthermore finds that the average LED usage volume for all indoor LED displays will increase from 60,000 in 2015 to 270,000 per square meter over the next two years. With surface areas of mainstream indoor LED display systems remain constant, the usage volume of LED packages for this application will more than triple during this two-year period.

According to the 2016 Chinese LED Chip and Package Industry Market Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, the market scale of China’s LED package reaches 2% year on year (YoY) growth at US $8.8 billion in 2015. The COB LED market has witnessed rapid growth over the past few years. An apparent example is that COB LEDs are gaining higher penetration rate in high-end commercial lighting applications. Meanwhile, outdoor illumination market also finds COB LED packages’ growing penetration rate. Therefore, more and more manufacturers enter the COB LED market. Aside from international manufacturers that entered the market in the early stage, including Citizen, Sharp, Bridgelux and Luminus Devices, leading manufacturers like CREE, Lumileds and Nichia also tapped into the market of COB LEDs. The number of Chinese manufacturers that entered COB LED package market is even higher, including Sunpu Opto, Guangzhou LEDteen Optoelectronics Co., Shenzhen Crescent Optoelectronic Co. and Shenzhen Tongyifang Optoelectronic Technology co. With more players entering the industry, the market has also witnessed huge change. Overall, international manufacturers are still dominant in China’s COB market.

According to the 2016 Global Lighting Market Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, four LED specialty lighting applications that are attracting growing interests include horticultural lighting, surgical lighting, marine/harbor lighting and smart lighting. The combined market scale of these four applications is estimated to grow from US$4.36 billion in 2016 to US$16.4 billion in 2020, with the CAGR during this forecast period reaching 30%.

In response to the rising demand for mobile payment, Samsung’s latest flagship smartphone Galaxy Note 7 includes iris recognition as a standard feature that assists in user authentication. The arrival of Galaxy Note 7 is expected to trigger a new round of hardware competition among smartphone brands as they will also likely to incorporate iris recognition into their flagship devices. According to the latest analysis from LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, iris and facial recognition features will gradually become prevalent in mobile devices. LEDinside further estimates that in 2020, global shipments of mobile devices with iris and facial recognition features will reach 400 million units. By that time, the market value of infrared LEDs (IR LEDs) for iris and facial recognition will total around US$250 million. Thus, biometric recognition has become one of the most potentially profitable applications for IR LEDs.

IR LEDs have a long history of development and are used in a wide range of applications on a daily basis. Following the introduction of biometric sensors and biometric identification to smartphones and wearable devices, IR LED can also be used in Internet of Things (IoT) applications. Varied applications of IR LEDs hold great potential in the future. LEDinside estimates that the market value of IR LED (excluding sensors) will reach US $710 million at 24% CAGR by 2020, making it the new blue sea for LED manufacturers.

LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, reports the global average sales prices of 40-watt and 60-watt equivalent LED light bulbs in July fell 0.7% and 0.6% versus the prior month, respectively, to US$9.5 and US$12.9.   “July was the start of the traditional off season for the LED industry,” said LEDinside analyst Allen Yu. “Furthermore, the economic conditions in Europe and the U.S. remained weak, so the demand rebound that occurred in the lighting market was limited to just the second quarter. Retail prices of LED light bulbs slid entering the third quarter, and some products suffered larger price drops on account of promotional activities.”

India’s lighting sector has enjoyed accelerated development recently. The scale of the country’s LED lighting market in particular is projected to expand 47.1% year on year in 2016 to US$1.14 billion, according to the 2016 Indian Lighting Market Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. The government of India intends to turn itself into hub of lighting products across East Asia and countries along the coast. International firms include Osram and Toshiba have taken India as their manufacturing base of global market. India’s domestic and foreign LED lighting demands are both high. It’s expected that the market will see explosive growth over the next two to three years. By 2020, the Indian LED lighting market is forecast to grow to US$1.715 billion. In the current LED industry, although China market is a big cake, developing new markets is still necessary, due to overcapacity and price competition. As a market with great potential, India attracts international enterprise to take it as the next manufacturing base. Aside from low tariff policies based on the Preferred Market Access Policy, other advantages of Indian market also attract investors.   The India LED lighting market is still in its early phase, with opportunities include growing internal demand, promotion of Make in India, zero tariff in Indian market, lighting manufacturers see business potential in Indian lighting market. Meanwhile, product specification improvement can be seen in the market. Moreover, diverse and unique market channels, and differences between the environments of each segment in the lighting industry should be considered carefully when entering the market.

Nobel Prize in Physics laureate Shuji Nakamura, who was lauded by The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences as the Edison of 21st Century, recently noted laser diodes would eventually replace LEDs in lighting applications within the next decade at a fair in China last month, reported China’s LED Patent Alliance (LPA).

Following LCD and AMOLED, micro-LED has emerged as the next-generation display technology that is expected to be deployed widely in various applications. Increasing interests from electronics giants Apple and Sony during the recent period have encouraged further investments in micro-LED and accelerated the timetable for its commercialization. The latest analysis from LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, forecasts that micro-LED displays for smart wearable devices will enter the mass production stage in 2018. The technology will become available for smartphones later in 2020.   “Compared with the existing technologies, micro-LED offers significant improvements in many areas, including brightness/contrast, energy efficiency and response time,” said LEDinside analyst Philip Chang. “It also satisfies the demand for higher pixel density (expressed as pixels per inch or PPI) and other product design requirements, such as flexible and transparent screens. In sum, micro-LED overcomes the limitations of both LCD and AMOLED, and the mass production of displays based on this technology is foreseeable in the near future despite many unresolved technical issues.” Chang added: “Currently, the most significant technical hurdle that prevents the mass production of micro-LED displays is finding the best balance in the trade-off between pixel density and pixel volume. In this matter, Apple and Sony diverge in their strategies to commercialize the technology.”

German-based lighting manufacturer OSRAM has agreed to sell its lamp business unit LEDVANCE to a Chinese consortium that is led by IDG Capital Partners and includes LED manufacturer MLS and Yiwu State-Owned Assets Operation Center. The sale was announced on July 26 and represents a landmark deal in which Chinese LED manufacturer successfully acquires an oversea target with the help of an international investment group. “The sale of LEDVANCE shows major international lighting companies are exiting the LED lighting business due to its unprofitable outlook,” said Roger Chu, research director of LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. “On the other hand, Chinese LED lighting companies have an overall cost advantage and are assisted by the government, so they can take this opportunity to expand their market shares.” 

Chinese LED manufacturer Honglitronic Optoelectronics announced it had rebranded itself as Honglizhihui Group, and is in the process of acquiring  connected car technology assets.

Lighting LEDs accounted for US$3.9 billion of the US$8.8 billion Chinese LED package industry in 2015, according to the 2016 Chinese LED Chip and Package Industry Market Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. Lighting LEDs’ share in the total scale of the Chinese LED package industry in 2015 also grew 15% year on year to reach 44%. MLS and Honglitronic, the two major Chinese package suppliers, have steadily expanded their market shares in the LED lighting application due to booming demand in Southeast Asia, India and other emerging markets. Consequently, their standings in the industry have gradually risen as well.