Traditionally, manufacturers have contended for a spot in Apple’s supply chain, despite of its draconian demands. As seen in GTAT and the Cupertino-based company’s ugly fall out in October 2014, Apple might change the spec requirements of its customized products anytime, and expect suppliers to deliver in a short time frame. Additionally, a heavy US $50 million penalty is placed on manufacturers that breach confidential agreements. With strong product sales and a loyal consumer base, Apple might be appealing to work with, but being its supplier can be taxing.

This year has been very difficult for companies in the LED industry. While LED lighting products are seeing rising demands and have replaced numerous traditional products in different applications, their average selling prices have gone down by 30~40% due to oversupply. According to LEDinside, the value of the market for high-brightness LED products is projected to grow 2% year on year to US$14.52 billion in 2015. Duff Lu, LEDinside research manager, notes that the industry will undergo consolidation next year with companies merging or being driven out of business. With uncompetitive players leaving, the industry will gradually reorganize itself.

According to a recent estimation made by LEDinside, a division of Trendforce, the total lighting market value of the six major Southeast Asian countries - Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Philippines - will reach about USD 4.8 billion in 2015. Out of that amount, about USD 1.5 billion comes from the LED lighting market. Southeast Asia’s LED lighting market had the fastest pace of growth in 2013 with a year-on-year increase of 63%. Though growth lagged during the 2014-2015 period, the rate was still kept at 30% and above. Moreover, the market penetration rate of LED lighting in Southeast Asia has risen with each passing year and at an accelerating speed. Overall, the market penetration rate of LED lighting in the region is projected to grow from 12% to 32% within 2012-2015. Southeast Asia is growing into the most dynamic and promising LED lighting market.

GE announced Current, powered by GE, a first-of-its kind energy company that integrates GE’s LED, Solar, Energy Storage and Electric Vehicle businesses with its industrial strength Predix platform to identify and deliver the most cost effective, efficient energy solutions required by customers today and in the future. Maryrose Sylvester, who as President and CEO at GE Lighting has led the transformation of one of the company’s most iconic businesses, will lead the new enterprise. Current is backed by GE’s balance sheet and financing expertise, and committed to successfully advancing ecomagination-certified technology solutions, new business models and Predix solutions for the energy sector.

Chinese manufacturers exported LED lighting goods to India for the first eight months of 2015 reached US $355 million, according to a DIGITIMES report.

The method helps discovering the most efficient lamps, which may save billions in lighting costs in the future.

According to the latest 2015 Global LED Industry Supply and Demand Database Report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, capacity expansion efforts of Chinese LED chip manufacturers have resulted a supply glut with this year’s LED chip supply-demand ratio reaching 22%. LEDinside also estimates that the global MOCVD installed volume in 2015 will grow to 3,130 chambers, among which 1,473 are located in China and will account for 47% of this year’s global MOCVD capacity (MOCVD systems used in the calculation are of the K465i model).

The global average price of 40W replacement LED light bulbs fell 1.5% in August to US$10.9, while the 60W replacement LED light bulbs fell 2.3% to US$14.9, based on the latest report by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce. The U.S. was again the regional market that had the biggest decline in LED light bulb prices after July as product vendors including CREE and Philips are using package promotion deals and low prices to drive up sales volume and capture market shares, according to LEDinside analyst Allen Yu,. Furthermore, Chinese LED and chip manufacturers have been gradually expanding their capacities, pushing down component prices during this period of slowing demand. The competition in the LED market on the whole has therefore become more heated.

Fashion-forward jewelry brand Kendra Scott now features a central luminous patterned wall in several of its retail stores. In each store, the patterned wall is located behind the ColorBarTM by Kendra Scott experience, an area in the store where customers can customize their own jewelry. Third-party LED modules are used to backlight the frosted acrylic Danielle jewel shape that comprise the wall. Traxon & e:cue worked with the Kendra Scott design team to develop various scenes reflecting the colors of the jewelry. Each store location also has unique scenes programmed for their geographical region.

LEDinside Silver+ Member Report   3Q15 Residential Lighting- Bulb and Downlight Market   Global LED residential market is still in a transitional phase. Despite the dim global economic outlook, rapid growth is expected in the global LED residential lighting market.

A lot has happened in the field of automotive lighting in recent years. Modern technologies such as LED, OLED and laser are very much on the advance. Richard Lothholz, Global Head of Sales Automotive Lamps and LED at OSRAM, answers questions about the development of automotive lighting technology.

Researchers at the Hanover Centre for Optical Technologies (HOT), University of Hanover, Germany, have developed a self-contained fiber optic sensor for smartphones with the potential for use in a wide variety of biomolecular tests, including those for detecting pregnancy or monitoring diabetes. The readings of the sensor can run through an application on a smartphone which provide real-time results. When properly provisioned, the smartphone-user has the ability to monitor multiple types of body fluids, including: blood, urine, saliva, sweat or breath. In case of medical applications, the sensor readings can be combined with the GPS signal of a smartphone and users can then be guided to the next drug store, hospital or the ambulance.

The National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) published LE 6-2014 Procedure for Determining Target Efficacy Ratings for Commercial, Industrial, and Residential Luminaires. It was updated to explicitly include LED (light-emitting diode) technology and is of particular interest to recessed luminaire manufacturers, fluorescent lamp manufacturers, and HID (high intensity discharge) manufacturers.

Legacy Electronics, a U.S. designer and manufacturer of high-density memory modules, circuit boards and solid-state drives (SSDs) has expanded their management team by selecting Mike Ridling to fill the new position director of business development. In addition, Legacy is broadening their portfolio of components and memory modules through a contract to be the authorized North American distributor of Zentel Electronics DRAM and LED products.

Inspired by “ao dai”, the traditional Vietnamese garment for women, the 65-storey mixed-use Lotte Center Hanoi is designed to celebrate the cultural heritage of Vietnam. Comprised of two towers connected by a series of sky garden atria, Lotte Center Hanoi consists of commercial offices, a shopping mall, an observatory deck, a 5-star hotel, and serviced apartments. 

Lextar, a large LED manufacturing company under the AUO group, has sold one of its factory in Hsinchu County, Taiwan for NT $361 million (US $11.82 million) to Twoway Communications.

Blue light is important for the body to regulate the circadian rhythm, but too much exposure can cause permanent damage to the eyes, reported Pocono Record.

Acuity Brands unveiled this week at LIGHTFAIR® International luminaires using its Duet SSL(TM) Technology, a new design concept that optimizes the performance of OLED and LED light sources in a single luminaire. The interplay of the two solid-state technologies effectively combines the focused and directed light benefits of LEDs with the soft, uniform glow of OLEDs, offering specifiers new and more dynamic ways for lighting a space.

In this GE blog entry, Walter Kraus, the chairman of the Li-Fi Consortium, sheds insights on the different Li-Fi technologies available to the market at the moment.

In part one of the Dazhaoming article last week, a couple of Chinese LED experts offered their perspectives on how low pricing strategies would affect Philips. In this second half more experts offer their valuable insights.

Three out of six Chinese LED lighting manufacturers found themselves in an“awkward” financial situation in 2014, with many reporting plunging net profits in their recent fiscal report.

Panasonic Corporation today reported its consolidated financial results for the year ended March 31, 2015 (fiscal 2015).

Researchers at Oregon State University have invented a new technology that can increase the bandwidth of WiFi systems by 10 times, using LED lights to transmit information.

EU member states have recently voted in favor of pushing back halogen bans to 2018, as lobbyist argue LED alternatives are simply not ready to meet market demands yet, reported End Europe.

Indian electric goods maker Havells has acquired a controlling 51% stake in LED and solar energy company Pompetec Renewable Energy Solutions, reported The Economic Times.

The inside cabin of a passenger aircraft contains a number of components that play an important role in passenger comfort, and in turn, brand loyalty. For example, seats are considered to be a key element in differentiating airline brands, and for that reason, the design, comfort, and functionality of the seats are given top priority. Seat lighting also plays a particularly important role because it performs both functional and emotional tasks. The lighting expert SCHOTT offers a wide variety of different lighting concepts, based on both fiber optic and LED solutions, for airplanes, and will present these products at the Aircraft Interiors Expo (Booth 6B31) in Hamburg, Germany from April 14 to 16, 2015.

Jordan Valley, a leading supplier of X-ray based in-line metrology systems for advanced semiconductor manufacturers and equipment suppliers, today announced that it received a strategic order for its QC3 High Resolution X-ray Diffraction (HRXRD) System for strain & thin films metrology from AIXTRON R&D center in the U.S.

There are dozens of manufacturers in the global sapphire manufacturing market, but only tier one manufacturers are capable of supplying good quality sapphire ingots including Kyocera, Namiki, Monocrystal, DK AZTEC, USIO, Harbin Aurora Optoelectronics and Silan Opto. Leading sapphire manufacturers have launched production expansion plans to meet LED and non-LED market demands. LEDinside had an opportunity to interview Monocrystal Marketing Director Ludmila Zubova at TILS 2015 last week.

A Canadian-financed company, Graphene Lighting, has succeeded in commercializing graphene LED light bulbs, and will be launching the lights on the market sometime later this year, reported BBC.

MaxLite, a leading global manufacturer and marketer of energy-efficient luminaires and lamps, has expanded its line of LED PAR30 and PAR38 lamps to include 277-volt versions.