Opto Tech Corp., a Taiwan-based LED manufacturer, has recently won the order to supply over 30,000 LED (light emitting diode) streetlights for the LED streetlight project in Guangzhou, China. As part of its energy-saving program, China is to install over 1.4 million streetlights nationwide by the end of 2009, which will cost an estimated RMB 20 billion. (US$2.9 billion at US$1:RMB6.7).

European and U.S. Manufacturers in the Exhibition Cree Cree, the leading U.S.-based LED manufacturer, had its booth in Exhibition Hall 1.1. The major products exhibited by the company were LED components, which attracted a number of visitors. As the company’s featured product on the show, the XP-E,MC-E series, boasts its compact size and high luminous efficacy. The MC-E series, on the other hand, emphasizes multi-chip technology with its color-adjustable function.

Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition 2009 was held at Guangzhou Pazhou Complex from June 09 to 12. At the show this year, the 12 exhibition halls were filled with some 1600 exhibitors, compared to 1676 manufacturers last year.  

After several technology breakthroughs, Lebelight has become the first manufacturer in the world to mass-produce 130 lm grade 1W LEDs. This new grade of 1W white LEDs are low-cost, long-lasting, and ROHS and CE certified. Lebelight also announced similar breakthroughs to its 0.5W, 1W, 3W, 5W, 10W, 30W, and 100W single-packaged LEDs. Lebelight also produces LED light-fixtures including street lights, tunnel lights, solar-powered outdoor LED lights, coal miner lamps, emergency LED lights, LED bulbs, office and family LED lights, etc.

Taiwan-based Walsin Lihwa Group has invested US$200 million to build an LED lighting plant in Shannxi, China, to seize the huge business opportunities in Chinese LED market, according to the group chairman Chiao Yu-lon.

In China, energy-efficient bulbs and alternative power sources are increasingly used in the Christmas lights industry. Two years ago, about one-fifth of the 1,000 suppliers had the capability to make LED-equipped models. And less than 20 percent of their total production was allotted to the segment, as incandescent designs were mainstream. By now, nearly all the suppliers boast regular manufacturing lines for LED Christmas lights. In fact, such types now account for 60 to 70 percent of the output in most factories.

A procurement delegation from mainland China is currently visiting Taiwan, and according to members of the delegation, would place lucrative contract orders with the island’s light emitting diode (LED) manufacturers by the end of this year, the Taiwan Economic News reports. The orders will include LED products like epitaxy wafer, chips, packages and lighting systems. Chinese government has brought forward an aggressive plan to install 1.4 million LED streetlights in major cities by the end of 2009 as part of its energy-saving effort.

Light-emitting diode (LED) manufacturers in Taiwan and mainland China can work together to develop better technologies and create a win-win situation, said representatives from the industry during a cross-strait LED forum held in Taipei on Tuesday, reports The China Post. Taiwan has formed a complete LED supply chain network, with manufacturers having developed expertise in LED applications in notebook PC and LCD TV back-light panels, said Huang Chung-chiu, Taiwan’s deputy minister of economic affairs.

LEDinside has recently visited Dr. Li-Chang Yang, Chairman of Taiwan’s LED  IC manufacturer Macroblock Tech, to get some knowledge about the current situation on the global LED display (LED advertising screen) market, and the future developing direction of the company.  

Solomon Systech Ltd, a semiconductor company providing display IC products and system solutions based in Hong Kong, has announced the SSD1306, an OLED driver designed for saving total system cost. With only three capacitors and a built-in charge pump, the device can support the OLED module at high performance using a low voltage supply of 3.3V to 4.2V.

AIXTRON AG yesterday announced that Hualei Optoelectronic Ltd., based in Hunan Province, P.R. China, has issued a purchase contract for multiple CRIUS(R) MOCVD systems. The tools for production of high brightness LEDs will be shipped from Q2/09 through Q4/09. This contract represents AIXTRON's largest ever single order for MOCVD systems from China. Part of this order has been recorded as order intake in Q1/2009.

Opto Tech Corp., a Taiwanese LED provider, has successfully outbid its counterparts to supply large-sized LED display screens for China Pavilion of the World Expo 2010 in Shanghai, according to the company.

The Urban Renewal Authority (URA) of Hong Kong will spend about HK$270million on green upgrades for Wan Chai's Lee Tung Street and Kwun Tong town center. The green initiative is to encourage developers and the community to adopt more environment-friendly practices, authority chairman Barry Cheung Chun- yuen said Sunday.

Samsung LED, a light-emitting diodes (LED) unit of Samsung, the global electronics giant, has set up its first overseas manufacturing base in Tianjin, China. Tianjin Samsung LED Co., Ltd, was established with a starting capital of 30 million U.S. dollars, according to the Tianjin Economic-Technological Development Area (Teda) Administrative Commission. The spokesman Zhang Liang said Saturday that initial investment to the Tianjin manufacturing base would reach 90 million U.S. dollars.

A report on the state of the LED-based traffic light market in China has recently been published on Reports-research.com. The report indicates that the market for LED-based traffic lights in China still has significant room to grow in the future from demand in small and medium sized cities.

LEDinside has recently interviewed Tung Guoqing, Cree Inc.’s general manager of Business Development in China, also authorized representative of Shanghai photoelectricity industry association and director of Chinese semiconductor lighting committee. Either on behalf of the lighting committee, or as Cree’s representative in China, manager Tang has shared with us the most valuable insights in the illumination industry and LED market in China.  

Epistar Corp, Taiwan’s largest LED provider, is now in talks with Chinese lighting manufacturers and local governments about some investment projects said the comany.

  In Da An Art Gallery in Zhongshan, China, the traditional spotlights have been replaced with LEDs for lighting of the exhibits. Comparing with the traditional halogen and fluorescent lamps, the LED spotlights emit no ultraviolet radiation and require no filters to protect the pictures.

Taiwan would standardize light-emitting-diode (LED) products with China to tap into the global market against the intense competition from Japan, South Korea, Germany and the US, Taiwan Premier Liu Chao-shiuan said last Friday. As part of Taiwan government’s “Bridge-Building” Plan, Taiwan would talk with China in June to reach an agreement on the standardization of LEDs and a certification system, establishing a platform for cross-strait industrial cooperation.

Raysun Huaguang Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. of China has qualified gallium nitride (GaN) and arsenic phosphide (AsP) metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) systems from Veeco Instruments Inc., a tool provider in comprehensive fields, for high volume production of red and blue high-brightness light emitting diodes.

A group of scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences has recently developed a new type of LED made from plastic like organic materials, which is an important step towards the goal of improving the efficiency of light bulbs. This cheap and efficient LED is designed with a simplified "tandem" structure, and can produce twice as much light as a normal LED——including the white light desired for home and office lighting.

Taiwan LED makers say the LED industry may recover earlier than other industries, with the application range of LED expected to become wider this year and more and more LEDs being installed into notebooks, monitors, LCD TVs as well as lighting fields. Several factors have driven up the global LED industry, and for mainland China, the bright outlook mainly owes to the encouragement from the government, concluded the industry watchers.

Avnet Electronics Marketing, an operating group of the global technology distributor, Avnet, Inc., and the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate in the promotion of the energy-saving LED lighting industry.

According to survey by LEDinside, the total Feb 2009 revenue of listed Taiwan LED suppliers reached NTD 3.74billion, up 33% than Jan 2009 (YoY-25%), with the revenue of LED chip manufacturers at NTD 1.496 billion, up 46% and that of LED packaging manufacturers improved by 25% at NTD 2.243 billion comparing to January.

Diguang Electronics, a LED and CCFL backlight supplier of China, has launched its new range of 19" ultrathin LED monitors.                                    

The February revenue of LED suppliers of Taiwan which sell most products to China mainland has grown substantially due to the sudden demand surge in low-price IT products in that market.

According to industry research institute LEDinside, the January 2009 total revenue of Taiwan upstream LED manufacturers is 2.743 billion NTD. With the lunar New Year influencing the total working days of the month, the revenue of January went on its dropping comparing with December, 2008 (MoM -15.9%，YoY -52.6%).

Aqualite Co. Ltd., a company based in Wuhan, China, has purchased three Close Coupled Showerhead (CCS) CRIUS MOCVD systems from AIXTRON AG, worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry. It’s disclosed that the three CCS CRIUS systems were delivered in the 31x2 inch wafer configuration in the third and fourth quarter of 2008. Aqualite intends to utilize these reactors for the development and production of blue, green and white LED chips.

As environmental protection becomes an issue of increasing concern, energy-saving policies have been brought forward continually by Chinese government. According to LEDinside, the LED industry may benefit from the RMB 4 trillion economy stimulus funds planned to be devoted before the end of 2010. And the EXPO 2010 in Shanghai will also bring out another LED demand high tide after the Beijing Olympic Games 2008.

It’s reported that Gertrude Neumark Rothschild, professor emerita of Materials Science and Engineering at Columbia University in New York, filed a complaint with the U.S.