Light + Building 2018, the largest trade fair for lighting and building services technology in Europe, officially begins on March 18. For the next six days, 18-23 March, exhibitors at the show will showcase their state-of-the-art products and technologies, whether they are for lighting, communication, building automation, or automotive applications.

Chinese LED packager Nationstar on March 2 inaugurated its new research center focusing on the research and development of Mini LED and Micro LED.

Philips Lighting finally made an announcement about the name change. It intends to change its name from Philips Lighting to Signify. The choice of the new company name originates from the fact that light becomes an intelligent language, which connects and conveys meaning.

Tridonic initiated patent lawsuits against telecommunication retailer S-KON eKontor24 GmbH. Although District Court Munich I affirmed Tridonic’s arguments, parties agreed on a settlement for reasons of legal certainty and prompt settlement of the dispute.

Optovate Ltd., the Micro LED optical specialist, announces that it has realized a Micro LED technology that enables multiple Micro LEDs transferred in parallel from a wafer to a substrate to be aligned in one step with a precision optical array. The technology is the subject of a portfolio of 20 granted and pending patents dating from 2008.

Photonics product provider Lumentum and Oclaro, specializing in optical components and modules, announced that the two companies have signed a definitive agreement, unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both companies, pursuant to which Lumentum will acquire all of the outstanding common stock of Oclaro.

The nights in the German federal states („Bundesländer") have been getting brighter and brighter - but not everywhere at the same rate and with one peculiar exemption: light emissions from Thuringia decreased between 2012 and 2017.

A team led by engineers at the University of California San Diego has used data mining and computational tools to discover a new phosphor material for white LEDs that is inexpensive and easy to make.

Through a European project, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland and Neonelektro have developed new types of LED displays that combine the flexibility, low cost and high technical performance enabled by roll-to-roll mass manufacturing technology.

A soft, flexible contact lens can monitor glucose levels in tears and deliver sensing results through the lens display, alerting the user if glucose levels are too high by turning off a tiny embedded LED light, according to a new report from UNIST, Korea.

Solar-Tectic LLC ("ST") announced that a paper reporting a breakthrough thin-film transistor (TFT) technology, that promises greatly to improve current processes used the industry, has been published in the peer reviewed journal Materials Letters. The title of the paper is: "High mobility crystalline silicon film growth below 600°C from an Au-Si eutectic melt for TFTs".

Mini LED is a new display technology in Asia. AU Optronics (AUO) on March 8 released the world's first Mini LED-based product line, including a gaming monitor, a gaming laptop, and a small-sized display for VR wearable devices. The company will begin to ship its Mini LED products in 2H18 and the large-scale gaming monitor will be the first to be on the market, said Michael Tsai, General Manager at AUO.

Seoul Semiconductor announced on March 8, 2018 that it has filed three new patent infringement lawsuits, together with its affiliate, Seoul Viosys Co., Ltd. (collectively “Seoul”), against a lighting company and distributors selling products that allegedly infringe Seoul's Acrich patents.

Osram enters a partnership with Nedap, developer and supplier of smart technological solutions, endorsing the DEXAL Technology (Data Exchange for Advanced Lighting). 

LITE-ON Technology today reported February consolidated revenue of NT$13.04 billion, decreased 21% M-o-M and 19% Y/Y, mainly impacted by the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday shutdown. Cumulative sales for January and February totaled NT$29.54 billion.

Before we can see real Micro LED, sized below 100µm, Mini LED (100-250µm) will be rolled out to the market first. People must be curious about which consumer electronics will Mini LED choose and how will it enter those markets.

Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2018 has concluded and major smartphone vendors at the event have unveiled their smartphone lineup for this year, revealing the development trends in smartphone technology and specifications. According to WitsView, a division of TrendForce, full-screen smartphones will become the trend in market this year. The pursuit of narrower bezels and notch designs has emerged, bringing about solutions of under-display fingerprint sensor and applications combining camera modules and facial recognition.

Samsung Electronics launched its flagship line of 2018 QLED TVs and AV products at the 2018 First Look New York event at the American Stock Exchange building in Manhattan.

Micro LED display developer VueReal announced on March 6 the initial closing of its $10.5 million (USD) Series A funding led by the venture arm of a large Asian company and a leading North American vendor focused on startups with emerging technology.

Silvair announces partnerships with Fulham, McWong International, Murata, Danlers, ERP Power and DG Light to bring to the market a wide range of components and products designed for setting up smart lighting infrastructures in commercial spaces.

Silvair, a pioneer in lighting control technology based on Bluetooth mesh, announces its partnership with Sylvania - a full-spectrum provider of professional and architectural lighting solutions. The collaboration will focus on introducing one of the world’s first Bluetooth mesh certified lighting control systems for professional applications.

Stocks of Taiwanese pattern sapphire substrate (PSS) providers, including Crystalwise, Rigitech Microelectronics, and Acme Electronics, lately witness a noticeable hike.

Apple’s launch of iPhone X has led to a wave of 3D sensing technology, bringing its key component—vertical cavity surface emitting laser (VCSEL)—into the spotlight. However, the number of VCSEL suppliers with mass production capacity is very limited due to technical barriers, leading to short supply of VCSELs and thus delaying Android camp’s plan to follow suit. TrendForce estimates the penetration rate of 3D sensing in smartphones will grow from 2.1% in 2017 to 13.1% in 2018, while Apple remains the major adopter.

JBD, a HK-based startup founded in 2015, carried out extensive research and development work to realize inorganic compound semiconductor material based display technology. Near the end of 2017, JBD introduced a new Micro LED technology for microdisplay manufacturing. LEDinside contacted Dr. Fang Ou, CTO, and Dr. Lei Zhang, CEO of JBD, and got the information about the technique in detail.

To galvanize Velodyne’s educational efforts, the company has released “LiDAR 101,” a video showcasing how LiDAR sensors contribute to autonomous technology.

Cree, Inc. has acquired assets of Infineon Technologies AG Radio Frequency (RF) Power Business for approximately € 345 million. The transaction expands the Cree Wolfspeed business unit’s wireless market opportunity.

Taiwan-based LED chip manufacturer Epistar reported a decrease of 8.59% MoM and a growth of 11.52% YoY in its revenue for January 2018. The slow season and the price decline of LED are factored in for the decrease.

Chinese lighting companies MLS Co. and Foshan Electrical and Lighting Co. are seeking financial supports for bidding GE’s asset, Reuters reported. The deal is potentially to amount at USD 1 billion, according to sources in the industry.

Samsung Electronics’ newest QLED TVs will offer an unrivalled viewing experience when they are revealed in New York, USA.

LED vertical integration manufacturer Lextar Electronics registered a revenue of NTD 760 million (USD 25.97 million) for February, down 21.7% MoM. The company attributed the revenue decline to the Chinese New Year holiday and product mix adjustment.