Plessey announced UK’s Regional Growth Fund (RGF) has officially granted £6.7 million (US $10.26 million) towards the expansion of the Plessey LED manufacturing facility in Plymouth, England. 

Philips Lighting CEO Eric Rondolat recently met with India Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the biannual “key market visit” to discuss smart cities, smart lighting and solar lighting opportunities in Indian metropolitans, reported LiveMint.

Originally a battery maker, Indian manufacturer Eveready is transiting into the LED lighting market recently with the aim of acquiring at least 10% market shares, according to a Business Standard report.

The French government is planning to give away one million LED bulbs to low income families in the country, reported French media The Connexion.

Ripple effects from volatile Chinese stock market has directly impacted LED capital market, shaking many companies’ management structures. Up to 18 managers in listed LED manufacturers have resigned as of Aug. 25, 2015, nearly double the number of senior managers that retired in 2014.

As of Aug. 21, 2015, 14 Chinese manufacturers have released their financial results for the first half of 2015. Some have become more profitable, while others have continued to incur heavy losses. LEDinside takes a closer look into these companies financial performance.

Globalized competition is inevitable in the LED industry with an increasing number of overseas LED companies entering Chinese market and vice versa.

Illumitex, maker of technologically advanced LED grow lights, today announced an initiative to help innovative indoor growers to secure a portion of a $50M grant fund available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

San’an Opto released its financial results for the first half of 2015 on August 18, 2015. The company’s sales reached RMB 2.3 billion (US$350 million) with 5.26% growth year on year (YoY). The reported net income available to shareholders is RMB 904 million, reflecting a 35.76% YoY growth.

Chinese courts have invalidated Cree’s patent “Apparatus and method for mounting electronic elements” (CN 200780015100.X) in its patent infringement lawsuit against Harvatek, said Harvatek Spokesperson Chi Hsiung Cheng. The company’s future product sales will benefit from the ruling, he added.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science published the Fiscal Year 2016 Phase I, Release 1 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) on August 17, 2015, for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. Under DE-FOA-0001366, whose complete listing of technical topics was released on July 20, DOE seeks applicants for grants directed toward FY16 Phase I projects. Topics for this funding opportunity can be found at //science.energy.gov/sbir/funding-opportunities and include LED and OLED lighting (see topic 7).

Illumitex and The Pennsylvania State University are pleased to announce an educational partnership that has resulted in more than 400 Illumitex Eclipse ES2 LED grow lights being put into service in multiple greenhouses operated by the storied university's College of Agricultural Sciences.

Reuters recently broke Go Scale Capital’s US $1.93 billion loan to acquire Lumileds and former Philips automotive lighting business. The loan will mostly be used to merge with the $2.8 billion financing to acquire 80% of Lumileds shares.

Qualcomm announced that its indirect, wholly-owned subsidiary, Qualcomm Global Trading, has completed its acquisition of CSR, a leading fabless provider of end-to-end semiconductor and software solutions for the Internet of Everything (IoE) and automotive segments. The acquisition, which was completed at an enterprise value of approximately $2.2 billion ($2.4 billion equity value)*, complements Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.’s (Qualcomm Technologies) current offerings by adding a compelling portfolio of new products, sales channels and a large number of customers in the areas of IoE and automotive – both key growth priorities for Qualcomm Technologies.

Scotland could save millions of pounds per year by upgrading to LED streetlights, according to statistics compiled by Scottish Future Trust.

Leyard Optoelectronic, a leading worldwide provider of LED display products and ancillary systems, and Planar Systems, a global leader in display and digital signage technology, announced they have entered into a definitive merger agreement, pursuant to which a U.S. affiliate of Leyard will acquire all of the common stock of Planar for a purchase price of US $6.58 per share. The merger values Planar’s equity at approximately $156.8 million on a fully diluted basis. The transaction is subject to specified closing conditions, including approval by the shareholders of both Planar and Leyard, and antitrust and other government clearance.

According to the data compiled by NPD, U.S. watch sales fell to a seven-year low in June 2015. Retailers sold $375 million timepieces during June, 11% less than one year ago. It is the worst decline since 2008, unit sales dropped 14 %. Release of the Apple Watch has impacted the timepiece industry and resulted in the recent decline.

Global LED chip demand and supply condition is gradually reaching an equilibrium, and easing the industry’s oversupply situation, according to a Qianjia.com report that quoted an electronic component industry report by UBS. Lighting is becoming one of the major application sectors in the LED industry, and China’s LED supply chain is expected to benefit from these changes. LED chip manufacturers are expected to benefit the most in the future.

According to the HCM City Energy Conservation Center, only 1,200 LED lights are used out of the total 102,500 bulbs for public lighting. Most of the other lights are high-pressure mercury (HPM) or high pressure sodium (HPS) lights, reported Viet Nam News.

TOGGLED®, developer and producer of next-generation solid-state lighting technology and named in the Top 25 Most Innovative Companies in South East Michigan by Crain's Detroit, reported today the addition of CLEANLIFE® Energy to its rapidly growing roster of LED lighting product licensees.

China’s LED industry has been hit with another wave of resigning managers in August, according to a LEDinside report. In the aftermath of the industry’s major manager turnover during March and April this year, more than nine senior managers have left in the last two months (from June 1 to August 5). Chairmen, vice CEOs, deputy general managers, interim member of the board of supervisors and others have stepped down, due to personal reasons. Below is a list of senior managers that have walked out.

The market for glass-based AMOLED displays is expected to reach almost US $23 billion in 2022. In an effort to adapt to new market conditions both Samsung and LG Display are now ramping up production capacity of plastic-based OLED displays, for which IDTechEx forecasts the market will nearly double next year from $1.5 billion in 2015 to $2.9 billion in 2016.

HC Semitek announced Tuesday night that it will be acquiring 100% of Crystaland shares for RMB 1.08 billion (US $170 million), according to a Chinese-language Securities Times report.

Chinese LED manufacturer Nationstar announced Tuesday the company revenue was up 24.65% Year-on-Year (YoY) to RMB 906 million (US $141.85 million), according to the company’s financial statement.

As part of its restructure efforts to raise LED profit margin, Panasonic will be shutting down its LED manufacturing factories in Indonesia while moving production to Japan, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

 Illumitex announced it has concluded its C1 round of funding, strengthening the company's cash position by US $16 million.

Cree, a market leader in LED lighting, announced revenue of US $382 million for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, ended June 28, 2015. This represents a 12% decrease compared to revenue of $436 million reported for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, and a 7% decrease compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2015. GAAP net loss for the fourth quarter was $88 million, or $0.83 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $30 million, or $0.24 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014. 

IKEA announced today that as of September 1, 2015, all IKEA stores will only sell LED bulbs and lighting to enable customers to live a more sustainable life at home. This bold move was announced in 2012 and IKEA is pleased it has met its commitment. Since 2013, IKEA U.S. customers have purchased 7.6 million LED bulbs, helping them collectively save nearly US $3 billion in energy costs. **

In a generation where people compare looks and family backgrounds, the business sector is also engaged in similar competitions. The LED industry is a field that is not short of manufacturers showing off their renowned backers. LEDinside lists below classical examples in the field.

GT Advanced Technologies,announced that Tom Gutierrez is retiring from the company and has resigned as Chief Executive Officer and as a director. The Board of Directors appointed David Keck, Executive Vice President and General Manager of the Polysilicon and Photovoltaic business, as the new Chief Executive Officer, effective immediately.