GO Scale Capital and Royal Philips announced that the parties have terminated their March 2015 agreement for GO Scale Capital to acquire 80.1% of Royal Philips' LED lighting components and automotive lighting business, Lumileds. After close to one year of best efforts by GO Scale Capital and Royal Philips to obtain approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in United States (CFIUS), the parties have been unable to resolve CFIUS' unspecified concerns.         

LED bulb procurement prices in Madhya Pradesh, located in central India, have dropped another 10% from INR 73 per bulb (US $1.08) to INR 64.41 per unit, according to an official statement on Sunday.

Japanese OLED panel manufacturer Japan Display announced it will be mass producing OLED panels in 2018, which has led many tech media including Engadget and Apple Rumors to speculate Apple might be launching an OLED screened phone in the near future.

This has been a turbulent week for the LED industry. Philips announced just a few hours ago that it has terminated the sales of Lumileds to Go Scale Capital, the company was forced to abort the US $3.3 billion business transaction, due to opposition raised by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS). The company probably has a potential buyer lined up, and it will be worth observing who the new owner of Lumileds will be.

Royal Philips announced that Philips and GO Scale Capital have terminated the agreement pursuant to which the consortium led by GO Scale Capital would acquire an 80.1% interest in Lumileds.

When the LED industry speaks about emerging markets, India, Russia, and Middle East countries are probably the top three markets that pop up in manufacturers’ minds. Rarely, do people think about testing the waters in the African market, but one Hong Kong LED lighting manufacturer has made its way into Nigeria.

The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (Bescom) in India was not aware of union Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) LED bulb policy, according to a report from Bangalore Mirror.

Option announces the acquisition of the shares of the Dutch LED lighting companies Lemnis Lighting BV Public and Innolumis Public Lighting BV and merges the two companies into a single commercial organization under the name Innolumis Public Lighting.

ANADIGICS announced that, on January 15, 2016, it entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger pursuant to which II-VI Incorporated ("II-VI") has offered to acquire all of the outstanding shares of ANADIGICS common stock on a fully diluted basis for $0.66 per share net in cash, pursuant to an all-cash tender offer and second-step merger (the "II-VI Merger Agreement").  The offer price in the II-VI Merger Agreement constitutes an increase of $0.31 per share over the November 11, 2015 agreement and plan of merger pursuant to which affiliates of GaAs Labs, LLC offered to acquire all of the outstanding shares of ANADIGICS common stock on a fully diluted basis for $0.35 per share net in cash, pursuant to an all-cash tender offer and second-step merger (the "GaAs Labs Merger Agreement").  On January 12, 2016, the Company announced that the $0.66 per-share offer from II-VI (an "Excluded Party," as defined in the GaAs Labs Merger Agreement, and referred to in the Company's January 12, 2016 announcement as "Party A") had been determined by the Company's Board of Directors to constitute a "Superior Offer," as that term is defined in the GaAs Labs Merger Agreement.

Leading U.S. LED company Cree will be setting back the spinout of its radio frequency and power product businesses, the company CEO Chuck Swoboda told analysts Tuesday.

Cree, a market leader in LED lighting, today announced revenue of US $436 million for its second quarter of fiscal 2016, ended December 27, 2015. This represents a 5% increase compared to revenue of $413 million reported for the second quarter of fiscal 2015, and a 2% increase compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2016. GAAP net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 was $14 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $12 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2015. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2016 was $30 million, or $0.30 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2015 of $38 million, or $0.33 per diluted share.

Olaf Berlien, CEO of OSRAM Licht AG, and Grant Wright, CEO and CFO of OSRAM Americas, unveiled the new OSRAM Americas headquarters at a ribbon cutting ceremony recently in Wilmington, Massachusetts.

Shortly after Epistar held its board meeting on Monday, numerous reports from Taiwanese media claimed the company was about to be merged. MLS, Philips and even Lumileds were named by speculators as potential buyers, following the reports Epistar’s shares climbed up to NT $29.5 (US $0.88) per share, reported TechNews. However, Epistar Spokesman Rider Chang has denied all these claims.

The Indian government has rolled out numerous large scaled LED bulb distribution projections across the nation, but not all Indian consumers are warming up to the low-priced bulbs, according to a report from The Deccan Herald.

Puducherry, a Union Territory of India, has launched its second phase LED bulb distribution project, The Hindu reported Puducherry Electricity Minister T. Thiagarajan saying recently.

A town in Massachusetts, U.S. has decided to put its LED streetlight upgrade on hold, even though it had received funding from Department of Energy Resources in conjunction with the town’s new status as a Green Community, reported The Patriot Ledger.

Osram, one of the world's leading lighting manufacturers, continues to make progress with the carve-out of its general lighting lamps business. After the supervisory board of OSRAM Licht AG approved the carve-out of the unit in June 2015, the name of the new company has now also been decided. “We have opted for a combination of the terms ‘LED’ and ‘advance’ and will call the newly established company LEDVANCE,” said Olaf Berlien, Chief Executive Officer of OSRAM Licht AG. “The name reflects the trend toward LED in the lighting market as well as the opportunities arising from this development – opportunities LEDVANCE will actively exploit.”

A report from Korean media ET News pointed out that Samsung Display will be supplying flexible OLEDs for the next generation Apple iPhones.

A Zambia-based power utility company Zesco has distributed more than 480,000 energy efficient lamps nationwide out of its 1 million bulb target, according to reports by Zambia Reports and others.

Osram, one of the leading lighting companies, has granted Taiwan’s Unity Opto Technology Co. Ltd. a royalty-bearing license to produce white LED packages under Osram core patents covering phosphor conversion technology. This technology is widely used in the LED industry for the generation of white light based on a semiconductor chip emitting blue light that is partially converted into one or more other colors by suitable phosphor materials.

By replacing traditional luminaires with LEDs, India could save US$ 6 billion annually by 2018, said Piyush Goyal, Minister of State with Independent Charge for Power, Coal, New and Renewable Energy in the Government of India.

The Optical Society (OSA) has announced that Dr. Gregory Quarles has joined The Optical Society as Chief Scientist. In this position, Dr. Quarles is responsible for the scientific infrastructure of the society. This includes content development for OSA incubators, annual meetings and the establishment of partnerships with research laboratories around the world. Quarles is a globally recognized leader for his strategic partnerships with the federal government, industry and academia, as well as his innovative work in the progression of global materials research, specifically developing new laser devices for medical, military and industrial applications.

Shanghai Feilo Acoustics and The Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) recently signed a termination agreement that ended the international bank’s role as the sole financial consultant for the Chinese LED luminaire company’s plan to acquire Osram’s lighting business.

Veeco Instruments announced  William (Bill) J. Miller, Ph.D. has been promoted to President, effective immediately.  In his new role, Dr. Miller will have direct responsibility over all of Veeco’s business units and central R&D.  He will also oversee global manufacturing operations, a responsibility he assumed in 2015.

Demand for lighting equipment jumped 4.4% between the second and third quarters of 2015 to achieve what the National Lighting Bureau hails as “the best quarterly performance since the second quarter of 2008.” The dramatic improvement – a 4.8% year-over-year gain – was revealed by data developed by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) for the NEMA Lighting-Systems Index (LSI). According to NLB Executive Director John Bachner, “Three months ago we said that ‘lighting-equipment demand is moving in the right direction’ and “We’re optimistic that the next report will show continued growth over the third quarter.’ Our optimism has been justified; in fact, it has been more than justified. Lighting’s back!”

James “Jim” Yorgey, P.E., LC, CTS, Lutron Electronics Company’s technical-applications manager, has been re-elected chair of the National Lighting Bureau, the independent, not-for-profit, lighting-education foundation sponsored by professional societies, trade associations, manufacturers, utilities, and agencies of the U.S. government.

The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) in Taiwan and Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group have established a joint fund to support the development of laser technology in Taiwan, and assist local companies brushless DC motor controlled IC modules enter the large Japanese vendors supply chain.

HC Semitek announced recently that it would be investing in total RMB 6 billion (US $915,625) in the construction of a new LED epiwafer, chip and production line in Yiwu Industrial Park, according to a report from Chinese-language China Securities.

Chinese LED manufacturers San’an Opto and Silan Microelectronics both announced receiving massive subsidies from the local government recently.

Moso Power announced Monday that the company and its wholly- owned subsidiary Shenzhen Moso Electric received RMB 8.5 million (US $1.3 million) subsidies from the government.