NEMA’s Lighting Systems Index increased 1.9 percent from the second to the third quarters of 2014, climbing to its highest level to date in calendar year 2014.  The index posted a gain of 4.1 percent on a year-over-year basis. Shipments of emergency lighting, fixtures, and miniature lamps improved during the quarter; however, ballast and large lamp shipments fell.

A recruiting and staffing firm for Cree has laid off 319 contract workers that work for the LED company in Durham, North Carolina, U.S., according to a news & observer report.

Taiwan’s LED gross output value could soar at double digit rates in 2015 as local suppliers seek out various application sectors to boost shipments, said Taiwan’s LED Lighting Industry Association (TLLIA).

Having established a foothold in the Egyptian market, Tamer Abol Ghar, CEO of Philips North East Africa, recently spoke Egypt media Daily News about the company’s plans for 2015.

Access Fixtures, a leader in commercial and sports lighting, is proud to announce a 53% revenue growth in a year-over-year comparison from 2013 to 2014. Specifically, LED products exceeded a growth of 100% year-over-year, demonstrating the constant advancement of LED technology and rapid adoption of LED products, including LED bollard lights,LED wall packs, and LED flood lights. LED product sales now exceed 50% of Access Fixtures total revenue.

Chinese LED manufacturer Leyard’s oversea military orders reached nearly RMB 100 million (US $16 million) last year, according to a Jinghua report.

TrendForce, a global market intelligence firm, announced today that it has become the majority shareholder of Topology Research Institute, and has fully acquired operation and management rights. Kevin Lin, the CEO of TrendForce, will also hold the title of Chairman of Topology. Topology’s operations, brand, and managing staff will be under the same business model after the merger.  LEDinside is a research division of TrendForce.

Universal Display and Sumitomo Chemical (Sumitomo Chemical) today announced the signing of a new OLED Technology License Agreement. Under the agreement, Universal Display has granted Sumitomo Chemical non-exclusive license rights, under various patents owned or controlled by Universal Display, to manufacture and sell solution-processed organic light emitting diode (OLED) lighting products. The agreement runs for the life of Universal Display’s relevant intellectual property rights.

Digital Lumens announced today that deployments of its enterprise-scale Intelligent LED Lighting System span 200 million square feet (20 million square meters) of commercial and industrial space. This represents 100% installed base growth in 2014, bringing the Internet of Things (IoT) to customers around the world.

Cree, a market leader in LED lighting, today announced revenue of $413.2 million for its second quarter of fiscal 2015, ended December 28, 2014, which is similar to revenue of $415.1 million reported for the second quarter of fiscal 2014. GAAP net income for the second quarter was $12.2 million, or $0.10 per diluted share, a decrease of 66% year-over-year compared to GAAP net income of $35.7 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, for the second quarter of fiscal 2014.

A major Epistar shareholder has demanded for Chinese LED chip manufacturer San’an Opto to withdraw investments in the company, due to the Chinese company’s headhunting activities, according to a recent Economic Daily News report.

Chinese LED manufacturer HC Semitek announced on Thursday, it would be privately issuing bonds to raise RMB 500 million (US $80.81 million) to replenish the company’s depleted cash flow and improve finances.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Unity Opto Technology (Unity Opto) is planning to retaliate against Cree’s recent patent infringement lawsuit, according to a Money DJ report.

LG was ordered by South Korea’s labor ministry to halt OLED panel production, after a nitrogen gas leak on Monday claimed the life of two workers and injured four, according to a Reuters report.

U.S. LED manufacturer Cree’s recent lawsuit against Unity Opto and its luminaire client Feit Electronics will not impact the company’s revenue performance in 2015, a UDN report cited Unity Opto Spokesperson Jacky Wen saying.

Everlight has breached the high revenue barrier to become a new official member of the “US $1 billion Club” as the company’s consolidated annual revenue for 2014 soared up 23.99% to NT $30.61 billion, according to a news report from China Times.

The main objective of Epistar’s acquisition of TSMC SSL is to obtain key LED substrate technology to prevent Japanese manufacturer Toshiba from taking the lead in GaN-on-Si technology, according to a Chinese-language Wealth Magazine report.

Changshu city located in Jiangsu Province, China, has exported a total of 16,063 kilograms of LED phosphor powder valuing US $12.02 million last year, according to statistics compiled by the Changshu Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Lextar reported incremental revenue growth in December 2014, according to a latest United Daily News (UDN) report.

Chinese LED manufacturer Leyard’s estimated net profits had shoot up 90% to 110% in 2014 to RMB 152 million to RMB 162 million (US $24.45 million to US $26.06 million), according to a Chinese-language Panorama Network report.

Nationstar’s Vice Chairmen Yao Hao Wang and Binhai Yu sold 11.55 million company shares, or equivalent to 2.68% company stock shares from Dec. 29-30, 2014, according to a report by Quanjing.com.

Upstream Taiwanese LED chip manufacturers including Epistar and leading downstream LED manufacturers Everlight and Lextar were upbeat about the industry’s growth in 2015, with most forecasting at least 20% growth, reported UDN.

More and more Chinese lighting companies are joining the long Initial Public Offering (IPO) approval wait list despite Chinese government’s slow progress of the applications.

San’an Opto is expected to fully benefit from the growing LED market value, according to a report from China Finance Media.

SemiLEDs Corporation (NASDAQ: LEDS), “SemiLEDs” or the “Company,” a developer and manufacturer of LED chips and LED components, today announced it has entered into a definitive common stock purchase agreement with Mr. XiaoQing Han, Chairman and CEO of Beijing XiaoQing Environmental Protection Group. Under the terms of this agreement, Mr. Han will acquire a 15% interest in SemiLEDs common stock at a purchase price of $1.00 per share for a total consideration of $5.0 million and will join the SemiLEDs Board of Directors upon closing of the transaction.

San’an Opto has decided to allocate a total of RMB 500 million ($80.03 million) to three subsidiaries including Anhui San’an Opto, Tianjin San’an Opto, and Xiamen San’an Opto for production expansion, according to a latest company announcement.

The Chinese central government’s policy to terminate LED industry subsidies will be extended to local governments, according to a latest Chinese-language UDN report.

San’an Opto was granted RMB 230 million (US $37.11 million) subsidy by Torch Hi-tech Industrial Development Zone Committee for 50 MOCVDs the company recently purchased, according to a news report from China Securities Journal.

Refond Optoelectronics announced that the company had received RMB 4 million (US $647,708) subsidy from China’s Ministry of Finance on December 16.

Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI), a subsidiary of the Chicony Group, recently announced at an investors’ conference that the company received big flip chips order from Samsung, and flip chips will account for 25% of the company’s 2015 overall revenue, according to an Economic Daily News report.