Epistar’s board recently approved a NT$1 billion (US$33.43 million) capital investment plan in a wholly owned Taiwanese subsidiary company that was originally a factory of Huga Optotech, according to Epistar. To meet client demands, some orders will be commissioned to the subsidiary’s factories based in Central Taiwan Science Park. The subsidiary will be mostly manufacturing InGaN LED dies in the future, with productions estimated to begin during first quarter of 2014. 

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI) announced record high revenues in July of NT$ 368 million (US$ 12.32 million), as lighting products revenue ratio jumped to 50%. Increased shipments in flip-chips, 3D COB products, and stable orders from Japanese lighting clients contributed to the increase in lighting revenues. Under the pressure of lowering prices caused by oversupply in the LED industry, the upstream LED chip manufacturer has established a clear lighting transformation strategy for 2013. 

LED chip manufacturer Chi Mei Technology Corp went out of business last month after a surprise exodus by the company’s board members. A staggering amount of NT$5.6 billion in unpaid debts has lead to anger from creditor banks. The phones were ringing off the hook yesterday (7) for Chi Mei’s top shareholder Innolux with calls from legal persons and investors. Innolux expressed that during today’s (8) online conference, chairman Tuan Hsing-chien will be there himself to offer explanation.

Rubicon Technology, Inc., a leading provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, RFIC, semiconductor, and optical industries, yesterday reported financial results for its second quarter ended June 30, 2013. The Company reported second quarter revenue of $10.6 million as compared with $8.3 million in the prior quarter. Revenue was higher sequentially due to the stronger demand for two- and four-inch core products driven by the strengthening LED market. Raja Parvez, President and CEO of Rubicon Technology, commented, “We saw stronger demand for tw...

It is reported that RVLT, the best stock in the U.S. market increased 515 percent this year. The company has specialized in the sales of LED light, LED light board and LED strip light. Although, the company's revenue reached $6.31 million in 1Q, it still incurred a loss of $5.32 million. U.S. investors remain positive about RVLT indicating the U.S. market's optimistic reaction towards the LED lighting industry.

Without Taiwan’s Investment Commission approval, Taiwanese LED manufacturer FOREPI’s and Chinese manufacturer San’an Optoelectronics’ (San’an) ownership stake acquisition deal was thwarted. FOREPI’s board of directors approved San’an as a shareholder in private investment in late June, and recently planned to start a new LED company through a joint venture with TCL and Refond. The two approaches show FOREPI’s ambition and strategy in the Chinese LED market.

"Daily Economic News" made statistics for the top 25 U.S. Stocks, which shows obvious industry distribution characteristics: six of the 25 stocks belong to the pharmaceutical industry, five of the 25 U.S. Stocks belong to renewable energy industry, three are media stocks, the rest belong to bank, application software, real estate investment, Internet travel, paper supplies and other industries. RVLT: pioneer of LED Commercialization Who is the best U.S. Stock? The answer is Revolution Lighting (RVLT) in Charlotte; the stock has totally soared by ...

Recently, REFOND said that the recent capacity expansion has eased its capacity bottlenecks, while in the case that backlight procurement is transferring and demand in lighting market is accelerating, the expansion will be helpful for the company to realize earnings growth in future. In the short term, it becomes more possible for REFOND to achieve great revenue growth in the second half of this year. Bank of China International (BOCI) stated that REFOND will achieve continued growth in the coming years for full benefit from the growth in lighting demand. RE...

According to a new report issued by Memoori Research, we can know the market quotation of LED lighting in buildings, market size data, investment data and all the factors that influence the industries future. The company predicted that revenue from the global LED lighting market for buildings will reach up to $25.4 billion by 2017, which is about $l6 billion more than that in this year. This means the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in the overall market reached 22%. The global market distribution of the LED lighting will remain the same during the next five years...

It is learned from the earnings report recently released by Epistar Corporation that its consolidated revenues in May reached 2.223 billion NTD, a growth of 15.85% over last month, also an annual growth of 19,42%. In view of the company's operation, Jye Lee who is the Chairman of Epistar Corporation said that the market demand for LED blue chip has started from March, while the demand for LED AlGaInP Chip in the initial stage has been weak, but in May, the market demand for LED AlGaInP chip increased significantly, which has become the main reason for ...

LEDinside, a subsidiary of TrendForce, is ready to hold a grand and perfect LEDforum 2013 Guangzhou  on June 11 th , to provide valuable advice that can help LED industry players to face challenges in the future.   This time, LEDforum 2013 will provide a perfect platform to interact with global LED market leaders from Cree, Philips Lumileds, Veeco, YunFeng , KLA-Tencor, Epistar, Richtek, Honglitronic, Refond. These leaders will share their insights on the development of the LED market. LEDinside analyst team will put forward Global L...

The 18th Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition will be held from June 9 to 12 at the China Import and Export Fair Exhibition Centre. The exhibition is expected to attract more than 110,000 visitors to come to visit, including GE (USA), Osram (Germany), Philips (Netherlands), LumiLEDs (United States), Cree and others from 27 countries and regions, a total of more than 2,600 exhibitors will fully participate in the meeting. In the secondary market, LED plate has begun to achieve a sharp adjustment since May 24, according to the research report recentl...

Demand for LED backlighting rebounded in the first half of 2013, Taiwan-based LED chipmaker Epistar believes demand for LED lighting will show strong growth in the second half of 2013 and lighting applications may account for 35-40% of its total revenues. LED firms said judging from past experience, international tier-one TV makers usually slow down procurement in July-August with only China-based makers continuing to procure products. However, as China's energy-saving appliance procurement subsidies are set to end soon, demand for TV backlighting products in th...

Due to the increasing demand of customers, utilization of Ledtech Electronics in the second quarter further enhanced, the growth in utilization is good for the continuous improvement in gross margins, so that the revenue in the second quarter increases by 20 percent and profit is expected to increase sharply. Its legal person stated that the utilization in the second quarter of Ledtech Electronics will increase from 70% in the first quarter to 75% as the demand continued to improve. The improvement in utilization is favorable to the continued upturn in the gross margins, but it nee...

LEDinside, a subsidiary of TrendForce, is  to hold a grand and perfect LEDforum 2013 Guangzhou  on June 11 th , to provide valuable advice that can help LED industry players to face challenges in the future. This time, LEDforum 2013 will provide a perfect platform to interact with global LED market leaders from Cree, Philips Lumileds, Veeco, YunFeng , KLA-Tencor, Epistar, Richtek, Honglitronic, Refond. These leaders will share their insights on the development of the LED market. LEDinside analyst team will put forward Global LED I...

An estimated 24 million light vehicles will feature LED headlights by 2020, according to a new report. Should cost-reduction strategies prove successful, the report states that deployment of LED headlights will increase to approximately 21 percent of light vehicles. This is an increase from one million vehicles at present. Challenges facing the adoption of LED headlights include brightness levels from current LED chips, thermal issues, the complexity of controlling LED headlights and their increased functionality, and higher assembly costs. "As with many othe...

Some Taiwan-based IC suppliers have been ramping their shipments of LED driver ICs to China thanks to the fledging LED lighting industry in the country and growing demand for LED backlight products from China-based smartphone, tablet and consumer electronic product makers. Among the IC vendors, Macroblock and On-Bright Electronics are expected to see their revenues grow over 30% sequentially in the second quarter, while fellow companies Richtek Technology and Global Mixed-mode Technology (GMT) are likely to double their shipments of LED driver ICs on qu...

As June is dawning near, LEDinside is ready to hold a grand and perfect LEDforum 2013 Guangzhou at the Chinese Export Commodities Fair Pazhou Complex, Area B, Room # 8.   LED industry has undergone big changes. Based on the potential market demands, many companies have mushroomed all over the world in recent years. However, an oversupply comes after the large capacity expansion. What’s worse, due to credit crisis, LED development in European market has slowed down. And it also has influenced Asian LED manufacturers which rely on the external ...

April 2013 prices of 40W and 60W retrofit LED light bulbs in Japan were JPY1743/unit and JPY2357/unit, respectively, showing an on-month decrease of 4% and 12.5%. April prices of 40W retrofit LED light bulbs in South Korea showed an on-month decrease of 3.8% to KRW14749/unit. Prices for 60W retrofit LED light bulbs in South Korea were KRW23742/unit in April, up 6.6% compared to March. In China, April prices of 7W and 9W LED light bulbs from domestic brands were CNY38.3/unit and CNY53.6/unit, respectively. Both prices fell compared to Mar...

Global shipments of metal-organic chemical vapour deposition (MOCVD) systems will fall by 46% year-on-year to a total of 148 units in 2013, a report forecasts, as LED chipmakers have sufficient capacity and the number of LED chips used in LED TV backlighting has been decreasing. US-based Veeco Instruments is predicted to continue dominating the MOCVD system market, with 60.2% market share in 2013, due mainly to orders from China-based firms. Germany-based Aixtron is expected to rank second, with 35.8% market share. Some China-based MOCVD system makers...

LED industry has undergone big changes. Based on the potential market demands, many companies have mushroomed all over the world in recent years. However, an oversupply comes after the large capacity expansion. What’s worse, due to credit crisis, LED development in European market has slowed down. And it also has influenced Asian LED manufacturers which rely on the external market. As a result, partial manufacturers have seen a slowing increase in their revenues. Despite the troubles, governments still sustainably promote LED lighting. The latest market report p...

Epitaxial deposition and process equipment maker Veeco Instruments Inc of Plainview, NY, USA has reported selected financial metrics and business highlights for first-quarter 2013 (excluding revenue and earnings, due to the firm’s ongoing review of revenue recognition, announced last November). Order bookings totalled $70m (down 24% on $92.3m for Q4/2012). This included: $37m from MOCVD (down 42% on $62.8m) and $6m from MBE (down 51% on $12.6m); hence LED and solar market orders together totaled $43m (down 43% on $75.4m). Data Storage orders totalled $27m (...

A Market research company says that the decline in the price of LED light sources helped to trigger growth in the market. According to the company revenues grew from $7.3 billion in 2011 to $9.4 billion in 2012, a growth of 28%. The company forecasts that the CAGR for revenues for LED Luminaires in all applications for 2012-2016 is 18%. By 2012, LED luminaires had penetrated variety of applications. The Market research company says that large scale adoption of downlighting in commercial applications drove revenues up 76% between 2011 and 2012. The Japanese commercial...

Quarterly Revenue increased 23% year-over-year to a record $349 million Quarterly Net Income increased 134% year-over-year to $22.2 million Cree, Inc. today announced revenue of $348.9 million for its third quarter of fiscal 2013, ended March 31, 2013. This represents a 23% increase compared to revenue of $284.8 million reported for the third quarter of fiscal 2012, and a 1% increase compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2013. GAAP net income for the third quarter was $22.2 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, an increase of 134% year-over-year compared to GAAP net in...

Veeco Instruments Inc. is providing select financial metrics and business highlights for the quarter ended March 31, 2013. Due to the accounting review announced on November 15, 2012, the Company is unable to report revenue and earnings information.   •    First quarter 2013 bookings were $70 million including: MOCVD $37 million, MBE $6 million (LED & Solar total $43 million), and Data Storage $27 million. •    The Company’s unaudited cash balance at March 31, 2013 was $588 million, up from $579 million at De...

Philips operational results improve by 31% to EUR 421 million; net income at EUR 162 million. Frans van Houten, CEO: “We made solid progress again in the first quarter as all sectors contributed to the 31% improvement of our operational results, clearly demonstrating the positive impact our Accelerate! transformation program is having on our company. The initiatives to improve gross margins, structurally lower our cost base and reduce our inventory levels led to a better performance in the quarter. Consumer Lifestyle sales did very well, with strong 10% growth, as our...

LED chip and component maker SemiLEDs Corp of Hsinchu, Taiwan has reported revenue of $4.8m, down 23% on $6.2m last quarter and 39% on $7.9m a year ago, for its fiscal second-quarter 2013 (to end-February). Impacted by the drop in revenue, a decline in the average selling price (ASP) of LED chips, and excess capacity charges for the firm’s LED chips, gross margin has deteriorated further, from negative 9% a year ago and negative 53% last quarter to negative 69%. “Demand has improved; however, the pricing environment for the general lighting market remains...

The LED industry has been in an oversupply following the large capacity expansion in 2011; how will the landscape shift in 2013? As the LED-related applications make their way into various areas and receive increasing interest in the Chinese, Japanese and South Korean markets, the LED industry embarks on a whole new chapter. In light of the stagnant end-market demand, fund shortage and the cease of subsidy, the Chinese LED chip makers drastically revised their capacity expansion plans. Currently, the Chinese government aims to stimulate the LED demand through its pla...

As demand for LED lighting products is heating up amid the improving global economy, Epistar is expected to see its gross margin rebound this quarter after posting a record loss last year. Due to oversupply in the LED market, which resulted in a drop in product prices, Epistar’s performance fell short of analysts’ expectation last year, JPMorgan Securities said in a note on Tuesday last week. Because of a decreased utilization rate and continual price decreases, Epistar last quarter posted a net loss of NT$1.11 billion (US$37.18 million) after booking a...

Zumtobel’s revenue has fallen by 1.8 per cent for the period May 2012 to January 2013 when compared to the same period a year before. The lighting manufacturer’s nine-month report for the 2012/13 financial year, shows a revenue drop of €17.7 million to €946.5 million (£826.1 million), when compared to €964.2 million (£841.5 million) in the previous year. Revenues from LED product sales showed strong growth, rising by 55.4 per cent to €201.1 million (previous year: €129.4 million). As a result, the share of group revenues account...