The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced a solid-state lighting (SSL) R&D funding opportunity on October 29, 2015. Under this funding opportunity (DE-FOA-0001364, “Solid-State Lighting Advanced Technology R&D—2016”), a total of up to $10.5 million in funding is directed toward all three existing DOE SSL R&D program areas: 

Leyard Optoelectronic announced that the company is to launch private placement of 120 million shares to raise about RMB 1.98 billion (US $312 million). The company will utilize RMB 1 billion to obtain 100% of Planar’s share.

HC SemiTek Corporation announced that its subsidiary Suzhou HC SemiTek Corporation received a RMB 56.4 million (US $8.88 million) subsidy for 3Q15 development from committee of Zhangjiagang Economic and Technological Development Zone.

Dow Corning Corp. today announced third quarter sales of US $1.39 billion and net income of $72 million. Adjusted net income in the third quarter decreased 1% to $108 million. Through the three quarters, Dow Corning's adjusted net income, which excludes unusual items, has increased 6 percent despite decreased sales impacted largely by the strong United States dollar.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are occurring at a rapid pace in the LED industry. Based on incomplete statistics compiled by LEDinside editorial team in China, more than 37 mergers have occurred in the LED industry during first half of 2015, averaging three acquisitions per month. Acquisitions in the industry are maturing, and new M&A trends have emerged.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Everlight has issued a statement Thursday rebutting a DIGITIMES report released a day before claiming it has forced employees to take one week unpaid leave in November.

The California Energy Commission released a final staff report proposing the first standards for small-diameter directional lamps and light-emitting diodes (LEDs). Directional lamps are often used in commercial track lighting, while LEDs replace screw-based incandescent bulbs and compact fluorescent lighting (CFL) typically found in homes. Prompted by legislation requiring the Energy Commission to adopt standards to reduce energy use of lighting in homes by 50% and businesses by 25% from the 2007 levels by 2018, the proposed standards will save energy and improve the quality of the light bulbs that Californians are buying every day.

Saignow City in Michigan, U.S. has borrowed US $5.2 million for city projects including vehicle and LED streetlight upgrade project, according to a MLive report.

Digital Lumens, the market leader in intelligent LED lighting systems, today announced the appointment of Steve Ronneberg as Vice President of Worldwide Sales. Ronneberg joins Digital Lumens from Montreal-based Grass Valley, part of St. Louis-based Belden Inc., which delivers end-to-end television production and content distribution solutions to meet the mission-critical network infrastructure needs of broadcast markets.

Leyard Optoelectronic, a leading worldwide provider of LED display products and auxiliary systems announced its 3Q15 financial result. The company’s revenue rose to RMB 523 million (US $82.39 million), reflecting 68.12% year on year (YoY) growth, while its net profit skyrocketed 182.67% YoY to RMB 103 million (US $16.23 million). Meanwhile, Leyard's 41.24% consolidated gross margin is considered relatively high among the manufacturers within the LED industry.

Cree, a market leader in LED lighting, announced revenue of US $425.5 million for its first quarter of fiscal 2016, ended September 27, 2015. This represents a 1% decrease compared to revenue of $427.7 million reported for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, and an 11% increase compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015. GAAP net loss for the first quarter was $23.6 million, or $0.23 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $11.1 million, or $0.09 per diluted share, for the first quarter of fiscal 2015. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2016 was $22.1 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income for the first quarter of fiscal 2015 of $29.6 million, or $0.24 per diluted share. 

Chinese LED manufacturer Nationstar announced it has signed a domestic equipment procurement agreement with ASM Pacific Technology (Shanghai), and import equipment purchase agreement with ASM Pacific Technology (Hong Kong).

Rubicon Technology, a leading provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, semiconductor, and optical industries, announced the appointment of Hany Tamim as Chief Operating Officer. Tamim will have responsibility for all global manufacturing operations of Rubicon Technology. Tamim will be based in Malaysia and report to the CEO, Bill Weissman. The COO role is a consolidation of two senior management positions and will provide the Company with greater coordination of manufacturing operations at a lower cost.

LG announced subsidiary LG Display will be taking over LG Chem’s OLED lighting business on Monday, as part of its OLED realignment strategy reported The Korea Times and Yonhap News.

San’an Opto announced Thursday its subsidiary specializing in integrated circuits (IC) has borrowed RMB 140 million (US $22.04 million) loan that will be paid in 10 year instalments at an interest rate of 1.20%.

A recent ruling made by the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board has invalidated claims of Japanese LED lens manufacturer Enplas patent for a device applied in LCD backlight, which marks a win for rival Seoul Semiconductor, reported Law 360.

LED package manufacturer Unity Opto revenues is expected to rise in fourth quarter, spurred by the launch of a distribution and OEM deal it sealed with Toshiba in March, reported Liberty Times.

According to a latest Bloomberg report, Fairchild Semiconductor International hired Goldman Sachs Group to help it find a potential buyer, potential suitors in the lineup include ON Semiconductor and Infineon.

Mason LED subsidiary announced Wednesday its subsidiary Rishang has formed a new LED joint venture with Changchun Railway Vehicles Facilities.

Forest Lighting, the USA division of global LED manufacturing leader MLS, announced it has received certification from The National Sanitation Foundation (NSF International) covering its T8 LED tube lamps. 

OSRAM SYLVANIA has expanded the Hillsboro manufacturing capabilities by adding the first advanced Surface Mount Technology (SMT) production line for manufacturing LED modules in the plant.  OSRAM as the automotive lighting leader is pushing the transition to LED systems by investing in R&D and production capacities, infrastructure and talent to support the technology migration. 

Two years ago, Guangdong Rising Assets Management (GRAM) was a relatively unheard name in China’s LED lighting industry, but recently it has become one of the most recognized companies in the local LED industry, according to a Dazhaoming report. The motives behind the state-owned enterprise’s investments in top Chinese LED players Nationstar and Foshan Lighting reflect the involvement of important government strategies.

Royal Philips  announced that Abhijit Bhattacharya, who is currently CFO of Philips Lighting and project leader for the creation of  Lighting as a standalone company, has succeeded Ron Wirahadiraksa as CFO of Royal Philips, with immediate effect.

Chinese sapphire maker Aurora announced last week, it would be investing RMB 40 million (US $6.32 million) in a new investment management arm to integrate investments in the sapphire supply chain, according to a report from China Securities Network.

Ayla Networks, whose agile Internet of Things (IoT) platform provides comprehensive connectivity for any kind of product, announced that it has signed its first customer in Europe, Innr Lighting B.V. from the Netherlands. Innr is using the Ayla IoT platform, including Ayla’s Agile Mobile Application Platform (AMAP) technology, to scale its smart home lighting solution across Europe.

Kingston is a city nicknamed as K-Town in Ulster County, New York, U.S. The Common Council approved the city’s borrowing of US$ 2.1 million to install LED streetlights throughout the city. Early on, the council approved borrowing US$ 105,000 for design and engineering work for the project.

China’s exports to 70 countries under its “One Belt, One Road” strategy was up 1.5% to US$ 372 billion from January to June 2015, according to China’s custom data. The country’s imports declined 18.8% to US$ 256 billion, while its trade surplus rose US$ 65 billion compared to last year’s US$ 115.5 billion. Vietnam is China's third largest trade partner, and it has a trade surplus relation with the country.

When GE sold its home appliance division in September 2014 for US $3.3 billion to Swedish company Electrolux, market rumors surfaced that the company might sell its lighting business too. The company denied intentions of selling its century old lighting business at the time. Instead of selling its lighting business, GE announced it would be spinning off its commercial LED lighting business, solar energy, and energy storage devices into a new startup company on Oct. 7, 2015. According to aBloomberg report, the new business is expected to increase annual sales to about US $5 billion from its current start of US $1 billion.

UBS forecasted oversupply situation in the LED industry will continue into 2016, while sliding LED prices will nullify growing shipment volume advantages, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report.

China’s Light Industry Internet (CLII) recently published important lighting product export statistics for three markets during the first six months of 2015, showed export growth was highest for the Argentina market, and plunged the most in Saint Lucia. Lighting exports to France showed incremental growth.