Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has invested another US$15.50 million into future R&D of semiconductors and chips, according to a blog entry by Michael Cooney, Online News Editor for Network World.

Benefiting from street light bids, and recognized revenue from German luminaire subsidiary WOFI, The company’s 3Q13 revenue grew at a Quarter-on-Quarter (QoQ) rate of 18.13%, and an Year-over-Year rate (YOY) of 41.84% to NT$ 7.01 billion (US$ 24 million). The company’s 3Q13 performance outshone other LED packagers.

LED industries are entering traditional off season in 4Q. HSBC states in their most recent LED report that LED industry 3Q13 revenue was weak due to TV backlight demands being lower than expected.

Chinese LED chip manufacturer San’an announced on October 8th, 2013,  their purchase in FOREPI stock shares by wholly owned subsidiary Xiamen San’an was finalized on October 2nd.

Lowered LED bulb prices by Cree in 2013 proved effective. The low price policy not only successfully drove sales for LED bulbs but also lead to stock prices doubling for 2013. Goldman Sachs newest report lists four major reasons for its positive outlook on Cree, which include incandescent bulbs exiting the market en masse, rebound in U.S. commercial construction projects, North American green building demands, and Cree’s increasing penetration rate in the Chinese LED market.

Guangdong LED industry market value grew at a Year-on-Year rate of 27.73% this year to RMB 125. 17 billion (US$ 20.45 billion), according to the “2Q13 Guangdong Province LED Industry Operation Monitoring Report” published by Guangdong Semiconductor Lighting Industry Joint Innovation Center (GSC) recently. This is the fourth consecutive year that the LED market value surpassed 20%. In addition, the region showed outstanding performance in exports, patents and other key indicators. The GSC report was officially released at the Guangdong Province’s LED industry forum recently. Highlights of the report are listed below:

China’s LED chip manufacturer HC Semitek Corp. Suzhou branch has received a US$ 150 million loan to be paid back in six years for its LED business, according to a Chinese-language Reuters report.

San’an Optoelectronics recently announced it had received RMB 32 million (US$ 5.23 million) subsidiary from People’s Government of Siming, Xiamen.

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced that it has signed an agreement to acquire privately held Synos Technology, Inc. (Synos). Synos designs and manufactures Fast Array Scanning™ Atomic Layer Deposition (FAST-ALD™) systems that are enabling the production of flexible OLED displays for mobile devices.

Taiwan LED package manufacturer Edison Opto Corp.’s board recently approved the issuance of unsecured convertible bonds amounting to NT$ 1 billion (US$ 34 million) in Taiwan. This is the second time that the company has issued unsecured convertible bonds in the domestic market. Edison Opto has a positive outlook of the LED lighting market’s continual development, and funds from the bonds will be used to expand the company’s Yangzhou, China factory that will cover high power LED components, PLCC package components, and other product line expansions.

In the first quarter of the current financial year (May-July 2013) the Zumtobel Group posted a further improvement in operating earnings despite a moderate downturn in revenues. In what was still a difficult economic environment, the group’s revenue fell by 4.4% year-on-year to EUR 309.3 million (US$ 411.59 million) in 1Q13. Revenues from the sale of innovative LED products continued their progress, totaling EUR 89.3 million in the first three months. This equates to an increase of 49.7% and the LED share of Group revenues now stands at 28.9% (prior year: 18.4%). This confirms the Zumtobel Group’s strategic decision to invest in the expansion of an innovative product portfolio, despite the difficult business environment.

Strong LED backlight and lighting product performances pushed Taiwan LED package manufacturer revenue for Aug. 2013 up 10.13% to NT$ 2.41 billion (US$ 8 million) compared to NT$ 2.19 billion in July. The company announced Monday its financial results for Aug. 2013, which showed record high growths, as revenues grew at an Year-on-Year (YOY) rate of 33.96% compared to the same period last year. Everlight’s order visibility is 1.5 months, and its utilization rate was 80-90%. Operations in 2H13 showed minor differences in 3Q and 4Q estimations.

Affected by the end of China’s Home Appliance Subsidies, demands for large size LED-backlit products waned in 3Q13. Citibank’s report forecasted large size backlight LED revenues for Epistar Corp. and Everlight Electronics, leaders in Taiwan’s LED upstream and downstream markets. The entry of lighting demands will alleviate the stress manufacturers are under from sliding LED-backlit demands. 

Technology specialists from the company that created new smartphone utility app, Small Call, announce LEDgoes, a new modular scrolling LED matrix attracting over 150 pledges and US$ 11,600 amidst a successful Kickstarter campaign.

Elec-Tech International (ETI) revenues grew 10.52% to RMB 1.35 billion (US$ 220 million) in 1H13, according to the company’s 1H13 financial report released on Aug. 24. However, the company’s net income plunged 59.38% compared to the same period last year to RMB 50.5 million.

Furi Electronics will be holding a shareholders’ meeting on Sept. 2 to decide on the company’s private investments to acquire 92.8% of MR LED Photoelectricity Co. stock shares. According to the transfer of stock rights agreement, once the deal is sealed MR Photoelectricity’s 2013-2015 financial reports will belong to the parent company. Excluding non-recurring profits and losses, MR Photoelectricity’s earnings cannot be less than RMB 30 million (US$ 4.9 million), RMB 35 million and RMB 39 million throughout the three years, and total net profit cannot be lower than RMB 12,000. 

Rigid Industries LED Lighting, a manufacturer of forward projecting LED lighting via its patented optics systems announced its 2013 ranking of 151 on Inc. Magazine’s 500|5000 Fastest Growing Companies list. Additionally, Rigid leads the industry as the fastest growing LED lighting manufacturer and the fifth fastest growing in overall manufacturing in the U.S., proving to be one of the moving companies of 2013. From 2009 – 2012, Rigid experienced an exponential growth rate of 2,528% and reached a lucrative US$ 24.1 million in 2012.

In line with the Financial Results for the first half of 2013 HC SemiTek recently released, its total revenue is 112 million Yuan, decrease of 40.42 percent compared to the same period of last year. The net profit attributable to shareholders of listed companies is 14.29 million Yuan, down 61.47 percent over the same period of last year. Basic EPS (earnings per share) is about 0.05 Yuan, down 68.75 percent Y-o-Y. HC SemiTek said that operating income in the first half of 2013 dropped 40.42% Y-o-Y, after the last year's irrational price competition in LED chip...

Trans-Lux Corporation ("Trans-Lux" or the "Company"), a leading supplier of Digital Displays and next generation LED lighting, reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2013 on August 14, 2013. Trans-Lux President and Chief Executive Officer J.M. Allain made the announcement.

An Australian company, IC12, is meeting photographic and digital filmmaking industries demands with the release of a portable and interlocking LED flash and light source - The LED Light Cube - to be crowdfunded on Indiegogo from Tuesday 13th August (Australian time) to the cry of 'Become a Cubist!'. The LED Light Cube was borne out of a desire to make the biggest difference in the photographic industries with the smallest change, according to Managing Director of IC12, Nathan Oxley. "From our work with photographic awards and competitions, we he...

Lite-On Technology reported second quarter 2013 consolidated revenue of NT$50.01 billion, up 7% Q-o-Q. Thanks to a better product mix, operating efficiency and higher scale of profitable products, the gross margin and operating margin in the second quarter were 14.8% and 4.8%, with sequential growths of 0.1% Q-o-Q and 0.6% Q-o-Q respectively. Net profits in the second quarter reached NT$2.24 billion with a growth of 42% Q-o-Q, and an EPS of NT$ 0.98. Despite ICT market declines, Lite-On's core business units’ Q2 sales continued to gain momentum, with...

Financial reports for first half of 2013 released by several Taiwanese LED manufacturers recently showed Epistar rebounded from losses as subsidy Huga Optotech reached break-even point (BEP) in June. For the first half of 2013, Epistar’s EPS was NT$0.11. Spurred by rising backlight demands, Everlight’s 2Q financial results showed continual profit growths with EPS from 1H13 reaching NT$1.45 (US$0.05). Vertically integrated manufacturer Lextar also showed stable profit performance with an EPS of NT$1.49.

Tong Hsin Electronics Industry’s (THEI) will be raising the bar for competitors by increasing ceramic substrate laser drilling speed and adding packaging services as LED chip piece volumes used on substrates grow exponentially, said the company President Heinz Ru during a recent investor conference. The changes occurred in response to strong demands for LED ceramic substrates in the lighting market despite of impacts from Cree’s low-priced LED bulbs during the first half of 2013. Ru forecasted shipments for ceramic substrates applied in high-powered LEDs will continue to grow in 3Q13. 

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 ...