Forest Lighting, ranked as the top five global LED package manufacturer in the lighting application sector in LEDinside’s analysis, has been expanding its scale through acquisition ever since it became listed company back in February 2015.

Certain Taiwanese financial institutes are starting to tighten their credit policies on three industries that have been affected by intense market competition from China, including LED, solar energy and displays, reported UDN recently.

Chinese and Belgium government agencies signed a LED lighting partnership agreement in Hasselt, capital of Limburg province in east Belgium on Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

Earlier this month senior Samsung Electronics officials reported the company would not be making OLED TVs in the near future, and would be directing its focus on quantum dot-TVs (QLED TVs). Following this development, recent reports suggest the company’s long term strategy might skip OLED TV altogether, according to Korean media ETNews.

In a letter issued by Aixtron, it assured clients that it would remain a German company, protect its patents, and highlighted the benefits the potential acquisition deal with Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) would have on its future business strategy.

Aixtron’s announcement last Friday that is in talks with Chinese investment group Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (GCI)’s German subsidiary has attracted criticism from one of the group’s largest shareholder Argonaut Capital, according to aFinancial Times report.

Taiwanese LED EPI-wafer manufacturer Epistar has vehemently denied claims made by local media Apple Daily that it had laid off more than 100 employees following the shut down of its subsidiary FOREPI’s EPI-wafer fab.

Walking through the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus at night is getting brighter thanks to an ongoing, campus-wide installation of 800 LED street and parking lot lights. The effort is part of a three-year partnership between Eversource and UMass Amherst which began in 2014. The combined electricity savings from the partnership of approximately 9 million kilowatt-hours is the greenhouse gas equivalent of taking about 1,300 vehicles off the road.

The sales of Aixtron to a Chinese investor last Friday sparked market rumors, with some industry insiders over interpreting and speculating San’an Opto is involved in the acquisition. LEDinside takes a look into this particular market rumor.

Indian government incentives and policies has resulted in the large number of LED streetlight projects in the country, with many new developments each week. Varanasi is still behind schedule when it comes to streetlight upgrades, while Ambattur is starting to introduce smart LED streetlights.

Reports from Taiwanese media have pointed out StrongLED might have acquired Osram Licht smart LED bulb OEM orders. The alliance formed between the two competitors in the smart light market is aimed at countering Philips Lighting’s advancements in the smart lighting sector, according to the report from Commercial Times. The group’s LED component business Osram Opto, sheds insight about new 10 degree binning color technology, aimed at providing more realistic view of color performance.

Peter Scott, CEO of Fern-Howard Lighting, was welcomed as Lighting Industry Association (LIA) President by departing President, Alasdair McRury, Managing Director of Holophane Europe during the LIA’s Annual Lunch held on May10, 2016.

Amerlux recently supplied its Avista LED light engines as part of a major retrofit project in the downtown Los Angeles  area in California, U.S. Since the late 1920s, GE lamps were used to provide light for the streets of downtown LA during its modern revitalization. The Bureau of Street Lighting reported that more than half of its streetlights have already been retrofitted to LED, including 600 fixtures with Amerlux Avista light engines. This retrofit project saves the taxpayers of Los Angeles almost 80% in energy costs and provides better color rendering for enhanced visibility, safety and security throughout the community.

Authorities of City of Waterloo in Canada will upgrade its current LED streetlights to smart LED streetlights adding features of analyzing traffic conditions, detecting snowfall and connecting to gas and water utility meters, reported Waterloo Chronicle.

Philips has decided on the price for its initial public offering for its lighting unit recently, and estimates the spinoff could raise between EUR 694 million and EUR 844 million (US $785 million to US$ 954 million), reported Wall Street Journal.

To strategically strengthen the Fagerhult Group’s position in the professional lighting market as well as adding leading complementary product ranges, Fagerhult has acquired 100% of the shares of LED Linear GmbH based in Neukirchen-Vluyn, Germany. The acquisition is expected to have a positive effect on the earnings per share during 2016 and forward.

StrongLED Lighting Systems, a company registered in Cayman Islands, but with operations based in Taiwan and China is rumored to have acquired Osram’s outsurce orders, reported Taiwanese media Commercial Times.

The latest potential suppliers of Apple’s iPhone OLED screens have changed, reported Korea Herald.

An electronic manufacturer in China recently sued Chinese LED luminaire manufacturer Opple Lighting for trademark infringement, according to a report from Fawan, a Chinese media specializing in legal news.

Georgia Power is working with the Athens-Clarke County Transportation and Public Works Department to convert approximately 4,300 roadway lights in Athens-Clarke County from high-pressure sodium (HPS) to light-emitting diode (LED) technology. The project began the week of May 9 and is expected to take 6-8 weeks to complete. It involves no capital cost to Athens-Clarke County.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Sensity Systems Inc., provider of a leading Internet of Things (IoT) platform for Smart Cities, today announced an agreement under which the two organizations will form a new joint venture in China to focus on the development of smart city solutions for China and sales worldwide. The resultant IoT Platform for Chinese Smart Cities will be application compatible with the current Sensity IoT Smart City Platform, thereby providing application developers access to a global market for cities. Outside of China, the joint venture products will be sold under the Sensity platform program.

Cree has been very active in courts lately, settling a two year-long patent dispute with Knightbright, while filing a patent infringement counterclaim against Feit Electric. According to LEDinside analysts, the company is focusing its attention on collecting revenue from licensing patent royalties.

The board of Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar decided to invite strategic partners through Global Depository Receipts (GDR) or private equity (PE). Epistar locates at the upstream in the industry supply chain and the partnership with application clients secures the company’s oversea exit, said Epistar Spokesman RiderChang. In other words, the company intends to partner with the clients of their client through stake investment. The company’s shareholder’s meeting is to be launched on June 17, 2016. The stake released by two...

Despite delivering overall positive financial performance, Taiwanese electronic group LiteOn’s LED lighting business revenue fell slightly during first quarter of 2016.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Tailon announced it will undergo capital reduction, as part of its effort to halt financial bleeding, restructure finances, and improve its financial operations.

Zumtobel’s Brand PR manager Andreas Reimann sheds light on the lights used to brighten up Issey Miyake shop in Antwerp, Belgium in this company blog entry.

The Fisheries Department of Goa, a coast on the western coastal area of India, has issued an official order this Tuesday that bans the use of LED lights for fishing in the region, reported Herald.

Elemental LED, a leading U.S. based engineering and technology company that manufactures LED lighting solutions announced today a partnership with CW Lighting that extends its Diode LED product brand into the surrounding region of Houston, TX. Elemental LED and its wholesale and manufacturing division, Diode LED, provides a wide variety of superior quality linear, task, and accent LED lighting solutions for both residential and commercial applications.

Over the last two weeks, two Taiwanese LED manufacturers Harvatek and Knightbright decided to settle patent disputes with Cree, ending a nearly two year lawsuit. Both Taiwanese vendors agreed to sign patent royalties for an undisclosed sum. Few details have been released about the conditions of the settlements. It is becoming clearly evident that Cree’s strategy is centered on cashing in from its LED patent portfolio, said a LEDinside analyst, who chose to remain anonymous.

NEMA's Electroindustry Business Conditions Index (EBCI) continued its recent volatile behavior, dropping to a neutral 50 points in April after surging to 64.7 in March from 44.4 in February. Nineteen percent of panelists reported conditions improved in April, down from 41% in March. Another 19% reported the business environment worsened in April, up from 12% in March. The vast majority, though, claimed conditions were unchanged in April, up from the 47% who held this view a month ago.