Barrie’s future gets a little greener, as the City begins converting streetlights to LED (light-emitting diodes).  All of Barrie’s streetlights (nearly 11,000) are expected to be converted to LED by October 2015.

Cree, a market leader in silicon-carbide (SiC) power and RF products announced the acquisition of APEI, a global leader in power modules and power electronics applications. Combining two highly complementary innovators, the acquisition enables Cree’s Power and RF business to extend its leadership position and help to accelerate the market for high-performance, best-in-class SiC power modules.

Global semiconductor capital equipment manufacturer OEM Group announced today that a leading maker of LED products has placed a repeat order for an AGHeatpulse® RTP system. The system will be used for annealing gallium-nitride (GaN) films deposited on 150mm sapphire substrates, one of the critical process steps needed in advanced LED fabrication. This repeat order validates again the AGHeatpulse® RTP system's demonstrated capabilities meeting the exacting thermal requirements of new LED manufacturing technologies, and supports the LED industry's move from batch processing of smaller diameter sapphire substrates to single wafer processing of 150mm sapphire substrates.

Chinese LED manufacturer Leyard has halted trade on China’s bourse as the company prepares to acquire Mingji Electronic Technology (Beijing) (Mingji) and LEDAVENUE.

The Chinese LED industry is very familiar with subsidies, the country’s government has offered financial support to local companies since 2009. Subsidies issued by the central government over the last six years has spurred the explosive growth witnessed in the country’s LED industry. LED enterprises all want a share in government subsidies. Listed companies in particular often covet subsidies to give their financial performance a facelift. LEDinside editor Flora Wu has ranked manufacturers that have received the most subsidies in 2015 in the following order below:

Osram is making smartphones even smarter: Infrared technology enables mobile devices to be unlocked for the first time by scanning the iris of the user. Iris scanning is being used in the ARROWS NX F-04G smartphone from Fujitsu Limited, which is being marketed by the Japanese telecommunications company NTT DOCOMO Inc. This smartphone, which is currently only available in Japan, is the first in the world with this extremely secure functionality for consumers. Infrared light emitting diodes (IREDs) from Osram Opto Semiconductors are used as the light source. These IREDs are the only ones capable of the high power needed for iris scanning from a compact package. 

Avnet Abacus, one of Europe’s leading interconnect, passive, electro-mechanical and power distributors and a business unit of Avnet Electronics Marketing EMEA, a business region of Avnet, has signed a pan-European distribution agreement with Taiwan-based MechaTronix, an important player in the global market for LED cooling solutions.

TrueCar, the negotiation-free car buying and selling mobile marketplace, celebrates the kickoff of the Twilight Concert Series today with the launch of TrueCar L.E.D. (Light Emotion Data), a crowd-powered intelligent sensory experience that captures real-time emotive information and creatively displays data with a dazzling, interactive LED light show to transform the traditional concert experience.

Feit Electric Company filed a complaint in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina against Cree. to curb infringement of Feit Electric Company's patents.  The complaint alleges that Cree's line of 4FLOW LED light bulbs infringe U.S. Patent Nos. 8,408,748 and 9,016,901.

Following China’s stock market nosedive in recent weeks, more domestic listed companies have chosen to suspend trade. More than 760 listed companies combined have suspended trade on the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses as of July 7, which is roughly equivalent to 27% of the total companies listed on both bourses. More than 100 companies applied for trade suspension on July 6 alone.

Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, has opened its state-of-the-art GrowWise Center at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Research being conducted by Philips will provide tailor-made LED light growth recipes making it possible for producers to increase their yields and grow tasty and healthy food indoors, all year round.

STG Aerospace, a world leader in pioneering aircraft lighting technologies, is delighted to announce that it has opened a new U.S. manufacturing and warehousing facility in Miami. Located adjacent to the Miami International Airport runway, the new building has double the space of the company’s previous U.S.premises.

The trending smart living concept has failed to enter average households because of smart devices high price tags, according to a report by ZOL.com.

NVC Lighting recently was notified by Chongqing First Intermediate People's Court that a Chinese bank has filed a plaintiff against the company for outstanding loans left by former CEO Wu Changjiang.

Chinese LED manufacturer ETI announced Monday, eight company executives will be increasing shareholdings in their company to boost investors’ confidence.

Australia’s largest online retailer of server racks, network cabling, and fiber optics, 4Cabling, has successfully acquired 5 year-old e-commerce lighting retailer OzLighting.

Mark Roush assumes the office of President of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES), the international leader in lighting education, standards, publications and professional development. Roush succeeds Paul Mercier.

LG Display will be investing 900 billion won (US$802.75 million) to build a new production line for small and medium OLED displays, reported Korean newspaper DongA Ilbo.

Nova Scotia Power (NSP), is seeking regulatory approval of CA$ 36 million (US $28.43 million) to convert its streetlights to LED, reported The Chronicle Herald.

Global semiconductor capital equipment manufacturer OEM Group announced today it has received first-in-fab and repeat tool orders for its Cintillio™ wet chemical processing system from several leading Ultra Bright LED manufacturers working in the automotive lighting market.  With these orders, OEM Group has now successfully expanded its production proven and patented ECO-Process wafer surface preparation solutions from the established markets of Power Device, CMOS IC, and MEMS manufacturing into UBLED fabrication, a new market for Cintillio™.  The tools will be used for ozone processing of some of the most sensitive layers exposed during LED manufacturing, including exposed silver, which to date has presented LED makers with difficult challenges where surface preparation is involved.

Amerlux, announced that the City of Los Angeles' Bureau of Street Lighting (BSLA) has approved the Avista for major and local street lamp retrofits.

China’s decade old streetlight standard GB7000.5-2005 has been replaced with a new standard GB7000.203-2013 that has become effective as of July 1, 2015. Changes in the new and old lighting standards will require manufacturers to make certain adjustments in their outdoor luminaire designs, according to a Shanghai Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau’s Electromechanical Engineering Department statement.

Acolyte LED has increased its global reach by adding David Virgona to its growing team. As the Australian National Sales & Technical Manager, David will be covering the markets of Australia and New Zealand.

When you’re having trouble sleeping, light is the last thing you assume you need.

Braking and being seen by the traffic behind is of essential importance for motorcycle riders. That is why BMW Motorrad has developed the dynamic brake light as a component of the Strategy “Safety 360°”. It can warn drivers of following vehicles even better about when the motorcycle in front of them is braking.

For 60 years xenon lamps have been at the heart of the film industry, ensuring that film stars look their best on cinema screens throughout the world. The probability is very high that the picture is being projected onto the screen with the aid of an XBO lamp from OSRAM, because OSRAM technology is used to illuminate approximately every three cinema screens. Now, OSRAM is launching a new generation of XBO cinema projection lamps offering longer life and more stable luminous efficacy. Günther Feuereisen, XBO Product Manager at OSRAM, explains the benefits of the upgraded product family.

Osram has entered talks with potential buyers of its lighting business, a couple of Chinese players Foshan Lighting, NVC, and Yankon Lighting have been named as companies that have shown interest. ABB is collaborating with Philips to bring smart lighting into homes in China. Several interesting research have emerged this week. Astronauts might be able to start their own vegetable gardens in space ships in the future, with specific wavelength LED grow lights from the University of Purdue. Another research team from Denmark are predicting nanowires could become the future technology for LEDs. Lastly, research on new optic designs and devices could enable future smartphones to be equipped with photosensors that determine whether a person has diabetes or pregnant. Epistar Chairman B.J. Lee outlined three major market trends at a shareholders meeting in Taipei, Taiwan this week. Lee projected the company’s orders would rebound in 3Q15, and that the number of newly added MOCVDs would reach 250 this year. He also shed light on Lumileds future market strategy following Go Scale Capital investment.

Following Chinese governments declining subsidies in 2015, industry insiders projected a slowdown in global LED production capacity growth rates, according to a Chinese-language Commercial Times report. The industry, though, still faces oversupply situation as the total volume of MOCVDs will reach 2,000 this year, said Epistar Chairman B.J. Lee.

German lighting manufacturer Osram has started a round of talks with potential buyers of its lamp business, the lineup of candidates includes several large Chinese lighting companies, according to a Reuters report.

Chinese solar manufacturer EGING PV announced its subsidiary Changzhou EGING PV signed a strategic framework agreement with Qitai County government in Xinjiang Province, China.