Price competitions are affecting almost every aspect of the LED industry, and are observed in manufacturers chip technology developments, such as the emergence of Chip Scale Package (CSP) LEDs.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) announced a funding opportunity on October 27, 2014, for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs. Topics for this funding opportunity include solid-state lighting. Qualified small businesses with strong research capabilities in science or engineering in any of the research areas sought in the announcement are encouraged to apply.

Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq:VECO) announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2014. Veeco reports its results on a U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) basis, and also provides results excluding certain items. Refer to the attached table for details of the reconciliation between GAAP operating results and Non-GAAP operating results.

Continuing with its focus on providing the best of innovation and technology, India's leading electrical solutions provider - Anchor Electricals Pvt. Ltd (A Panasonic Group Company), today inaugurated its second LED lighting experience centre in Bangalore, after Mumbai.

A stunning video shot by Sweetgrass productions sponsored by Philips has transformed the snowy Alaskan mountain slopes in U.S. and snowy hills of British Columbia, Canada into a dreamily illuminating landscape, according to a Wired report.

Pemco Holdings, LLC (Pemco), a leading investor and developer of energy efficiency projects, in partnership with Midcoast Regional Redevelopment Authority (MRRA), today announced the completion of the Brunswick Landing LED Street Lighting Improvement Project at the former Naval Air Station in Brunswick, Maine, U.S. The project, which pioneered the use of dimming controls on public street lighting in the U.S., includes the upgrade of 650 street and area lights with new LED fixtures and radio frequency-enabled control and monitoring systems.

The role of phosphor powder in LED applications is increasingly important to lower LED production costs and meet higher light quality demands, said Calvin Yeh, Global Strategic Marketing Manager, Lighting/PV Business Field, Merck Display Technologies, at LEDforum 2014 hosted by LEDinside on Oct. 24, 2014 in Taipei, Taiwan.

AIXTRON, a leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, today announced financial results for the third quarter 2014 and first nine months of 2014.

Cree introduces the New Cree® LED Bulb, delivering superior light performance while looking just like an incandescent light bulb at an even more affordable price. Featuring a new innovative design, the New Cree LED Bulb provides the same cost savings and 25,000-hour lifetime that made the original Cree LED Bulb America’s best-selling LED bulb. Available as 40- and 60-watt replacements, the New Cree LED Bulb is available at The Home Depot® for as low as US $7.97. This is a 20% price mark down compared to previous bulb products, said Cree.

Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Taiwan's largest and one of the world's leading high-tech research and development institutions, is pleased to introduce In-Line Compact Thermal Analyzer (ICTA) Technology. The world's leading automatic thermal analyzer, ICTA offers a measurement speed of 12,000 LEDs per hour, reducing each LED's component thermal resistance testing time to 0.3 seconds. This is 2,000 times faster than the traditional lab method where only six components can be measured per hour. ITRI will receive a 2014 R&D 100 Award  in November for this breakthrough technology in the "Imaging" category.

One of Osram’s ongoing projects to overcome LED efficacy limitations is the development of microrod 3D LED technology, said Michael Schmitt, Regional Market Director, Asia-Pacific, Osram Opto Semiconductors at LEDforum 2014 which was hosted by LEDinside on Oct. 24, 2014 at Taipei, Taiwan.

Top Chinese LED manufacturer San’an Opto has swapped its shares in FOREPI for leading Taiwanese LED chip maker Epistar shares, the Investment Commission of Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) announced Tuesday.

The LED segment might have made significant technology advancements that have driven down costs, and made the bulbs more affordable to most households, the office lighting sector remains a difficult segment for LED manufacturers to tap into, said Michael Schmitt, Regional Market Director, Asia-Pacific, Osram Opto Semiconductors at LEDforum 2014, which took place in Taipei, Taiwan last Friday. 

Taiwanese connector manufacturer Ant Precision has been gradually transiting its business model towards automotive connector and industrial products, due to impact from easing notebook demand market, according to a report by Money DJ. The company has developed connectors for LED products for several years, and will be supplying connectors for IKEA residential LED lights. Ant Precision’s LED connectors were approved this month by IKEA, and will be entering mass production phase in 2Q14 by 2015.

By late January, 1.4 million people in Liberia and Sierra Leone could be infected with the Ebola virus. That’s the worst-case scenario of the Ebola epidemic in West Africa recently offered by scientists at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The CDC warns that  those countries could now have 21,000 cases of the virus, which kills 70 percent of people infected.

The days of glimpsing the world through a tiny plastic porthole when you fly are soon to be a thing of the past; future aircrafts will offer a crystal clear panoramic view without any windows at all. At the UK based Centre for Process Innovation (CPI), scientists and engineers are developing ultra-flexible, high-definition display technologies that could line the interior walls of cabins and display live footage from external cameras.

Following LEDinside’s earlier report about Samsung Electronics plans of withdrawing from the LED luminaire market earlier this month, a recent report from South Korean media Dong-A Ilbo has offered further details.

Apple has finally arrived to a settlement with GTAT, and the former sapphire supplier will be repaying loans by selling sapphire furnaces at the Arizona plant. In the aftermath of the settlement that required greater transparency from the Cupertino company, the upcoming Apple Watch is likely to turn to other sapphire suppliers, analyzed a Seeking Alpha report. Philips Lumileds which was spin-off from parent company Philips will be trading under a new company name in 2015, said Sean Zhou, Regional Marketing Director, Asia, Philips Lumileds at LEDforum 2014. 

UC Santa Barbara Nobel Laureate Shuji Nakamura has been selected to receive one of Japan’s highest honors: the 2014 Order of Culture Award. The medal, which recognizes contributions to the nation’s culture, will be presented by Emperor Akihito in a ceremony at the Imperial Palace on Nov. 3, which is also Day of Culture in Japan.

A small girl wading around in a glowing LED Minnie Mouse stick figure costume recently received a lot of Internet attention.

Cree achieves another fundamental breakthrough in lighting-class LED performance with the groundbreaking SC5 Technology™ Platform. The new platform powers the next generation of lighting with the introduction of Extreme High Power (XHP) LEDs. This new class of LEDs can reduce system costs by up to 40 percent in most lighting applications.

LED prices will continue to fall over the next few years, but this is a phase that will probably pass, said Sean Zhou, Regional Marketing Director, Asia, Philips Lumileds at LEDforum 2014, which took place Friday in Taipei, Taiwan. Manufacturers aiming to improve profits will be increasingly turning towards cost-effective technologies, such as flip-chip LEDs.

Global LED trends show backlight applications are in decline, and that lighting will remain the major market driver, said Sean Zhou, Regional Marketing Director, Asia, Philips Lumileds at LEDforum 2014, which took place Friday in Taipei, Taiwan. In terms of regional market performances, LED market growth in Japan has waned compared to other regions.

Taiwanese LED epiwafer manufacturers received backlight orders from Apple for iPhone products and the upcoming Apple Watch, according to a latest report by Chinese-language Liberty Times report.

Leading U.S. LED manufacturer Cree’s patent application which integrates LED with OLED technology to generate white light was recently approved by the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).

The spectral emission of LEDs is a frequent subject of concern, so to set the record straight, the U.S. Department of Energy has published a technical brief entitled True Colors: LEDs and the Relationship Between CCT, CRI, Optical Safety, Material Degradation, and Photobiological Stimulation. Using an example dataset of 20 CALiPER-tested LED lighting products that cover the full range of market-available CCTs and CRIs, it separates myth from fact regarding the potential of LEDs to cause retinal damage, changes to artwork or other media, and stimulation of the human circadian system (which impacts health).

Noribachi, a leading U.S.-based custom LED manufacturer for high output commercial and industrial solutions along with Intelligent Energy Light and Power, an electrical engineering and installation firm, are proud to announce the completion of the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) Headquarters Energy Efficient Project.

LED applications are getting creative by the day, the latest addition is a rather unique application of transforming the mundane trip to the toilet to take a leak into an experience close to hitting the disco dance floor.

Japanese pump and LED manufacturer Nikkiso will start mass producing UV LEDs with a wavelength between 255-350 nm in Spring 2015, according to a report by Japanese media Nikkei Technology.

After parting ways with former sapphire supplier GT Advanced Technology (GTAT), Apple will turn to third party sapphire suppliers to supply sapphire watch covers for the upcoming smartwatch, analyzed Seeking Alpha.