It’s no surprise that consumers are overwhelmed by all of the changes happening in the lighting aisle, and research shows that most aren’t ready to make the leap to newer energy-efficient lighting solutions. In fact, consumers are purchasing GE Energy-Efficient Soft White bulbs at a rate of two-to-one compared to compact fluorescent (CFL) bulbs, according to Nielsen.

PPG Industries and Universal Display Corporation today marked the opening of a world-class organic light-emitting diode (OLED) materials production facility at PPG’s Barberton, Ohio plant. This new site, which PPG owns and operates, commenced manufacturing earlier this month and will foster the expanded development and production of Universal Display’s phosphorescent OLED (UniversalPHOLED®) materials. “This investment furthers our commitment in this growing technology area and expands our partnership with Universal Display. As the market demand for energy-efficient, high-performance OLED displays and lighting devices continues to grow, we are better prepared today to meet their needs.

Sammi Gros has invented a new type of LED “Tail Lights.” They are not your usual LED tail lights for automotive applications, but six LED double sided strands clipped to horse tails. According to Kickstarter’s product introduction, Gros decided to launch safety lights for equestrian lovers after being hit by a car during a riding trip with a friend four years ago. The safety lights for horses aims to help avoid potential motor accidents for riders.

British LED lighting company PhotonStar Technology Ltd. has announced its new consumer Smart Bulb system Halcyon™, to be available to the general market early 2014 but with a small pre-production run to go to Kickstarter backers in the next few weeks.

Verbatim announces the launch of its ground-breaking Natural Vision VxRGB™ technology, available as realistic candle (Classic B) and MR16 retrofit LED lamps. The products are being launched at Lux Live – one of Europe’s key lighting trade shows held in London, opening today.

Chinese manufacturers offer more insight into the sapphire substrate and MOCVD market this week. Chinese MOCVD manufacturer TOPEC aims to challenge Veeco’s dominance in China’s MOCVD equipment market, while Guizhou Haotian Opto offers insights causing the market’s current sapphire substrate shortages. In addition, Chinese experts share their perspective on the recent global LED patent battles, and how Japanese manufacturers are taking the lead with core technology patents. LEDinside analysts have also come up with brand new reports this week that shed insights on the global LED lighting market trends for 2014. 

Chinese-language online media STCN.Com reporters interviewed Ji Yong, General Manager and Chairman of Guizhou Haotian Optoelectronics Technology Co. (Guizhou Haotian Opto), during the 10th OfWeek LED Seminar 2013 and OfWeek LED Awards in Shenzhen on Nov. 15, 2013. Ji shares his observations on the sapphire substrate market developments and the impact from GT Advanced Technology (GTAT) and Apple partnership.

Chinese-language online media STCN.Com reporters interviewed Tang Optoelectronics Equipment Co. (TOPEC) Chairman and CEO Steve Chen during the 10th OfWeek LED Seminar 2013 and OfWeek LED Awards in Shenzhen on Nov. 15, 2013. The TOPEC leader shares insights on MOCVD equipment market developments in China. 

Following iPhone 5S adoption of dual-flash LED, smartphones are expected to set off a new dual color flash LED trend. The market is very optimistic about growth in demand for flash LED. The two main supply chains for flash LED are separated into vertical chip manufacturers including Osram, Cree, and Samsung and flip chip manufacturers, such as Philips Lumileds, and Nichia. Taiwanese manufacturers Epistar and Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI) are also following suit to grab flash LED market shares.

BOE announced the 5.5 generation AMOLED production line to be established in the still under construction subsidiary Ordos BOE. The production line will be the first in China and second in the world to launch productions.

Penetration rates for flash LED in smartphone applications has already reached 100 percent. Ample business opportunities are attracting many within the industry. Main f lash LED driver specs have been 1000mA, 500mA, and 350mA in 2013. Industry insiders believe that LED development in 2014 will take on a M shape, with 1000mA leading the pack for high= voltage flash LED drivers and 350mA on top for low-current flash LED drivers.

The story behind LED development—only the 4th lighting technology developed in human history—is remarkable. The potential ahead of LED lighting to deliver real and measurable advantages—to save energy, last years longer, significantly lower bottom-line costs—is limitless.  But for it to be the next great defining feature of the lighting landscape, LED lighting needs to work.

With ‘modest progress’ and a ‘growing sense of realism’ being widely reported to sum up the mood at this year’s climate change talks, Philips is calling for renewed optimism and action. This is based on the energy savings impact the company is seeing from the implementation of energy efficient lighting technologies such as LED.

Rubicon Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:RBCN), a leading provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, semiconductor, and optical markets, today announced that Warren S. Stewart III has joined the Company as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, effective immediately. Mr. Stewart was formerly Vice President, Sales, at Cree, Inc., in Durham, North Carolina. He will provide leadership to Rubicon’s global sales and marketing team, reporting to Raja M. Parvez, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Soraa, the world leader in the development of gallium nitride on gallium nitride (GaN on GaN™) LED technology, announced today that it will open a new semiconductor fabrication plant in Buffalo, New York. In partnership with the State of New York, the company will construct a new state-of-the-art GaN on GaN™ LED fabrication facility that will employ hundreds of workers. The new facility is projected to be operational in 2015. Soraa currently operates an LED fabrication plant in Fremont, California, one of only a few in the U.S.

The proposal is based on patent pending intelligent ParallelView™ LED lighting products MagicLight™ and MagicSign™, which are supported by patent pending Plug-n-Power™ AC-DC Power Distribution Systems, resulting in the most comprehensive, energy efficient and environmentally friendly general lighting solutions in the World.

Specializing in the LED automotive lighting niche market and LED commercial lighting market, Laster Tech has benefitted from the continued growth of the Chinese automotive market. With more and more automobiles utilizing LED lights, the LED automotive lighting industry has seen continued growth in 2013. Consolidated revenue for Jan.-Oct. reached NT $1.34 billion (US $43 million), a yearly growth of 34.31 percent.

The release of low priced LED bulbs by Cree acted as a catalyst this year. One by one international companies are speeding up their LED lighting market strategy. GE Lighting Solutions (GE) hosted their 2014 new product conference on November 19th 2013, with lighting partners Lextar, Chicony, and LiteOn. GE announced the return of the LED Omni A19 to the Taiwanese market and showcased a multitude of new products.

NVC Lighting (NVC) received a visit from UK Birmingham Councilor Sir Albert Bore on November 15th to the company’s Lighting Experience Center in Chongqing where both sides entered into an in-depth discussion regarding investment and development of the NVC Birmingham factory. CEO Wu Changjiang of NVC spoke in detail about the company’s management concept and overseas expansion plans. Among the industries in China encountered during Bore’s trip to China, he expressed that NVC is the only company to receive investments from the city. Both sides hope to cooperate in investment and development of NVC UK.

Korea research organization UBI Research compares archrival LG Electronics and Samsung 55-inch OLED TVs in its latest research report. Below is the research organization’s press release.

Dialog Semiconductor plc (FWB: DLG), a provider of highly integrated power management, AC/DC, solid state lighting and short-range wireless technologies, today announced a strategic collaboration with Sengled, a global leading provider of LED lighting solutions and Dialog’s first partner for the commercialization of Dialog’s smarteXiteTM platform. Based on fully configurable logic, smarteXite integrates the latest digital dimming standard – Ledotron™ – and enables a new generation of highly flexible and intelligent LED driver ICs for smart lighting applications.

The Albuquerque Convention Center, a multi-purpose event complex with more than 270,000 square feet of meeting and exhibit space, recently selected energy efficient LED lighting from Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) to improve the facility and provide better illumination for visitors. Powered by Cree TrueWhite® Technology and Lutron® controls, the LED luminaires deliver superior light quality to the East Complex of the Convention Center, while reducing the Convention Center’s annual lighting energy usage from an industry standard 40 percent to just 7.6 percent of its total energy usage.

With increased demand for LED lighting this year, large global lighting manufacturers have been strategizing their next move in the LED lighting market. The Taiwan LED bulb market has emerged as a strategically important area. Following the release of color tunable LED bulbs by Liteon subsidiary Leotek, U.S. manufacturer GE announced on November 19th that the GE LED Omni A19 will return to the Taiwan market next month. The new generation LED Omni A19 not only has increased brightness, but also more competitively priced.

China Electric Manufacturing Corp. has announced its acquisition of GIO Optoelectronics Corp. in hopes to meet their operation goal of increasing LED lighting revenue share by 20 percent next year.

Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc. announced it has acquired Tri-State LED in a cash and stock transaction. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

When it launches the new Osram Ostar Medical, Osram Opto Semiconductors will be introducing the first LED component with a high color-rendering index (CRI) of 95 and the possibility of adjusting the temperature of the color white. This makes it ideal for medical applications – for instance in operating rooms, where a precisely controlled chromaticity coordinate and high natural color rendering are crucial.

Intematix Corp., a leading innovator of patented phosphor solutions for high-quality LED lighting, today announced the volume shipments of their remote phosphor component that enables 150W equivalent LED retrofit lamps. This production release adds to the product family already enabling 40W, 60W, 75W and 100W bulb replacements all using a similar omnidirectional form factor.

Toshiba Corporation (TOKYO:6502) today announced that it has launched “TLP2391”, a high-speed photocoupler for servo motors and programmable logic controllers (PLCs) which works with both plus and minus LED currents. Mass production is scheduled to start in December.

U.S. manufacturer Veeco and German company Aixtron that have long possessed China’s LED epitaxal wafer MOCVD market, will be facing “war declarations” issued by Chinese manufacturers, according to a report by Chinese newspaper The National Business Daily. 

China’s National Development and Reform Commission and others announced the country’s latest strategic new industry development report at the China Hi-tech Fair on Nov. 16, 2013. Most industries remain small in Guangdong Province’s eight strategic new industries, according to the province’s latest strategic new industry report.