Taiwan LED package company Everlight consolidated revenue for October reached NT $2.24 billion (US $ 76 million), a drop of 7.22 percent from September but an increase of 31.26 compared to October last year. Due to 2Q merger and acquisition of German light fixture manufacturer WOFI, September amount recognized reached a peak causing October to drop slightly leading to a slide in revenue from September to October.

Reasons behind Apple’s heavy investments in GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) sapphire substrates go beyond iPhone component demands, according to a TechCrunch report. Aside from home buttons and camera lens cover demands, the sapphire substrate’s crystalline properties is also a reason as to why Apple is extending its interest in this area.

Intelligent LED street lights that are capable of eavesdropping pedestrian conversation from U.S. based company Intellistreets have been installed in Las Vegas City Hall, according to a Daily Mail report. The new lights are largely funded with government aid and come with video and audio recording capacities. This has raised concerns from local residents that the “surveillance lights” could invade personal space and privacy.

Global chip manufacturer TSMC has been attending international conventions this year to increase exposure for newly developed package free phosphor-on-die (PoD) technology. Optimistic about the economic performance for TSMC Solar and TSMC Solid State Lighting, the company plans to list the two businesses on the stock market in the next few years, said Morris Chang chairman of TSMC.

Taiwanese package manufacturer Unity Opto on November 8th released their 3Q financial data. Affected by 3Q weak backlight demands, 3Q consolidated revenue reached NT $1.73 billion (US $58 million), sliding 13.73 percent from 2Q. 3Q profit dropped 65 percent from 2Q NT $108 million to NT $37.5 million in 3Q.

A recent report by Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times noted a new phenomenon of Chinese companies headhunting  talent in Taiwan's LED industry. Three years ago, Chinese LED manufacturer San’an Optoelectronics uprooted a large number of engineers from leading Taiwanese LED company Epistar. The event was coined as the “108 Heros Incident” by Chinese media. Now, Chinese companies headhunting activities have escalated in scale and scope.Headhunting activities are also implementing Central Committee of the Communist Party’s “Ten Thousand People Plan” (literal translation) to obtain oversea ethnic-Chinese talent.

LIGHTING JAPAN 2014, an important exhibition and conference for LED/OLED lighting, will take place in 2 months. Newly joined by global giants such as Philips, GE and many others, LIGHTING JAPAN is further strengthened as the Asian hub of the lighting industry. Attend LIGHTING JAPAN 2014, meet all the key players from the world’s LED/OLED lighting industry and make the good start of next year.

Yankon announced the company has finally received cleared funds for the 2012 high-power lighting product promotion subsidy from the government.

DOE has published a new report, Dimming LEDs with Phase-Cut Dimmers: The Specifier's Process for Maximizing Success. The report was created in response to issues raised about dimming by energy efficiency organizations and specifiers, and is based on experience from CALiPER testing and GATEWAY demonstrations.

An earlier report by Women Citizen projecting Apple’s smartphone dominance is to be challenged by Samsung’s AMOLED technology has been proven wrong by a recent Bloomberg report. Apple has no intention of being left behind by Samsung in the race of developing curved smartphones, according to the Bloomberg report. Citing an unnamed source familiar with the new project, the report noted Apple is developing a new generation of smartphones with curved glass and enhanced sensors.

Microvehicles and other devices that can change shape or move with no power source other than a beam of light may be possible through research led by the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. The researchers are investigating polymers that “snap” when triggered by light, thereby converting light energy into mechanical work and potentially eliminating the need for traditional machine components such as switches and power sources. 

Researchers from the universities of Bonn and Regensburg have developed a novel type of organic light-emitting diode (OLED). These lights are suitable for the design of particularly energy-efficient cheap displays, which find applications in smart phones, tablet PCs or TVs. Applications in lighting such as in luminescent tiles are also conceivable. The scientists have now reported their findings in the journal “Angewandte Chemie” (DOI: 10.1002/anie.201307601).

This week U.S. Department of Energy released two new reports that manufacturers might want to check out over the weekend. The first is pricing and efficacy trend analysis for utility program planning, and the second is a subjective evaluation of LED PAR38 lamps. As Apple signs a long term agreement with GTAT for sapphire substrate production, Chinese manufacturers are also eager to grab a share. Also this week, Beijing court rulings give Nichia an upper hand in its patent wars with Everlight. For further details please see below:

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Everlight announced the launch of a brand new RGB LED package product. The full color 1-035 SMB package product is the world's smallest at only 0.5mm x 0.5mm (0505) in size and can be applied in high resolution LED TVs.

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar saw earnings turn to losses in 3Q13, due to loss on valuation of financial liability. Although, the company’s gross profit rebound rate was much lower than expected in 2013, higher gross profits from Embedded LED chip (ELC) and AlInGap products will help gross profits return to 17.8 percent levels, CLSA forecasted.

LiteOn global consolidated revenue for October reached NT $19.45 billion (US $66 million), a growth of 9 percent compared with last October. The company’s core businesses including power solutions and camera modules both reached record highs in October. Accumulated global revenue from Jan. – Oct. reached NT $173 billion

Everlight responds to Nichia's press release on November 7th regarding Chinese Patent Nos. ZL97196762.8 and ZL03159595.2 (YAG patents).

DOE has published the first in a series of four special investigations intended to extend the findings of CALiPER Application Summary Report 20: LED PAR38 Lamps, which was published late last year. The new report, CALiPER Report 20.1: Subjective Evaluation of Beam Quality, Shadow Quality, and Color Quality for LED PAR38 Lamps, focuses on a subset of the lamps from Report 20, which were separately assessed by members of the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America.

A small study research has revealed patients in average hospital rooms are getting inadequate lighting exposure that it is affecting their bodies normal sleep-wake cycle, according to a Reuters report. 

Universal Display Corp., enabling energy-efficient displays and lighting with its UniversalPHOLED® technology and materials, reported its financial results today for the quarter and nine-month period, ended September 30, 2013.

Kingsun LED Lights (Kingsun) has signed a LiFi communication and positioning system partnership agreement with Beijing Tsinghua University in May 2013, according to a company post on Chinese social media website Weibo. The company has successfully developed LiFi cellphone samples. The company expects the products can reach marketization once it achieves iPhone size and weight.

GT Advanced Technology (GTAT) announced that it has entered into a multi-year supply agreement with Apple Inc. to provide sapphire substrate materials for US $578 million (NT $17 billion). Feeling the effect, Chinese sapphire substrate listed company stockholders yesterday start preparing to make a move. Shanghai and Shenzhen have 8 related concept stocks and aside from Crystal Optech stocks which is under trade suspension, all others increased.

Leotek, a subsidiary of LiteOn Technology Corp., has officially announced the debut of its first color tunable LED bulb and entry into the residential lighting market on Nov. 6. The bulb comes with a special patent that allows it to be switched to warm white light within one second. Leotek has taken its past 20 year experience in making good quality foreign outdoor lighting products to the indoor lighting market, said Danny Liao, CEO of New Business Development at Leotek. 

Samsung Electronics CEO Kwon Oh Hyun promised that the company will be delivering foldable phones by 2015 during the company’s Analyst Day, according to reports by Engadget and GottaBeMobile. com. The Engadget report noted Galaxy Round was an “incremental nudge” towards this development, and the flexible phone concept can be further expanded into wearable electronic gadgets that the company has high interest in.

North American lighting manufacturer Osram Sylvania is upgrading its portfolio of Sylvania Ultra LED lamps, providing higher efficacy, competitively priced LED lamps and downlight retrofit kits for commercial applications. These long life, energy-efficient alternatives to traditional lighting sources such as incandescent, halogen and compact fluorescent lamps now have a variety of enhancements, including efficiency increases of 10 to 15 percent compared to previous versions resulting in more light with less energy usage, improved design and dimming capabilities.

Two prominent lines from Littman Brands, Hudson Valley Lighting®, manufacturer of contemporary and traditional lighting fixtures for more than 30 years, and Corbett Lighting, manufacturer of decorative lighting, are pleased to announce their participation in the renovation of The Ronald McDonald House in Long Island, New York (RMH-LI), a respite for seriously ill children undergoing treatment at area hospitals, as well as their families.

Japanese LED manufacturer Nichia announced recently , it had received the court verdict from the Beijing First Intermediate People's Court pertaining to the decision by the State Intellectual Property Office’s Board of Patent Appeals and Interferences that Nichia’s two YAG patents (ZL97196762.8, ZL03159595.2) were valid.

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar has released their 3Q13 financial results, feeling the effects of  LED for TV backlight applications inventory adjustments.

With the continual low price trend of  in the LED market, manufacturers are beginning to consider options for lowering productions costs. LED package free products have become the focal point of the industry in 2013 with many manufacturers actively breaking into R&D and production.

The company also announced that it has entered into a multi-year supply agreement with Apple Inc. to provide sapphire material. GT will own and operate ASF® furnaces and related equipment to produce the material at an Apple facility in Arizona where GT expects to employ over 700 people. Apple will provide GT with a prepayment of approximately $578 million. GT will reimburse Apple for the prepayment over five years, starting in 2015.