Taiwan Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association (PIDA) has recently predicted that the local LED industry will grow at a moderate pace in 2011. According to PIDA , the output value of the global LED industry grew an increase of 68 percent from US$9 billion in 2009 to US$15.1 billion in 2010, and the number will further increase by 38 percent to US$20.8 billion in 2011.

AIXTRON SE today announced an order from mainland China. HC SemiTek placed an order for six additional CRIUS® Gallium Nitride epitaxial growth reactors. The six machines in the 31x2-inch wafer configuration have been delivered to the company’s modern facility in Wuhan.

StreetlightIntelligence Inc. (TSX-V:SLQ, "SLQ"), of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a leading developer of adaptive street light control and monitoring technology, and National Semiconductor Corp.

LED chipmaker Formosa Epitaxy 's December revenues fell 25% sequentially to NT$300 million (US$10.23 million), and revenues for 4Q10 came to NT$1.1 billion, down 23% sequentially. But the company's full-year revenues increased 121.5% from 2009 to NT$4.64 billion thanks to strong TV backlight demand.

Recently, industry sources revealed that Taiwan-based LED packaging house Ledtech Electronics is likely to get orders for approximately one million LED light bars used in chain stores from a state-run enterprise in China in late January, 2011.  

TV vendor Sampo launched an LCD TV, named Cloud TV, which combined a built-in Internet connection, mobile communications and home entertainment, with content provider 5TV.

 

It’s reported that "Megatex", a Bulgarian LED and LCD technologies company has developed a screen combining LED technology with renewable solar energy, which can be mounted at places without electric power supply. The panel has a 5 KW power to charge the screen. The new screen will be used outdoors and can be installed on stadiums; it can be used for concerts or as a billboard.

According to Acuity Brands’ Lithonia Lighting, its Product Development Manager William Ballweg will present at the upcoming Solid State Lighting Design (“SSL Design”) 2011 Summit in Los Angeles, CA and the Strategies in Light® conference in Santa Clara, CA.  

Manufacturing Award at Printed Electronics and Photovoltaics USA 2010. The prize is awarded for exceptional work on developing high-efficiency components and manufacturing technologies for flexible electronics. AIXTRON has received the award for its OVPD® process1, an enabling technology for manufacturing OLEDs and other applications in organic electronics.

LED chipmaker Epistar's revenues for December were NT$1.44 billion (US$49.24 million), dropped 13% compared to November. The revenues for the full year in 2010 reached NT$19.76 billion, up 55% from 2009.

Recently, Taiwan LED manufacturer Aeon Lighting Technology (ALT) has successfully acquired the LED Streetlight CNS Mark, making it Taiwan’s first LED-streetlight manufacturer to pass inspections of the world’s first industry standard dedicated to LED streetlights. In the meantime, it also released its latest versions of its LED lamps, such as Orion-coded T8 light tubes, chandelier bulbs, SO2-coded streetlights, BR lamps, and GX5.3 MR16 lamps in the fourth quarter 2010.

The US Department of Energy (DOE) had suspended the PAR 38 portion of the L Prize competition in which companies were working to develop an LED-based solid-state lighting (SSL) replacement for halogen lamps. But in the Lightfair International in May 2011, the DOE planed to reopen the competition with modified competition requirements.

It is rumored that Genesis Photonics would cooperate with china's Potevio Group soon in order to ensure orders from the China market. Potevio which was a China-based state-owned business conglomerate, previously formed a LED lighting joint venture with Taiwan's Unity Opto Technology through its subsidiary in 2009. In 2010 the company also signed a cooperation agreement with power supply maker ENG Technology, which produced LED lighting products as well, promising orders worth US$100 million.

City of Foshan, Guangdong Province is reported to inject about 300 billion RMB to set up “Guangdong Green Lighting Demonstration Cities”. The five districts and Dongping town will promote the Foshan road （street）, tunnel, large-scale public buildings, as well as green lighting products upgrading.

LED chip packaging company Wellypower Optronics announced its consolidated revenues for December 2010 hit a record high of NT$820 million (US$28.16 million), and the company got revenues of NT$8.9 billion in the whole years, up 25.4% on year. In December, Wellypower’s LED products sales had a 55.62% share in the total revenues, while CCFL sales was at NT$319 million (38.93%) and lighting products was at NT$44.67 million (5.45%). 4Q10 revenues were NT$2.39 billion, which better than market expectations.

Recently, Everlight has taken the leads in the world’s first 3rd party verified Carbon Footprint Declaration of LED products by SGS, an international certificate organization that follows the PAS 2050：2008 standard verification from United Kingdom Accreditation Service.

After the EU, the US, Australia and others have imposed restrictions to phase out incandescent light bulbs, it’s reported that China is in the process of making the roadmap for banning the use of these bulbs. The restriction is expected to be unveiled in March. According to Wang Jinsui, director general of China Illuminating Engineering Society, said in China Business News, "The National Development and Reform Commission has been drafting the map."

It’s reported that Lighting Science Group has appointed Travis Jones as vice president of national accounts. Jones will play an integral role in the management of existing national accounts, and the pursuit of new accounts.  He will report to John Bono, Lighting Science Group's vice president for strategic accounts. Before joining Lighting Science Group, Jones worked for Cooper Lighting where he was most recently the business development manager for national accounts.

LED chip packaging company Unity Opto Technology’ revenues for December 2010 were NT$510 million (US$17.51 million), down 8.9% sequentially but increasing 30% on year. The accumulated revenues for the full year were NT$6.77 billion, up 69% compared to 2009. Looking forward, both new LED backlit units and new clients were expected to ship much more in 1Q11. LED lighting products’ revenues were also expected to reach 20% in the total revenues in 2011 compared to 13% in 2010.

The Japan-based LED maker Nichia announced that Lumitronix LED-Technik GmbH had became Nichia’s first official LED distributor in Germany from January 1, 2011. In the past, Nichia had used to supply its LEDs directly to end-use customers, without using distribution channels anywhere in the world. Nichia had also broken with its own tradition by cooperating with Lumitronix.

The market estimated that LED lighting products’ prices would drop by 15-20% each year amid increase competition in the market as vendors reduce prices to gain market share, which even be fall to one-third of current prices. At first, the Japanese market appeared to price war in 2009. Sources from LED companies indicated that the price competition had extended to China, Europe and the US.

A leader of Ledtech Electronics introduced, in 2011, the company would emphasis on the indoor lighting and low-temperature lighting market, working hard for revenue up 50% on year, which meant about NT$2.6 billion (US$89.27 million).

A power control IC company iWatt’s president and CEO, Ron Edgerton is reported to present as a panel member in the private company track during the Piper Jaffray Sixth Annual Clean Technology & Renewables Conference which will held at The Westin New York at Times Square on January 12, 2011. Mr. Edgerton will discuss the role iWatt’s GreenTech power supply control ICs play in the clean technology industry, and specifically in the LED solid state lighting markets.

InvenLux Optoelectronics (China) has ordered Jordan Valley Semiconductors (JVS)’ QC3 HRXRD tool which is designed to provide characterization for GaAs, InP, Si and GaN (thick buffers) for HB-LED manufacturing industry.

Samsung Electronics has showed off more than 40 new LED models with screen sizes from 19-inches to 65-inches at the International Consumer Electronics Show. The new TVs offer dramatically enhanced picture quality in 2D, 3D, HD and streaming content, as well as richer connected entertainment options delivered through one of the most comprehensive offering of apps and connected devices. In addition, Samsung will also expand the number of 3D TV models available in 2011.

Arima Optoelectronics had got the first segment of patent licensing charge from its Chinese joint venture in Shanxi. The total licensing charge was CNY270 million and the joint venture would pay the full amount in five years with the first installment of CNY120 million (US$15.45 million) and CNY102 million after tax.

For all of 2010, Thinking Electronic Industrial posted revenues of NT$4.33 billion, increasing 35.8% from a year earlier. December consolidated revenues were NT$367 million (US$12.61 million), down 3.7% sequentially. In January of 2011, the company started to receive orders as usual, and Thinking's capacity would remain tight in 1Q11 as the company's new plant in China would not come online until 3Q11. But 1Q11 revenues would remain low compared to 4Q10, following the impact of the Chinese Lunar New Year holidays.

Royal Philips Electronics (AEX: PHI, NYSE: PHG) announced today that it has acquired Optimum Lighting LLC, a privately owned company specializing in customized energy-efficient lighting solutions for the office, industry and retail segments. This acquisition complements Philips’ customer-centric innovation capabilities and strengthens its global leadership position in professional lighting solutions.

Industry sources estimated Richtek Technology 1Q revenues in 2011 would be up 5-10% sequentially, with it's working hard in the handset, LED backlight and consumer electronics. In 2010, 4Q revenues were expected to top NT$2.6 billion, which was higher than the company's projection of NT$2.2-2.5 billion, with gross margin down about 35-38%. Except that, Richtek had completed a buyback of one million company shares from the open market at an average price of NT$253.53 per share.