Intematix Corp., a phosphor-technology powerhouse, has begun to carve out its niche in the global LED lighting market by poaching expertise, acquiring facilities, and upgrading LED know-how. The program began last year, the company has opened its Taiwan subsidiary Intematix Technology Center (ITC) in Taoyuan County, northern Taiwan; acquired a phosphor factory in Suzhou, China; and named Jeff Lagaly, the former Global Sales Director for Cree Lighting, as Vice President of Sales, LED Lighting.

TT electronics Optek Technology has integrated four 1W LED die into a single assembly for multi-colour and monochrome solid state lighting and has developed a star-shaped red/green/blue/amber LED assembly with exceptional thermal performance.

Taiwan LED driver IC leading provider Macroblock has developed a 16-channel constant current LED driver - MBI5037. The company says the driver with smart power-saving modes and advanced error detection, is especially designed for long use of LED traffic sign applications with power saving up to 99%.

Minnesota-based Seasonal Impressions has launched new LED retrofit bulbs that will give commercial and recreational users more flexibility in their lighting displays.

Microsolar Corp. provides a copper-aluminum bonding Service and products. With the state-of-the-art technology called copper-aluminum bonding, Microsolar's LED lamps are allowed to input over 1.5Amp current into a 40milx40mil single chip with over 250 lm brightness.

Incandescent light bulbs could soon become a thing of the past. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy is pushing a "15-30" move aiming to replace 30%of lights in the country with more energy-efficient LEDs by the year 2015. The European Union and Australia have announced plans to ban sales of ordinary light bulbs and halogen lighting within the next four years.

The 14th annual Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition to be held June 9-12, 2009 at the China Import and Export Fair, Pazhou Complex, in Guangzhou, China, is adding a second LED exhibit hall this year. The LED booths were very popular last year, perhaps due in part to complement the growing interest in the China LED market in China.

Energy efficient lighting pioneer BluGlass Ltd and Itochu Plastics Inc. (CIPS), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Japanese trading company Itochu Corp. have signed a sales and distribution agreement. That means CIPS has won the sole rights to market BluGlass’s gallium nitride (GaN)-based LED manufacturing technology in Japan.

Hisense, as China's leading home appliance brand, was awarded the "Global TV Brand Top7" due to its 42 inch LED LCD TV at CES 2009. Hisense has now become the most famous Chinese color TV brands by winning this honor. Hisense was also awarded "Top 10 CE Brand From China" for the third consecutive year. At the same time, Hisense also successfully defended "Global CE Brands Top 50" award.

Wyked Illuzionz, the Maryland-based motorcycle LED light company, has been increasingly growing in popularity over the past several years and now they have two more “successes” under their belt.

Everlight announces that it will re-organize its Business Group structure to better position themselves to more aggressively pursue and support the requirements of the fast growing, global LED environment. The company will be divided into two divisions – a Production Business Group and Sales and Marketing Business Group.

Orb Optronix has measured commercially available solid state lighting products (SSL) that exceed risk group category RG-1 blue light hazard limits in the ANSI/IESNA RP-27.3-07 ‘Recommended Practice for Photobiological Safety for Lamps, Risk Group Classification and Labeling’ standard along with IEC 62471:2006. The RG-2 categorization cautions against direct viewing of light sources with the human eye.

Taiwan LED driver IC leading provider Macroblock presents its newly developed MBI5037, a 16-channel constant current LED driver with smart power-saving modes and advanced error detection. MBI5037 is especially designed for long use of LED traffic sign applications with power saving up to 99%.

Lustrous International Technology, a lighting-class LED packaging company in Taiwan,is proud to announce the launch of two new series of high power LED products,Diamond and Crystal. Both two new series of high power LED are active and orders accepted from Jan, 2009. Both Diamond and Crystal are designed to meet energy star standards for manufacturinglighting-class LED fixture or light source at a significantly competitive cost.

Pacer International Ltd. announces the opening of a new sales office based in Cork, Ireland, continuing the company’s ongoing expansion.

High Power LED applied for automotive, aviation, decorative lighting, architectural lighting, theme parks, utility plants, street lighting, emergency lighting, safety lighting, industrial lighting, LED sign, Traffic signaling, LED lighting. Focusing on this market trend, Chang-Yu Technology has announced new competitively Sorting & taping machine for high power LED.

Validity Sensors, Inc., a privately-held biometric sensor company specializing in convenient, secure and reliable fingerprint authentication solutions, launched their latest innovation LED fingerprint sensor. Validity offers bi-color LEDs in fingerprint sensors, which enhances end-users’ experience by alerting them when a finger swipe is required and whether a swipe was accepted or not. The LED feature also allows for improved aesthetics and user experience for Notebook PCs and other consumer electronic devices.

Orb Optronix has measured several solid state lighting products that cause retinal injury if viewed directly. The products that exceed risk group category RG-1 blue light hazard limits in the ANSI/IESNA RP-27.3-07 ‘Recommended Practice for Photobiological Safety for Lamps, Risk Group Classification and Labeling’ standard along with IEC 62471:2006. The RG-2 categorization cautions against direct viewing of light sources with the human eye.

Luminus Devices, Inc. is showcasing its patented PhlatLight LED products at CES from January 8 to 11. The company will demonstrate PhlatLight technology that combines the benefits of both LED and laser technologies at CES 2009. This unique solid state lighting technology is ideal for display and illumination applications that require high brightness and the efficient harnessing of light from a small point source. Luminus’s patented PhlatLight® LED products are the brightest. The following products are on display:

Vivitek Corporation, a leader in the environmentally responsible manufacture of today's most innovative visual display and presentation products, will be showing its first 1080p LED projector at the 2009 CES this week in Las Vegas. The quiet, new HC7500A, breakthrough projector, provides the growing HD home theater market with the industry's brightest, pure-color, video to-date.

Moritex Corp developed a bar-shaped LED lamp ”SpectraTrue” in cooperation with Schott AG of Germany, its parent company, that has already released a bar-shaped LED. Moritex says with a high color rendering property, it can precisely reproduce the colors of products and showpieces.

LED lighting manufacturer Albeo Technologies introduces its SecurityLED line of general illumination light fixtures. The SecurityLED product family, built with Albeo's white-LED TEMPR(TM) thermal technology, provides high-efficiency, "zero" maintenance, general lighting solutions for demanding applications.     SecurityLED Sloped Surface Light Fixture

Ushio Lighting Inc. has started sample shipment of the "LED Filament Bulb," a light bulb that uses LEDs as its "filaments." The company says the bulbs have a color temperature of 2,500K and a transparent glass bulb.

Austriamicrosystems, a leading global designer and manufacturer of high performance analog ICs, has extended its portfolio of specialized LED drivers and controllers for the latest generation of LCD TV backlighting with the AS3693B 16 channel LED controller IC.

Avago Technologies has announced a new competitively priced 1-Watt high power LED emitter for use in solid-state lighting applications. The company said this LED emitter is ideal for use in architectural, contour, retail display, decorative and garden lighting applications. The ASMT-Ax00 LED features a low-profile package design, wide 130-degree viewing angle, and the ability to handle high thermal and drive currents. It comes in a variety of colors.

It’s reported that Sven Rotgers has joined GE Lighting as Business Development Manager for Specification Lamps to head up the company’s Specification team covering the UK, Nordics and Ireland. Sven joins GE Lighting from Philips where he has worked for the last eight years. At GE he will be responsible for leading his sales team to create new and maintain existing partnerships with customers specifying GE lamps. About GE Lighting

Diguang International Development Co., Ltd. will present at the world-renowned annual consumer electronics trade show include CCFL/LED backlights, LED lamps, mini-size laptops, 19'' super-thin LED displays and other innovations at the International CES Exhibition in Las Vegas, January 8 to 11, 2009.

LEDinside, Taiwan LED industry research institute, estimates Taiwan’s streetlight market to show perspective business valued at around NT$40-50 billion for the Taiwan’s LED firms due to the government’s plan to spend NT$200-300 million to install LED streetlights on some of the island’s roads in 2009 as demonstration for the use of the new light source in streetlight.

Nexxus Lighting, Inc. announced that Gary Langford has been appointed as the Company’s new Chief Financial Officer effective January 5, 2009. Mr. Langford will replace John Oakley, who has resigned to pursue an opportunity as CFO and Senior VP of Operations at another publicly traded company outside of the lighting industry.

Cree, Inc. reported that Robert Ingram, vice chairman Pharmaceuticals of GlaxoSmithKline, was elected to the Company’s Board of Directors and to the Board’s Compensation and Governance and Nominations Committee beginning December 29, 2008. Robert Ingram does not have the electrical engineering background of some of the board members, but he has gained some notoriety for his role at the pharmaceutical giant.