Facing the difficulties in the industry, global LED companies developed their strategies trying to keep their business prospering. LEDinside analyzed the different approaches of worldwide LED manufacturers. For Taiwanese LED manufacturers, Micro LED and Mini LED technologies have directed them into a new field where they have a better chance to rival with competitors from China and Korea. Korean and Japanese LED suppliers, on the other hand, target niche products for novel applications such as UV LEDs and LEDs with wavelengths that are similar to natu...

Visible light communication, or LiFi, has provided a high speed internet connection for residents on Graemsay, an island in Scotland. The LiFi network trial project was developed by The University of Edinburgh and pureLiFi. The LiFi trial project began in June 2019 with project named 5G RuralFirst. Before the trial, residents of the island often stock in a connection below 2Mbps. The LiFi network completely improved the connectivity by providing connection which is four times faster. Both outdoor and indoor systems are included in the LiFi trial network. Th...

Sony announced the partnership with Yamaha Motor for a joint development of the SC-1 Sociable Cart, an autonomous vehicle that delivers a new mobility experience. Sony and Yamaha Motor plan to launch services using this model in Japan in fiscal 2019. The vehicle was developed solely for the purpose of providing a new mobility experience, and it will not be made available for sale. The SC-1 is designed to transform what was a mere means of mobility into an all-new opportunity for entertainment. Sony and Yamaha Motor will deploy it to provide fun new diversions at venues s...

In December 2018, Seoul Semiconductor announced that it has won a patent infringement lawsuit against Mouser Electronics for selling LED products that infringe Seoul’s patent. Everlight later responded in January 2019 that it would continue to guard its right and claim patent invalidity against Seoul Semiconductor. However, Seoul’s latest announcement reported that the District Court of Düsseldorf in Germany issued a permanent injunction against the sales of the accused products manufactured by Everlight and ordered the distributor to recall the pr...

The annual Display International Touch Taiwan is taking place this week with exhibitors from all over the world showcasing their latest developments in display technology. Taiwan-based panel makers AUO and Innolux are both showing their innovative display products at the show including Mini LED backlight display, Micro LED displays and more. (Image: AUO) AUO announced that it will unveil several new display technologies covering Mini LED backlit 8K TVs as well as gaming monitors, notebook panels and VR wearable displays adopting Mini LED backlig...

A research shows that birds exposed to artificial light at night might increase the spread of West Nile Virus (WNV). West Nile Virus that infects birds and other animals including humans. The virus can cause West Nile fever for people and sever disease in horses. The virus is transmitted by birds and mosquitos. The study led by Meredith Kernbach, a PhD student in the University of South Florida College of Public Health, suggested that wild birds who carry the virus would remain infectious two days longer if exposed to artificial light at night time, leading to h...

The International Symposium on Automotive Lighting 2019 will take place from September 23 to 25 in Darmstadt, Germany. Inova Semiconductors, a member of the ISELED Alliance, is going to present its innovative solutions for automotive lighting with a focus on interior lighting during the event. Inova will exhibit the first available products and applications based on ISELED technology. A "Carbox" demonstrator illustrates the interaction between dynamic light and image content, opening up new possibilities for driver assistance and infotainment systems. A...

Lextar will present Micro LED display and its Mini LED series products at Touch Taiwan during August 28 to 30. The vertical integrated LED company is also releasing a new series of Mini LED ready for mass production. The products include I-Mini Blue and UFP I-Mini RGB display with a pitch size of 0.7mm. Lextar will exhibit its latest development, a 5.1-inch transparent AM Micro LED display. According to Lextar, the Micro LED display can achieve a brightness of 30,000nits by assembling flip chip Micro LED on the transparent glass. Meanwh...

LED manufacturers all over the world have suffered from low profit and market uncertainty due to continuous price competition and on-going trade dispute. Besides cutting off lighting business, LEDinside observed the strategies developed by worldwide LED companies under the difficult circumstance to alleviate impacts on their business. Micro LED and Mini LED: the Turning Point for Taiwan LED Manufacturers Taiwan-based LED companies were challenged by Chinese competitors with their low price strategies in the past few years. However, Mini LED and Micro...

Cree posted financial results of its fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 and the whole fiscal year. For fiscal 4Q19 which ends on June 30, 2019, Cree registered a revenue of US$251.2 million for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2019, down by 5% YoY and 8% QoQ. GAAP net loss from continuing operations for the fourth quarter was US$34.6 million, or US$0.33 per diluted share. On a non-GAAP basis, net income from continuing operations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 was US$11.5 million, or US$0.11 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income from continuing o...

The 8th Touch Taiwan will begin next week on August 28 at Taipei Nangang Exhibition Hall. This year, with the expanding exhibition zone of Micro LED and Mini LED Product and Solution, many expect to see innovative technologies and applications at the show. There will be 37 exhibitors including Epistar, Lextar, Macroblock, ASM Pacific Technology, Tory, Topcon showcasing their latest development of Micro LED and Mini LED at Touch Taiwan 2019. Exhibitors of the supply chain will present their technology related to Micro/Mini LED from upstream ...

Many LED producers have turned their focus to automotive applications for higher profit. The ongoing development of autonomous driving technology and next generation automobile also creates new requirements for automotive lighting as well as automotive displays, leading to new opportunities for LED makers. Exterior lighting becomes even more important for driverless cars, as they need to pass information and communicate with each other as well as remind pedestrians of their movement. Deployment of advanced LED technology enables cars to provide details when they are about to ...

Automotive component supplier Magna announced the opening of a new electronics manufacturing facility in Grand Blanc Township, Michigan, USA. The facility consolidates three nearby locations into a single site which occupies 21,367.7 square meters (230,000 square foot). (Image: Magna) With nearly US$ 50 million investment, Magna expects the new facility to accelerate large-scale deployment of future technologies such as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), advanced robotics and Micro LED lighting. Magna built partnership with Micro LED technology p...

UV LEDs are recently replacing mercury light as UV light source for disinfection applications. German researchers have developed a UV LED based disinfection system to purify brewing water and clean the caps for bottled beer and soft drinks. Researchers at the Advanced System Technology (AST) branch of the Fraunhofer Institute for Optronics, System Technologies and Image Exploitation IOSB in Ilmenau, Germany, have cooperated in collaboration with PURION, a UV technology solution provider, to create UV LED based purifying module to destroy germs...

Osram said that it has begun talking with AMS on a Business Combination Agreement since August 13, aiming a publication of AMS' takeover offer before the end of September 5. According to Osram, both parties will continue to carefully assess the details the agreement and hope to reach the common goal that ams will be able to start its tender period during the offer period of the existing takeover offer from the financial investors Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group, thus before the end of September 5, 2019. AMS submitted the proposal to Osram on October 11...

The United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced that addition tariffs on certain Chinese-made consumer items will be delayed until December 15 for avoiding the holiday shopping season, according to President Trumps. As a result, USTR has announced two new lists for products with extra tariffs effective on September 1, 2019, and those effective on December 15, 2019. Several items were removed from the tariffs list due to health, safety, national security and other factors, according to USTR. Original list has covered LED products include “Ball...

Mini LED and Micro LED technologies have been the focal point of many Taiwanese LED manufacturers as they attempt to get away from severe price competition with Chinese companies. However, as Micro LED requires higher technology integration as well as production cost, Mini LED becomes an easier target. Vertical integrated LED company Lextar has begun organization restructure since 2018, cutting off LED fixture manufacture and prioritizing Mini LED research and development. Mini LED backlight and signage are the two major areas focused by Lextar. ...

As the industry enters high season, LED chip maker Epistar reported revenue increase with rising demands for consumer products. Epistar registered a revenue of NT$1.396 billion (US$44.32 million) in July, which reached a peak in the past three month with an on-month increase of 14.24%. For 2Q19, the company posted revenues of NT$ 4.027 billion (US$1.279 billion), dropped by 23.95%YoY and 7.3%QoQ. The company has been suffered from operation loss in the past few quarters with market uncertainty caused by the on-going trade dispute between the U.S. and China. D...

Sensor maker AMS officially joined the bidding competition for Osram takeover against Bain Capital and The Carlyle Group. Osram confirmed the proposal from AMS on August 12 and will start negotiations with AMS. AMS announced on August 11 that it has submitted a takeover proposal to Osram at a price of EUR 38.50 per share (US$ 43.08), which is 10 percent higher than the price offered by Bain and Carlyle (EUR 35 per share). Based on the AMS’ offer, the value of Osram is around EUR 4.3 billion (US$ 4.81 billion).   The sensor maker a...

When and in what product Apple will adopt Micro LED display technology has been an ongoing topic for the industry. Apple Watch and AR/VR smart glasses were the two products that are most likely to adopt Micro LED according to industry rumors as well as Apple’s revealed patents. On August 1, 2019, a new Micro LED display patent applied by Apple was published in Europe, reported Patently Apple. The patent abstract described that it states the structure and methods of Micro LED display fabrication, including how LEDs are transferred to a carrier subst...

Fluence by OSRAM announced that it will become the LED provider of choice for The Green Organic Dutchman (TGOD), an organic cannabis company based in Ontario, Canada. TGOD will use Fluence LED lighting solutions for year-round cannabis cultivation, pushing its production capabilities to meet rapidly increasing global demand for organic cannabis. Fluence will supply its high-bay VYPR lighting solutions in two additional hybrid greenhouses of TGOD which measures over 1.4 million square feet. These new facilities will open in phases starting August 2019 ...

On August 1, 2019, President Trump announced an additional 10% tariff on US$300 billion Chinese imports which will come into effect in September. The new listed products which will be imposed with taxes also include several LED products. LED products that are listed in the new 10% tariff list include “Ballasts for discharge lamps or tubes”, “electrical lighting equipment of a kind used on bicycles”, “flashlights”, and a series of electrical filament lamps, as well as LED lamps. (Image: Pixabay) According to data from the Chi...

Following the global autonomous driving technology development, LiDAR companies worldwide are speeding up their business expansion in different part of the world. Germany-based LiDAR sensor maker Ibeo announced the establishment of its U.S. subsidiary and Ouster reported its expansion into Europe and Asia-Pacific regions. In June 2019, Ibeo Automotive Systems has established a wholly owned subsidiary in Detroit, USA. This step allows Ibeo to cater to the growing demand for LiDAR technology in the U.S. and expand its business segment into one of the most i...

US-based equipment provider VEECO reported its financial results of the second quarter of 2019. The company registered revenues of US$97.8 million, compared with US$157.8 million in 2Q18. VEECO said that its sales in the market of LED lighting, display and compound semiconductor were limited in the second quarter of 2019, taking 10% of the total revenue with US$ 9.69 million. However, VEECO underlined that it recently shipped an advanced MOCVD system to a leading compound semiconductor manufacturer who is piloting the system for ROY LEDs as well as ...

Cree and ON Semiconductor announced the execution of a multi-year agreement where Cree will produce and supply its Wolfspeed silicon carbide wafers to ON Semiconductor. The agreement, valued at more than $85 million, provides for the supply of Cree’s advanced 150mm silicon carbide (SiC) bare and epitaxial wafers to ON Semiconductor for use in high-growth markets, such as electric vehicle and industrial applications. “ON Semiconductor continues to be a leader in driving the development of energy efficient innovations and devices,” said ON Semico...

The European Union announced an establishment of a new three-year project, ELIoT (Enhance Lighting for the Internet of Things), which aims to develop mass market Internet of Things (IoT) solutions using LiFi. With LiFi, the ELIoT consortium will explore a networked wireless communication technology operating in the previously unused light spectrum, besides Wi-Fi and cellular radio. LiFi can be used in environments where certain radiofrequencies are not possible or allowed. For outdoor usage, it could offer high bandwidth point-to-point links from rooftops, ...

Last week has been busy for LiDAR related technology builders all over the world. Seoul Robotics, a South Korea-based perception software developer for autonomous system, introduced a new 3D perception platform compatible for 3D LiDAR sensors. Meanwhile, China-based RoboSense announced partnership with automotive electronics system provider ControlWorks for Koreans OEMs. Seoul Robotics revealed SENSR, which is the industrial-grade software solution that provides scalable 3D perception and can integrate multiple different LiDAR sensors. According to th...

A French/Chinese design store NOERDEN launched a smart bottle which can autonomously sterilize water with built-in UV-C LED sterilization system and remind people to drink more water with the hydration reminder. The smart bottle, named LIZ, is featured with a touch responsive smart lid with UV-C LED that can destroy up to 99.9% of harmful viruses and bacteria, according to NOERDEN. Users only have to tap the lid twice to start the sterilization process, which sends the UV-C light through the empty bottle or through the water in the bottle to destroy ba...

Seoul Semiconductor revealed its consolidated revenues of 2Q19 which came to KRW 283.3 billion (US$ 233.16 million), which has dropped by 2% YoY. The gross profit was KRW 69.3 billion (US$ 57.03 million) and operating profit was KRW 6.6 billion (US$ 5.43 million). The company said the business performance has achieved its guided range for revenues of the quarter. In comparison to other LED companies who have suffered from drastic decrease due to the weak market impacted by the US-China trade dispute, Seoul Semiconductor said it was able to achieve stable rev...

Singapore-based Kulicke & Soffa Industries (K&S) and Micro/Mini LED technology provider Rohinni, announced that they have received initial orders of their co-developed PIXALUX™, a Mini and Micro LED placement solution. (Image: Rohinni) The two companies further noted that the PIXALUX™ advanced placement machine was honored with an Equipment of the Year Award by the Japan Electronics Packaging and Circuits Association (JPCA). The award was presented to K&S and Rohinni at JPCA’s annual trade show and conf...