Taiwan-based LED company Everlight announced the participation of “SMART CITY SUMMIT & EXPO” in Taipei for the first time with the aim to promote smart street light and smart city. Everlight will work together with AAEON, ASKEY Computer, EverFocus Electronics and IBASE Technology to build up smart traffic, security and energy scenarios, integrating the related applications to present convenient and systematic smart city on the booth at the event (Booth No.: K824). (Smart street light of Everlight) Everlight demonstr...

In November 2018, Nikkei Asian Review has covered that Japan’s largest convenience store operator 7-eleven would set up a plant factory in Tokyo to produce vegetable for its own salads products in January 2019. The project operator and a longtime premium delicatessen supplier to 7-Eleven Prime Delica has adopted Signify’s growing light for its vertical farm facility located in the city of Sagamihara in the Kanagawa prefecture, Japan. Signify provided the Philips GreenPower LEDs to help Prime Delica to grow crops with vitamin levels and nutritional v...

Lumotive, a LiDAR startup funded by Bill Gates, announced its development of a disruptive beam-steering technology which will significantly improve the performance, reliability and cost of LiDAR systems for the emerging self-driving car industry. With its patented system using Liquid Crystal Metasurfaces (LCM) and silicon fabrication, Lumotive introduced its beam steering LiDAR that is able to simultaneously offer large optical aperture, wide field-of-view and fast scanning. LCMs, semiconductor chips that steer laser pulses based on the light-bending principle...

Before the end of 1Q19, we learned that two more LED lighting operators are cutting off their LED lighting business. The US LED giant Cree announced the selling of its lighting business to Ideal Industries on March 15 and power company Eaton posted its plan to spin off the lighting business. Restructuring business focus to concentrate on higher margin operation has been a trend the LED industry. LEDinside pointed out that the price and profit of LED lighting products have dropped in the past years with increasing competitors joining the industry to share the...

Mini LED products have entered the market since the second half of 2018 with expected acceleration in 2019 and 2020, according to LEDinside’s forecast. Meanwhile, industry players are also speeding up their progress in Micro LED development. Worldwide equipment producers have been intensifying their technologies to meet the demands of the raising market. (Image: Samsung) Semiconductor package equipment producer Kulicke & Soffa (K&S) expects that Mini LED will start to boom by the end of 2019 with drives from Taiwanese and Chinese panel makers. T...

Apart from human centric lighting, IoT smart lighting system and “space-as-a-service,” what are other trends of commercial lighting in 2019? Let’s move on to see what Osram suggested. Optimum Space Utilization Enabled by Lighting System Data How to efficiently manage the space usage is critical to companies. In the past, place planning has been based on calculations using industry-standard formulas, software that addressed some of an organization’s requirements, or even a manual process. This process could take a while and is less flexible. Neve...

A research team at National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed nanowire UV LEDs that are able to produce five times higher light intensity based on a simpler shell design. UV LEDs are used in a growing number of applications such as polymer curing, water purification and medical disinfection. Researchers at NIST have been trying to make nanowire-based LEDs for scanning-probe tips intended for electronics and biology applications. Lately, researchers have been experimenting with nanowire cores made of silicon-doped GaN, which has extra ...

Veeco Instruments announced today that Aledia, a developer and manufacturer of next-generation 3D LEDs for display applications, has expanded its portfolio of Veeco thin film process equipment to support the development and production of advanced 3D Micro LEDs. Aledia cited Veeco’s proven leadership in compound semiconductor applications, GaN-on-silicon growth performance, and capability to grow a full range of high-quality epitaxial films as key factors influencing its decision. “We have been impressed with the performance of Veeco’s Propel™ ...

Chinese LiDAR company RoboSense announced that it has provided a cold-resistant LiDAR for GACHA, the world's first autonomous driving shuttle bus for all weather conditions which was reported by LEDinside last year. GACHA is equipped with RoboSense's advanced cold-resistant 16-beam mechanical LiDAR environment perception system to operate vehicles in harsh winter and other severe weather conditions. The autonomous shuttle bus was co-designed by Sensible 4, a Finnish autonomous driving company, and MUJI, the Japanese retail brand. Sensible 4 p...

Researchers from Taiwan’s National Chiao Tung University, China’s Xiamen University and SIJ Technology have developed a monolithic Micro LED which achieves full-color display. The study demonstrates that Micro LED full-color display can be realized without mass transferring and the result was published on Scientific Reports and Photonics Research. The team fabricated the Micro LED full-color display on monolithic epitaxial wafer by combining nanoring (NR) structure and atomic layer deposition. From previous study, the researchers have demonstr...

With advanced LED development and improved data transmitting technologies, commercial lighting is going beyond illumination. Osram proposed some commercial lighting trends addressing the well-being of users and optimized space utilization for efficient energy usage. Occupant Health and Wellbeing Takes Center Stage The first thing Osram mentioned is human centric lighting. Building owners and facility managers are incorporating Tunable White technology as part of their lighting strategy. Tunable White technology is designed for Human Centric Lighting (HCL) applicat...

The DesignLights Consortium (DLC) has published an updated version of the Testing and Reporting Requirements for Horticulture Lighting in the beginning of March and announced the first horticultural lighting products that meet the new performance standard. With rapid increasing indoor farming facilities and legalized cannabis cultivation in several US states and Canada, demands for efficient and effective horticultural lighting are booming. In response to the boosting market, DLC DLC released an industry benchmark designed to improve efficiency and reduce electrici...

ams, the sensing component supplier of Apple, announced that it will establish a joint venture with Wise Road Capital, a global Private Equity firm focusing on the semiconductor industry and other emerging high-tech industries. The two companies have signed an agreement to create a joint venture to advance the development and sales of environmental, flow and pressure sensor solutions for the global market. Under the agreement, employees, IP, sensor products and solutions and related customers will transfer from ams to the joint venture, while Wise Road Capital will provide it...

Freight Farms, a U.S. startup providing shipping container for vegetables cultivation, announced the debut Greenery, the new growing container which combines dynamic aisles with new plant panels and LED technology. (Image: Freight Farms) The new product, Greenery, will become a successor to Leafy Green Machine (LGM) with even more growing space in the same standard container. Featured with the mobile rack system, its main growing area is consisted of 88 plant panels and 112 LED panels that farmers can shift them to create custom layouts. The LED panel arrays ...

Vertically integrated LED manufacturer Lextar will exhibit its latest automotive LED developments including applications of Mini LED RGB module and VCSEL, as well as its cutting-edge automotive LED lighting matrix module at Shanghai International Auto Lamp Exhibition (ALE) from March 21 and 22, 2019. Lextar is showcasing its automotive LED lighting matrix module for the first time. The lighting module consisting 240 LED chips with an average luminance intensity of 15,000cd. With its high brightness, the product can project dynamic graphics and info...

Apart from the development in OLED technology, Samsung and LG, the two Korean electronics giants, have continued their progress in LED display as well. LG Electronics USA announced the launch of its premium 2019 LG NanoCell LED 4K Ultra HD TVs with AI ThinQ® beginning with the April debut of the 55-inch and 65-inch class LG Nano 9 series, and the 49-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch and 75-inch LG Nano 8 series at LG-authorized dealers nationwide. Additional models and screen sizes will follow in May and June with other LG OLED models announce...

Do you have difficulty falling asleep when traveling away from home? Circadian lighting solution might help to tackle the problem. InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) has conducted a global survey and revealed that about 80 percent of travelers saying they have trouble sleeping during their trip. To help travelers combat a restless night away from home, IHG has partnered with Healthe by Lighting Science to pilot the use of circadian lighting. Crowne Plaza Atlanta Airport will be the first IHG property to install the JOURNI ™ Mobile Task Light in ...

With the featured of compact size and low energy consumption, the development of LED technology has led to several advanced applications including the enhanced implement of ultraviolet (UV) radiation. UV light is wide used in water purification, air disinfection and plastic curing. However, conventional UV light sources contain mercury and have a limited lifespan. UV LED is therefore a new solution. Through modern LED technology, UV LED will not only replace existing UV light source, it also opens up a wider range of applications as it can be tailored to meet va...

We have all heard rumors about Apple’s augmented reality (AR) glasses and they might be materialized soon as suggested by recent reports and Apple’s newly granted patent. It is said that Apple will begin manufacturing its AR device the soonest in 4Q19 and release the product by 2Q20. According to a report covered by 9To5Mac, the device will be heavily dependent on the iPhone, using its computational power for image rendering, internet connection and location service. The pairing between the AR glasses and the mobile phone might be wireless connection that sim...

Cree is selling its lighting business to Ideal Industries, an Illinois-based electric power control and management company, to continue its strategy of becoming a more focused, powerhouse semiconductor company. Cree announced the execution of a definitive agreement to sell Cree Lighting, the lighting products business unit, which includes the LED lighting fixtures, lamps and corporate lighting solutions business for commercial, industrial and consumer applications. According to Cree, the deal is about US$310 million before tax. The company expects to receive an initial cash...

Taiwanese LED producer Everlight announced that the Federal Court of Australia has denied Nichia’s appeal request and decided that the asserted claims of Nichia’s Australia patent 720234 are invalid on January 29, 2019. The Court has affirmed that Everlight’s products of Arrow are non-infringements. According to the judgement of the Court, Nichia has been ordered to pay legal cost to Arrow. Apart from the patent infringement filed in Australia, Everlight has filed invalidation trial procedures against Nichia ‘s YAG patents in Unit...

The 7th edition of the much anticipated Show will open the door of opportunities for various stakeholders in the area of LED lighting. After having conducted six highly successful editions of LED Expo Thailand, MEX Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd. and Impact Exhibition Management Co. Ltd, are all set to host the 7th edition from June 27-29, 2019 in Bangkok. The Show has now been retitled ‘LED Expo Thailand + Light ASEAN’ with an aim to bring forth innovations in the world of lighting, encompassing every area of illumination. The organisers have start...

What will offices be like in the future? Current by GE and Osram provided some insights about how offices evolve with technology and noted that connectivity and smart lighting might be the fundamental infrastructure for setting up the future offices. Apart from providing “lighting-as-a-service” from lighting company, Osram, now positioning itself as a high-tech photonic company, sees the trend of “space-as-a-service” in the commercial real estate industry. Space-as-a-service refers to space that is procured on-demand; corporations and individual freelanc...

According to LEDinside, the UV LED market value is expected to reach US$ 1.224 billion in 2022, with a 2017-2022 CAGR of 33 percent. Apart from the stable market of UV LED curing, the major growing momentum of UV LED comes from sterilization, including surface, static water and flowing water disinfection. UV-C LED is the core technology of these increasing applications. Ultraviolet light in the C spectrum with wavelengths between 200-280 mm is energy-rich and powerful to destroy harmful micro-organisms and thus can be used in disinfection. UV-C li...

Taiwan-based LED company Lextar announced its 2018 financial reports with an annual revenue of NT$ 11.056 billion (US$ 357.58 million), down by 8.2% YoY. Its after tax profit came to NT$ 49 million (US$ 1.58 million). For the fourth quarter of 2018, the company registered a revenue of NT$2.4 billion, which dropped by 19.6% compared with 3Q18. In 2018, Lextar has slashed its lighting business to focus on high technology development which resulted in the decrease of annual revenue. The market uncertainty brought by the US-China trade war also impacted the busi...

Germany-based energy company E. ON will supply power line communications for smart lighting via partnership with enModus, the UK-based smart building solution provider. The two companies have signed an agreement for the cooperation. (Image: enModus) Smart building applications that integrate lighting, sensors and other technologies enable efficient energy and space usage and could save cost for companies. Through the partnership, enModus will makes buildings smart by transforming the existing mains power lines into a building-wide communications network. Power line comm...

Waymo, the self-driving subsidiary of Alphabet, will start selling its LiDAR sensor, joining the LiDAR business competition with other LiDAR producers including Velodyne LiDAR and Quanergy. Simon Verghese, Head of Lidar Team at Waymo, announced in a blog post that the company is going to sell Laser Bear Honeycomb, one of the LiDAR sensors Waymo developed for its self-driving vehicles to “select partners” – those who do not compete with Waymo in self-driving taxi business. Waymo has developed three types of sensors using short, mediu...

As China witnesses the phenomenal growth of its display industry, its global counterparts also face new challenges. Large-scale production of traditional LCD panels has fallen into a “dilemma of abundance”, where the current focus of display enterprises has shifted to how to best develop the potential of new technologies. Vehicle-equipment industry - five major visible development trends In recent years, panel makers such as JDI, Innolux, AUO, LGD and BOE have made significant efforts on the layout of the vehicle display industry, which shows immense ma...

Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology in the U.S. proposed a new designed vertical integration of GaN LED which enables improved efficiency of Micro LED displays. Matthew Hartensveld and Jing Zhang from Rochester Institute of Technology published a new study on IEEE Electron Device Letter describing how they managed to vertically integrated nanowire GaN field-effect transistors (FETs) and InGaN LEDs. The novel structure places the transistor below the LED which for controlling and dimming. (Image: Hartensveld and Zhang) Comb...

Delta, a Taiwan-based power and thermal management solutions provider, announced the acquisition of Amerlux, a U.S.-based LED architectural lighting solutions company, to enhanced IoT-based green solution portfolio for smart buildings and cities. Delta has signed a definitive agreement pursuant that its wholly-owned subsidiary of Delta Delta Electronics (Netherlands) will acquire 100 percent of Amerlux's interests for US$ 90 million. The transaction is expected to close during the second quarter of 2019. With the acquisition, Delta aims to extend its portfolio ...