In early August 2017, the most technically sophisticated, robotic LED display in the world will be formally launched. Radius Displays International, in collaboration with our client, has spent over 4 years leading the design, engineering, testing and fabrication of the 2,600 square foot display.

It has been spreading like crazy that in 2H17 three iPhone models- the high-end iPhone 8 featuring an OLED display, iPhone 7s and iPhone 7s Plus that continue to use LCD displays- will hit the shelves. Latest sources leaked Apple might increase OLED display use in its products and all the three new iPhones to roll out in 2018 are likely to sport OLED displays. That possibly implies orders Apple places with LCD display providers Sharp and Japan Display Inc. (JDI) would plummet. It will be much of a shock to JDI which earns over 50% of its revenue from Apple’s phone screen demand.

 Curable Phosphor PSA Films designed for CSP LED high-volume manufacturing were successfully developed and mass-produced by FLORY Optoelectronic Materials Company in Suzhou of China after years of innovation and optimization. The pressure-sensitive nature of this Phosphor Film (PF) eliminates the usage of an extra-layer of PSA in between the phosphor sheet and the CSP chip （Figure 1). The use of Curable Phosphor PSA Films can significantly simplify the CSP packaging process, enhance reliability, improve yields and productivity, and reduce the cost of ownership. In addition, curable and thermally conductive silicone pastes T02-01 with excellent gap filling and high conductivity were successfully developed as well at FLORY Materials.  

Lumileds announced that funds affiliated with Apollo Global Management, LLC (together with its subsidiaries, “Apollo”), and Royal Philips completed their previously disclosed transaction, resulting in Lumileds operating as an independent company. Lumileds develops lighting solutions for the automotive, mobile, IoT and illumination segments, enabling customers to push the boundaries of light.

Sumitomo Chemical, the Japan-based chemical giant, is reported to have successfully developed new technologies to facilitate more cost efficient OLED display manufacture. According to Nikkei, the new materials and equipment the company introduced could possibly bring down the current production cost of OLED panels by 50%, which is able to further reduce the selling prices of OLED TVs and expand the penetration of OLED products.  

The confirmation of Samsung Display (SDC) being Apple’s AMOLED panel supplier for the upcoming iPhone devices has spurred other smartphone brands and panel makers to aggressively invest in this display technology. The latest display market forecast by WitsView, a division of TrendForce, finds that AMOLED is set to become mainstream in the global smartphone market in the near future with the penetration rate reaching to almost 50% by 2020.

Could the fire of war in the OLED display market be as heavy as that in the memory industry? Samsung Display is reported to construct the world’s largest OLED display factory. Such a massive production ramp-up is believed to be the Korean display maker’s move to make competitive prices of its OLED products to confront the growing threats from Chinese contenders.

It seems Apple is planning on finding one more source of OLED displays for its iPhone. The Korea Herald reported that last month Apple talked with LG Display to invest around USD 1.75-2.62 billion into its new OLED plant, called E6.

Early in March, the Chinese investment consortium- with IDG Capital,LED packaging manufacturer MLS CO., LTD. and Yiwu State-Owned Assets Operation Center as the members- completed the acquisition of LEDvance from Osram. Originally a general lighting business unit of Osram, LEDvance, with the support of its new owners, extended its product line from standardized and traditional light sources to advanced LED lamps and intelligent products for smart lighting.

Aurora lighting, the international LED lighting and technology organisation, has partnered with leading automobile manufacturer, BMW, to carry out its first smart lighting pilot scheme following the recent announcement of its new enterprise connected lighting platform, AXiO.

Smart cities is definitely one of the latest buzzwords, together with the Internet of things (IoT), cloud computing, smart data and visible light communication (VLC). Interesting enough, it is actually the presentation of these factors integrating all together on a scale of a city. Everything in a city–transportation, communication, security, water and power supply, and other community services–through networks, computing, analysing, and data transfer, can be more efficiently managed and improved. This is how a smart city is conceived.

Taiwanese LED packaging company Everlight announced a fairly stable revenue of 2Q17. The company is said to have performed better than in 1Q17 and its sales of 2H17 is anticipated to outnumber that in 1H17. As the traditional peak season of this year is right around the corner, the overall demand, mainly for applications such as IR LED, interior and exterior automotive lighting and fine pitch displays, will soar. Yet, Everlight’s supply of conventional lighting and LED backlighting products will slump.

Wipro Lighting became the first Indian Lighting Company to participate in the CISCO Live event which was scheduled from 25 – 29 June 2017, Las Vegas, USA. The company unveiled and showcased it’s smart & connected lighting solutions at the event. With over two decades of experience in standalone & connected lighting control system installations, Wipro Lighting is at the forefront in providing smart, intelligent & connected lighting solutions for modern work space requirements and applications.

The first half of 2017 has passed and the world has been waiting for the new iPhone, which is projected to be launched either late in this year or in 1Q18. However, according to CNBC’s report on 20th June, gadget lovers could probably have a few more things to expect, Apple’s smart glasses ‘iGlass’, for instance.

Organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display lately has been receiving market attention. Not only have Korean companies been working on the development, but recently, according to BusinessKorea, even Chinese firms have jumped into the competition.

DOWA ELECTRONICS MATERIALS CO., LTD. (Headquarters: 14-1, Sotokanda 4-chome, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo; Capital: ¥ 1,000 million; President: Akira Otsuka), a subsidiary of DOWA HOLDINGS CO., LTD. (same address; Capital: ¥36,400 million; President: Masao Yamada), has developed a deep ultraviolet LED chip featuring the industry’s highest output power in the world, with a peak wavelength of 280 nm, output of 75 mW and dimensions of 1 mm × 1 mm. The company has also been prepared for a mass production for these new produc...

Sharp, the Foxconn-controlled company, is possibly to partner with ASTRODESIGN, a Japanese video and signal processing tech company, to jointly develop video processing systems able to support displays with 8K ultra-high definition, as Nikkei Asian Review carried in its report on 26 June.  With Sharp’s strengths in the development of sensor technology for LCD screens and cameras, and ASTRODESIGN’s capability to upgrade digital broadcasting, the system can be used in cameras, displays and other image processing devices.

LG Display (LGD) suffered a serious disruption to its production of large-size LCD panels on June 24, when a deadly accident occurred at its P8-1 panel fab in Paju, South Korea. The Gen-8.5 has been shut down for repair and investigation by the local authorities. WitsView, a division of TrendForce, states that this incident will have a major impact on the supply of large-size panels in the third quarter. While panel quotes have softened during the second quarter, the third quarter will see a return of seasonal demand from device vendors. The accident at P8-1 will contribute to a tightening of the supply and help prop up prices to some extent.

While the public thought Sharp might focus fully on the manufacture of 8K resolution television screens after the first one was made public two years ago, according to the Japan Times, the LCD TV maker now seems determined to step into the market of OLED display by establishing new product lines- one in the city of Sakai, Osaka, and the other in Taki, a town in Mie Prefecture.

South Korean LED manufacturing Giant Seoul Semiconductor and Japan-based Toshiba Materials held a press conference introducing SunLike, a new LED technology supported by Toshiba’s TRI-R phosphor solution, in Frankfurt, Germany. The SunLike LEDs with TRI-R phosphor technology simulate sun in terms of emission spectrum, eliminating excessive blue light and appearing to be more friendly to human eyes and circadian rhythm.

Today Current, powered by GE announced it is partnering with Sainsbury’s to make it the first grocery retailer in the U.K. to power all its supermarkets entirely by LED lighting.

Lite-On Technology on 22nd June held its shareholder meeting of 2017, on which it reported a cash dividend of NT$ 2.92 with a dividend payout ratio of 72% and a dividend yield of 5.8%.

In the 2016/17 financial year the Zumtobel Group posted a marked improvement in earnings and was able to more than double its net profit year-on-year to EUR 25.2 million. While profitability was increased, revenues were impacted by negative currency effects and a challenging business environment. 

LG Display, the world’s leading innovator of display technologies, announced today that it has developed the world’s first 77-inch flexible and transparent OLED display. With this achievement, LG Display, recognized for its expertise in large-sized OLED technology, further reinforced its leadership in the global display industry.

Epistar on 21st June announced its financial results, reporting a fully utilized capacity of blue LED as well as a sustained production of AlInGaP LED despite subtle growth in both the output of light sources and the orders for LED backlighting and little possibility to raise prices of its products. The company estimated a 15% QoQ rise that could possibly push up 2Q17’s revenue close to the number in 2Q16. Epistar also expected a decent financial performance in 3Q17 supported by the chip production for LED lighting, AlInGaP LED and infrared LED.

Silver Spring Networks, Inc. today announced its first international utility-led, country-wide smart street light control program with Jamaica Public Service Company (JPS). JPS is an integrated electric utility company and the sole distributor of electricity in Jamaica serving over 600,000 customers. JPS will extend its existing Silver Spring IPv6 platform to connect up to 110,000 smart LED street lights in population centers around the island including Kingston, Spanish Town, Negril, and Falmouth. Silver Spring’s Streetlight.Vision Central Management System (CMS) will also be deployed for JPS through a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model to control and manage the networked street lights.

Yesterday (20 June), Jacob Tam, Executive Vice President/ Deputy BU Head at Samsung LED, vehemently refuted the Korea Herald’s and The Bell’s reporting of Samsung LED selling off its business unit in Tianjin to a Hong Kongese private equity firm.

Bridgelux 2835 surface mount device (SMD) products incorporate cutting-edge technology to deliver unsurpassed performance at competitive prices.  Bridgelux's technology results from years of advanced research and development, and is protected by Bridgelux's intellectual property, which currently includes a patent portfolio of more than 300 worldwide patents that extend across the expanse of light emitting diode (LED) technologies, from chips to luminaire solutions. 

EVERLIGHT Electronics Co., Ltd. (EVERLIGHT) on June 10, 2017 filed a patent infringement action against Bridgelux, Inc. in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. EVERLIGHT is claiming that Bridgelux infringes U.S. Patent Nos. 6,335,548 and 7,253,448 by manufacturing and selling infringing LED products, including for example the Bridgelux 2835 series.

At this moment in the history of the LED industry, we have already witnessed it passed into the maturity stage, struggled to revive by finding new beachhead markets (and it succeeded), and advanced its production, ready to embrace future business possibilities. LED chip manufacturers and packagers worldwide have now been gradually shifting their focus to develop products for niche markets, including UV LED, IR LED, automotive, horticultural, and even smart lighting.