Honglizhihui, formerly a Chinese LED package manufacturer known as Hongliopto, forecasted its profits could plummet as much as 40% for 2016 compared to the same period last year.

Members of the Finance and Contracts Committee (F&CC) at Jalandhar in India gathered recently to discuss a 65,000 high pressure sodium streetlight replacement project with LEDs that will cost an estimated INR 2.74 billion (US $40.39 million), reported The Tribune.

On Dec. 21, 2016, SemiLEDs Corporation (the “Company”) selected BF Borgers CPA PC (“BF Borgers”) as its new independent registered public accounting firm. The decision to engage and appoint BF Borgers as the Company’s independent registered public accounting firm was approved by the Audit Committee.

Patent suits left an indelible mark in the LED industry in 2016, Seoul Semiconductor took the lead this week warning 29 companies over potential patent infringement issues. Nichia also announced it had won two legal YAG patent suits against Everlight in Dusseldorf District Court in Germany and the local appeal court. Cree also has settled a long pending patent infringement case with Feit Electric for an undisclosed amount, and the two companies have signed a patent license agreement.

ETI forecasted losses incurred from operations would peak to RMB 100 million for the fourth quarter of 2016, stated the company in a press release.

China Development Bank (CDB) and San’an Opto group signed a strategic partnership agreement Thursday in southern province Xiamen to propel the Chinese LED company’s global sales strategy and rankings.

To meet OLED display supplies for the next generation iPhone 8, Apple tracked down equipment maker Canon Tokki located in Japanese rice fields next to the city of Mitsuke in Niigata prefecture, reported Bloomberg.

GE, the world’s leading digital industrial company, executed on its agreement to acquire a 75% stake in Concept Laser of Germany. The agreement, announced in late October, allows for GE to take full ownership over the next several years.

Philips Lighting, a global leader in lighting, announced that the Dutch alstroemeria grower Hoogenboom Alstroemeria is moving to hybrid lighting in its 1.5-hectare greenhouse with Philips GreenPower LED toplighting. By using Philips GreenPower LED, grower Dick Hoogenboom will shorten growth cycles, increase quantity and quality of yields while reducing energy consumption up to 42%.

Factory Pipe, a manufacturer of high-performance exhaust systems, is collaborating with Current, powered by GE, to make its Ukiah, California headquarters more efficient. The company is offsetting 75% of its energy use through Current’s rooftop solar offering and saving close to 60% in lighting-related energy use with an LED lighting retrofit in its manufacturing warehouse.

A recent Nikkei Asian Review report claiming Innolux would be scaling back LCD supplies to competitors because of Foxconn group policy was refuted by the LCD panel subsidiary recently.

Taiwan’s LED industry production value increased nearly 15% year-on-year during the first nine months of 2016, as more governments around the globe rolled out policies supporting environmental friendly businesses, said the Ministry of Economics Affair (MOEA) recently.

Even though Japan Display has temporarily solved its fundraising deadlock with the aid from a state-backed company in the OLED panel sector, the outlook remains uncertain and there are still challenges ahead before mass production, reported Nikkei Asian Review.

Schréder, an intelligent outdoor lighting solutions provider, has become a partner of the Smart City Institute, a non-profit organization that aims to stimulate research, teaching, innovation and entrepreneurship to enable smart cities.

Big Chinese smartphone brands bullish revenue growth targets for 2016-2017 could cause oversupply of unsold phones, warned a Morgan Stanley analyst.

Leading Japanese LED chip manufacturer Nichia announced today it had won two separate YAG LED patent disputes against Everlight subsidiaries in the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal in Germany.

MLS (also known as Forest Lighting) announced Tuesday, the company will be pumping in another RMB 500 million (US $71.95 million) in a subsidiary of Chinese LED chip manufacturer Aucksun Opto to expand in the upstream LED sector.

Cree, a leader in LED lighting, announced that it has reached a confidential settlement in its patent infringement and false advertising lawsuit with Feit Electric Company. The settlement ends U.S. International Trade Commission ("ITC") investigation No. 337-TA-947 (“Certain Light-Emitting Diode Products and Components Thereof”) against Feit and its Asian supplier, Unity Opto Technology and the corresponding lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin.

The sapphire substrate application industry hit a low point when Apple abandoned employing sapphire screens in its new generation iPhones, many Taiwanese sapphire manufacturers have bear the brunt from the abrupt decision, reported Chinese-language newspaper Commercial Times.

Large LED companies are increasingly turning to strategies focused on filing patent infringement lawsuits against competitors, Korean LED giant Seoul Semiconductor has become the latest company to take legal action against 29 firms worldwide for infringing backlight, filament, LED chip and package patents, reported Business Korea.

The upcoming iPhone 8 will overhaul basic form factor designs, gone will be the flat glass screen design to sport a curved plastic OLED display made by arch-rival Samsung, reported The Korean Herald.

Andreas Weisl (38), former Vice President Europe of Korean LED manufacturer Seoul Semiconductor (SSC), has taken on the position of CEO at Seoul Semiconductor Europe GmbH based Munich, Germany, with effect from Nov. 11, 2016.

Veeco Instruments announced  that OSRAM Opto Semiconductors GmbH has completed an agreement naming Veeco as the supplier for Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) and Precision Surface Processing (PSP) systems needed for high-volume LED production in Kulim. As part of the agreement, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors has ordered multiple TurboDisc® EPIK®700 Gallium Nitride (GaN) MOCVD, and WaferStorm® 3306 PSP Wet Process systems.

Revolution Lighting Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVLT) ("Revolution Lighting"), a global provider of advanced LED lighting solutions, today announced that it has recently completed LED retrofit projects for religious facilities within New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland, totaling US $800,000. This includes the comprehensive LED lighting retrofit, led by its distributor GB Energie LED, of the Southern Friendship Missionary Baptist Church ("the Church") facilities, based in Temple Hills, Maryland.

Dinos Café, a popular old-fashion American diner located in Bloomingdale, Illinois replaced their outdated 250 watt HID lights on their rooftop with weather resistant, vibrant, state-of-the-art color changing 30w Serenity LED floodlights. These LED floodlights are remote-controlled with 32 different color options and are part of the Serenity LED Rainbow Series. Serenity LED, a U.S. based innovative lighting company, manufactured these LED Floodlights and used a US Service Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business to install the lights.

After halting trade on the Chinese bourse for four consecutive months, Kingsun Optoelectronics recently announced its Hong Kong subsidiary will be acquiring China’s leading international education enterprise NIT Group for RMB 2.9 billion (US $41.76 million)

The Baker-Polito Administration today announced US $11.4 million in grant funding opportunities to help cities and towns across Massachusetts convert traditional streetlights to LED technology through the Department of Energy Resources (DOER) Rapid LED Streetlight Conversion Program. DOER has partnered with the Metropolitan Area Planning Council (MAPC), the Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC), Energy New England (ENE), and four Municipal Light Plant (MLP) communities to administer the grant funding to municipalities that currently own their traditional streetlights and expedite streetlight conversions.

Scripps Networks Interactive, the leader in lifestyle media, surveyed 700 U.S. homeowners of all ages, finding that safety and comfort are the primary reasons consumers invest in smart home technology. The study was conducted through the company’s Under One Roof consumer panel, in partnership with the Consumer Technology Association; the National Kitchen and Bath Association; the National Association of Home Builders; CEDIA; and Shelly Palmer Strategic Advisors. The research findings will be presented at CES® 2017 and at Design and Construction Week 2017.

AIXTRON, a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced that U.S. based Lumentum Holdings, a leading manufacturer of semiconductor photonic devices for communications, industrial, and consumer applications, has placed a repeat order for multiple AIX 2800G4-TM systems to produce devices for varied optoelectronic and laser applications.

Towards the end of 2016, more mergers and acquisition talks have been concluded. CFIUS opposition against Go Scale Capital acquiring Lumileds for US $3.3 billion earlier in January resulted in the wipe out of US $1.3 billion in company value for the LED chip and component maker. Lumileds parent company Philips Lighting sold the independent legal entity for US $2 billion to Apollo Global Management.