Smart Vision Lights — a designer and manufacturer of high-brightness LED lights for industrial applications, including machine vision — is pleased to introduce the XR256 Series High-Speed Strobe Lights for industrial and machine vision applications requiring high-speed, high-power, pulse initiated, or pulse following strobe lights.

LED chips are a core component in the LED industry. There are currently many domestic and international LED chip manufacturers in China, but there currently are no categorization standards, according to a report by Chinese-language LEDtimes.cc. Comparison of chip technologies show foreign companies are more innovative, while Chinese manufacturers are still focused on production volume.

April has been a good month for LED manufacturers this year, as companies benefit from strong market demand, according to Economic Daily News report. Manufacturers including Epistar, Edison Opto, and Unity Opto have all seen record high performances in April. Industry insiders anticipate the positive revenue performance will continue into May.  

Epistar released first fiscal quarter results for this year on May 7, 2014. The company noted a net operating profit of NT $319 million (US $10.6 million) and profit margin of 15.23 percent. However, impact from two financial evaluations that recognized losses of NT $1.32 billion resulted in Epistar after tax deficit of NT $841 million and EPS of negative NT $0.91. 

GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) released their first fiscal quarter results on Wednesday, which ended on March 29, 2014. GTAT has seen a slight drop in revenue as its joint project with Apple in Arizona gears up to become fully operational by the end of this year. 

Veeco Instruments Inc. has appointed Shubham Maheshwari, 42, as its new Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Mr. Maheshwari replaces David D. Glass, who announced his retirement from Veeco last December.

Commercials are one of the best tools companies use to get their product noticed and their name out there. A good commercial can make a product and brand memorable. Cree is doing just that. The North Carolina based company is already ahead of competitors with their low priced consumer friendly LED bulbs, but have now gone one step further with their humorous advertising campaign. 

Roshow Technology has fallen on hard times. Just one month after announcing a joint venture with Biel Crystal Manufactory to enter the sapphire substrate industry, the company cancelled a financing application in the aftermath of the company Board Secretary Chai Shen’s resign. 

Will Apple’s mobile device demands revolutionize the sapphire supply chain in the same way as the aluminum industry 10 years ago? Perhaps not, according to a Verge article.

Precision Paragon, a U.S. energy efficient luminaire manufacturer, recently released its fourth annual state of the lighting industry survey. The survey was distributed to over 5,000 energy-efficient lighting industry professionals in December 2013. 

Samsung abandoned an OLED fab expansion project because of yield rate issues and intense market competition, according to a Nikkei Asian Review report.

On May 6, a group of 30 lighting and healthcare industry professionals will travel to the Lighting Research Center (LRC) at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y. to attend the launch of the first “flagship” Light and Health Institute a two-day, hands-on seminar to teach the many ways in which light affects, and can be used to improve, health and wellbeing. The seminar is taught by Dr. Mariana Figueiro, LRC Light and Health Program director and professor at Rensselaer; Dr. Bernard Possidente, professor of biology at Skidmore College; Dr. Mark Rea, LRC director and professor at Rensselaer; and Andrew Bierman, LRC research scientist.

LED industry demand is booming, causing downstream epitaxial manufacturers to upstream package manufacturers to face the possibility of an undersupply situation. LED demands started strengthening from 4Q13 to 2Q14, said Zhang Shixian, Deputy General Manager of Epistar. Zhang estimates that demands will continue increasing in 3Q14. Epistar’s production capacity has already reached 90 percent. The company is now concerned that supply will not meet demand after 3Q14. 

The influx of affordable, but good quality LED bulbs from Chinese manufacturers into the Korean market is causing concern among small and medium size companies (SMEs), according to a recent report by Korean media. 

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced its financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014. Veeco reports its results on a U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) basis, and also provides results excluding certain items. 

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is preparing to sign a nine year contract with Energy Efficiency Services Ltd. (EESL) after the conclusion of the general elections currently ongoing in India. The contract will be for a joint-venture to replace a total of 300,000 street lamps with LEDs, according to The Economic Times. 

GT Advanced Technologies (GT) announced that it will be making its next generation ASF165 sapphire growth furnace, for the production of high volume and high quality sapphire material, commercially available in 3Q14.

Cree introduced a series of LED T8 replacement tubes yesterday in their bid push the lighting market towards 100 percent adoption of LEDs. The LED T8 series is designed to replace linear fluorescent tubes. 

MaxLite®, a global manufacturing of energy-efficient lamps and lighting fixtures, has announced the appointment of Donille Perrone to Director of Marketing. Perrone reports directly to Thomas Rhee, Executive Vice President of MaxLite. Perrone brings over 15 years of marketing experience with a strong lighting background.

Conceptor, a product design team based in Kiev, Ukraine has come up with Lunecase, an elegant and smart LED iPhone case that is super energy efficient.

Apple’s recent interest in sapphire substrate has got the industry talking as to what future Apple product will use the material. Long since used in LED lighting applications and handheld devices, sapphire substrate will soon be the spotlight in the industry once Apple’s Arizona factory is up and running. 

GT Advanced Technologies’ (GT) Arizona sapphire substrate facility reportedly began small scale sapphire production last month. Stephen Chin, analyst of UBS, revealed that the facility has also already begun shipping material to a Chinese supplier. 

Taiwan citizens could soon see a jump in electricity costs as the country faces energy shortages. Anti-nuclear sentiment is gaining momentum in the country as construction for Taiwan’s controversial fourth nuclear power plants nears completion. 

Philips Canlyte announced it will close its doors after 27 years, leaving around 190 workers without jobs. 

Apple has acquired LuxVue Technology, a startup company that focuses on making low power micro-LED based displays in the consumer market, according to a TechCrunch report.

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published the 2014 edition of the Solid-State Lighting (SSL) R&D Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP). This year's edition provides a description of the activities DOE plans to undertake over the next several years to implement its SSL mission, and informs the development of annual SSL R&D funding opportunities.

The National Lighting Bureau’s has announced its 35th annual High-Benefit Lighting Awards Program. The unique program is open to owners, architects, engineers, interior designers, facility and property managers, contractors, manufacturer’s representatives, utility employees, users, and virtually anyone else associated with a new or upgraded illumination system that provides at least some of the many benefits of what the Bureau calls High-Benefit Lighting(r).

Rubicon Technology, Inc., a provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, semiconductor, and optical industries, today reported financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2014.

Since being first introduced in the 1950’s, hula hoops have remained popular among both children and adults. Berlin even has a festival dedicated to the hula hoop. Started in 2005, this June will mark Hoopla! Berlin’s third annual festival.

Nuclear energy has been a hot topic in Taiwan this week, as construction plans to the country’s fourth nuclear power plant have come to a temporary halt. LED industry heavy weights including Epistar and Delta Electronics have been weighing in, urging the government that LEDs are a better alternative energy solution.