Two Chinese companies were booted out of the bi-annual Light+Building trade fair this year for patent infringement. China’s intellectual property rights are facing an increasingly harsher environment as the LED industry enters the golden age. Coping with international intellectual rights has become a source of contention for many LED manufacturers, and a difficult issue to deal with for the Chinese LED industry. 

Apple’s new iPhone 6 is anticipated to hit the market in 3Q14, according to the United Evening News. The new model will have a larger screen than past iPhones at 5.5 inches. It has been rumored that the iPhone 6 will be priced at US$100 higher, due to the larger screen size and change in specs.

San’an Optoelectronics (San’an Opto) announced on April 16, 2014 that the company has signed a three year strategic agreement to sell LED chips to Foshan Nationstar (Nationstar). 

The U.S. Department of Energy's CALiPER program has released Report 20.2, which is part of a series of investigations on LED PAR38 lamps. Report 20.2 focuses on dimming, flicker, and power quality characteristics evaluated with a single dimmer.

New version of the first MINI with four doors, a large tailgate, five seats and optional all-wheel drive; new MINI Countryman (combined fuel consumption: 7.1- 4.2 l/100 km, combined CO2 emissions: 165 - 111 g/km) hones its profile as an all-round talent for versatile mobility and an active lifestyle.

LED lighting demands are booming this year, according to a report in the Economic Daily News. Sapphire substrate manufacturers saw good operational performance in 1Q14, and remain optimistic as the industry moves into 2Q14. 

There has been many rumors and speculations floating around the internet as to who will be the provider of OLED panels for Apple’s new iWatch. An increasing number of sources have been pointing their fingers towards LG lately. 

Lumenpulse Inc. announced that it has successfully completed an initial public offering of its common shares. In connection with the initial public offering, Lumenpulse issued 6,250,000 common shares at a price of $16.00 for total gross proceeds of $100 million. The Company's common shares will begin trading today on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol "LMP”.

TNSC, a manufacturer of Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition (MOCVD) System, announces that it has signed a Technical Agreement with ITRI in Taiwan, which is a leading R&D Institution with advanced opto-electronic technologies.

San’an Optoelectronics (San’an Opto) announced the joint venture with Seoul Semiconductor and Seoul Viosys (Viosys) on April 10th 2014. San’an Opto holds the largest share in the venture with 49 percent, investing around US $980,000. Seoul Semiconductor has a 25 percent share with US$ 500,000 investment, while Viosys holds 26 percent with a US$ 520,000 investment. The joint venture will cover areas including design, R&D, production, LED product sales, and provide related services. 

Light+Building 2014 was a huge success for Osram, where they showcased their newest innovations, products, and range of services. After the expo concluded, Osram conducted an interview with Dr. Peter Laier, Member of the Board, CTO about the markets transition into the digital era. 

In 2014, LED industry ushered in golden period of development, the competition and integration between enterprises kicked off. LED industry faces both opportunities and challenges: under the urging of the localization process, the upstream chip companies optimize capacity utilization, to compete with each other in technology. Flip chip technology breaks in full fury, which has attracted more and more attention of lighting and backlighting market gradually, becoming the most important developing item in this year. As the global LED lamp replacing tide comes, LED bulb and tub...

Royal Philips announces its fifth consecutive pan-African Cairo to Cape Town roadshow (from 14 April to 3 September 2014) continuing to focus on key challenges facing Africa today - the need for energy-efficient lighting and the revitalization of African healthcare infrastructure.

Japanese design studio YOY has created new LED luminaires capable of projecting its own lampshade this year, according to a Deezen report.

Emerging developments in the LED lighting industry has led to major Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, American and European manufacturers expanded production capacity, as companies aim to gain larger market share. Taiwanese LED manufacturer Edison Opto, which focuses on LED components, has an optimistic outlook for the Plastic Leaded Chip Carrier (PLCC LED) and COB application market. 

On April 10, 2014, Nichia Corporation has filed a patent infringement lawsuit in Tokyo District Court to enjoin Tachibana Eletech Co., Ltd. and E&E Japan Co., Ltd.  from infringing Nichia’s patent (No. 3786114 and No. 3972943) and to claim damages for the infringement with regard to LED products (product number: 1254 series) after analyzing the LEDs purchased from Tachibana. 

Aurora Lighting from UK saw Light+Building 2014 as the perfect platform to showcase their Red Dot Award winning product, the m10 LED fire rated downlight.

On the heels of BMW announcing its plans to introduce OLED lighting modules into automotive lighting, the company has also released news that they plan to do the same for motorcycle lighting, according to BMW Blog.

As the world’s largest biennial lighting show, Light + Building 2014, concluded last week, LEDinside has followed up with additional in-depth on Asian, Europe and U.S. manufacturers. Also new this week, LEDs smaller than half the width of a DNA strand are proving to be more energy efficient. Research organization iRunway also notes some of the key LED patent holders in the industry. Walmart’s will be using GE LED lights for its global shop lighting retrofit. An interesting application that emerged this week has been the use of smart LED lights in nail manicures. For more please see below:

LEDs are tooted as having long lifespans, but as more traditional light sources are being switched out for SSL, manufacturers are realizing that long lifespans are not good for a sustainable business model. Therefore, companies such as Philips and Osram are looking into long-term installation contracts. Philips has secured such a contract with Washington’s transit authority to upgrade around 13,000 fixtures in parking lots, according to a recent Bloomberg report. 

BMW has finally set the date to release their Laserlights, according to a BMW Blog report. The world premiere is set for autumn 2014 and will be included in cars released later this year.

  Royal Philips, the global leader in lighting, announces that it has become the first patron sponsor of the International Year of Light in 2015, a UNESCO-led initiative.

Forepi has shaken off the financial troubles the company experienced in 4Q13. The Taiwanese LED epitaxial manufacturer benefited from strong large-size backlight demands. Consolidated revenue for 1Q14 hit NT $941 million (US $), up 9.85 percent QoQ and 0.35 percent YoY. March experienced staggering growth of 42.73 percent from February with revenue reaching 386 million, but dipped 3.67 percent from last year.

Li Nannan, Leyard Secretary of the Board and Deputy General Manager, discussed the company’s fiscal 2013 financial performance in depth during an interview with social network service website for investors, Xueqiu, on April 8th. 

Lite-On Technology announced its March 2014 consolidated revenues. Rising demand for LED lighting boosted the company’s revenue for LED components and lighting products, which saw a growth of around 20 percent from February. 

Chinese smartphone maker BBK’s next Vivo flagship smartphone will be using dual flash LED, according to a GSM Arena Report.

Manicures are getting techy and flashier in Japan with Takara Tomy Arts smart LED nails. 

Lunera® Lighting, a leader in lighting innovation announced that they are launching their BallastLED™ technology and have raised US$ 5 million from Opus Bank to accelerate its adoption in the commercial general lighting market. BallastLEDTM technology makes it easy and affordable to convert an existing lighting infrastructure to LED by enabling true plug-and-play LED replacement bulbs for ballast driven lighting applications.

SÜSS MicroTec, a global supplier of equipment and process solutions for the semiconductor industry and related markets, has launched the new Mask Aligner MA200 Gen3. The tool is designed for high volume manufacturing and can be used for exposing wafers with a diameter of up to 200 mm. This latest generation tool is a further development of the very successful MA200 Compact platform, of which the 100th tool was recently delivered to a customer.

Smart glasses and other wearable augmented reality devices are the most exciting and fastest growing sectors in consumer electronics technology. EpiCrystals Inc. of Finland has developed a revolutionary laser light source which is especially designed to improve the usability and image quality in advanced projection applications.