Honglitronics released their 2013 year performance report on January 15th. The company estimated a net profit of between NT $54.36 million and NT $63.82 million (US $1.8 million and US $2.1 million), YoY increase from 15 percent to 35 percent compared to NT $47.27 million in 2012.

Elec-Tech revealed on January 14th plans to establish a joint venture focused on LED production in Bengbu city, Anhui Providence. The joint venture will have a registered capital of RMB 1.4 billion (US $231.4 million), of which RMB 1 million is provided by Elec-Tech through funds, materials, and intangible assets. The company will own 71.43 percent in shares. The other 28.57 percent is owned by Bengbu City Holding Corporation who invested RMB 400 million.

At Lighting Japan 2014 in Tokyo Big Sight, OLED industry insiders of have noted that there is still a long way to go before the technology can become mature enough to compete with LEDs.

Refond Optoelectronics released their performance report for 2013 on January 14th. The company estimates that market listed company shareholder net profit will reach between RMB 56 million and RMB 63 million (US $9.3 million and US $ 10.4 million), growth of 20-34 percent YoY. Net profit in 2012 was RMB 46.86 million.

Kingsun released their 2013 revised earnings forecast on January 14th. In the company’s earlier 3Q13 report, they originally estimated net profit for market listed company shareholders in 2013 to reach RMB 105-136 million (US $17.4-22.5 million).

Leading chip manufacturers including San’an Optoelectronics (San’an Opto) and HC SemiTek Corp. (HC SemiTek) have been turning from 2 inch to 4 inch epitaxial wafers, which industry insiders anticipated to be the upcoming trend in 2014.

Unity Opto Chairman Wu Ching-huei during the company’s year-end celebration on the 13th stated that LED lighting will be a thriving industry in 2014, according to the Economic Daily News. The company’s lighting revenue will double this year with January having the opportunity to increase 30 percent month on month (MoM) in revenue.

Due to overseas market expansion and private brand developmental needs, Yankon Lighting announced on January 13th that their 95 percent owned subsidiary, Xiamen Yankon Energetic Lighting Co., has invested AUD $1 million (RMB 5.40 million) to establish a wholly owned subsidiary in Australia.

Following months of research and development, Wearable Experiments has invented a new way of enjoying a city, completely hands free. No need to be hunched over a map or mobile device, at one press of a button your jacket can take you there.

Taiwanese lighting manufacturer Tons Lightology saw growth for their private brand in China and Taiwan during 2013, benefiting from the booming LED lighting market. Revenue proportions for the company’s brand made up less than 10 percent in 2012, but increased up to 14-15 percent in 2013. Continuing to increase the brand’s revenue proportions is the company’s main goal for 2014. Revenue growth is anticipated to increase to 50 percent according to predictions from law persons.

LED package manufacturer Harvatek released their December 2013 revenue, which reached NT $499 million (US $16.7 million), growth of 7.98 percent from November and 66.8 percent from December 2012, making December the month with the highest revenue performance during the slack season. December and November had similar revenue, but December benefited from reinvestment in small to mid size backlight display manufacturer Honor Light Limited as well as injections from joint cooperation with driver IC manufacturer Macroblock which brought the company an additional NT $150 million.

Price tag for Samsung OLED TVs will not drop anytime soon as the industry still faces some hurdles to overcome in the manufacturing process.

Apple has added a new patent to its flexible patent arsenal in Korea, according to a Patently Apple report. The report uncovered a discreetly filed patent under engineer member names, and noted as Apples patent lawsuits with Korean manufacturers Samsung and LG escalate, it makes all the sense that the company is filing more patents in the country.

As global environmental pollution escalates, the new generation lighting technology LED has become a major focus. LED replacement trend has been initiated as LED lighting efficiency and lifetime improves significantly, and has evident advantages in energy efficiency and environmental friendly.

Australian designer Andy Zhou, a fresh 2013 graduate of Bachelors of Industrial Design at Monash University has introduced a flexible OLED luminaire that can be programmed to flex and display various lighting patterns. Below is a detailed introduction of the OLED luminaire from Zhou’s website:

As the lighting industry evolves to solid state lighting, so do the requirements for LED assembly adhesives, sealants and functional coatings used in the manufacture of light-emitting diode bulbs, lamps, light fixtures and luminaries.

As CES 2014 in Las Vegas catches industry attention this week, manufacturers have been releasing new exciting products at the show. Belkin has expanded its smart lighting WeMo product portfolio, while Razer has come up with a fashionable smart wearable OLED device. Top Taiwanese LED manufacturers including Epistar, Everlight, Unity Opto, Edison Opto and others have released their latest financial reports this week. After much toiling, LEDinside finally presents its comprehensive overview for 2013, while analysts present their latest projections for the Chinese LED chip industry. For more please see below:

Global market research firm TrendForce's Green Energy Division LEDinside said that, in 2013 the LED chips total revenues of mainland Chinese companies(which mainly based on mainland investment, similarly hereinafter) reached 992 M USD, with a year-on-year growth of 17%, and is expected to reach 1182 M USD in 2014. According to LEDinside analyst Allen Yu, in 2013, being influenced by the rapidly enhanced penetration of LED commercial lighting, chip capacity utilization has largely improved, however due to continuous decline in chip price, the growth rate o...

In 1879, the incandescent light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison, according to a report by a South Daily Media Group subsidy. Yet, 135 years later today, incandescent bulbs will officially become history in the U.S. Starting from Jan. 1, 2014, the U.S. will ban sales of its best selling 40W and 60W incandescent bulbs. Other countries including South Korea, Thailand, and Philippines are also following suit in launching policies that adopt energy efficient lighting. 

The LED industry is entering a rapid growth phase in the lighting sector in 2014. Global LED bulb shipment volumes doubled from 520 million in 2013 to 1.1 billion in 2014. Tube lighting also increased with 2013 shipment volumes rising from 230 million to 400 million in 2014, according to data revealed by Epistar during the East Asia Pacific Standards and Spec Development Conference. LED chip design still maintains a 6-12 month transition period while LED package technology undergoes changes every 1-2 years.

Changfang Lighting announced on Thursday, stockholder Lin Changchun, who has a 5 percent stake in the company, has sold out 2.85 million stocks during Jan. 7-8, 2013 in the ShenZhen Stock Exchange (SZSE). The stocks sold account for around 1.05 percent of the company’s share capital.

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Everlight released their December consolidated revenue which reached NT $2.26 billion (US $75.2 million), a slight growth from November revenue of NT $2.259 billion) and yearly growth of 36.75 percent. Revenue for all of 4Q13 was NT $6.76 billion, a quarterly dip of 3.28 percent but yearly growth of 33.46 percent. Although typically a slack season, 4Q13 showed unusually good performance. Revenue for the entire year was NT $24.7 billion, yearly growth of 29.58 percent.

LED lighting application is gradually maturing. In order to continue lowering costs for LED lighting products, there is a growing trend of manufacturers adopting High Voltage (HV) LEDs to simplify the power supply design. A large chunk of commercial and street lighting already uses HV LED components, according to Epistar. The company views is very optimistic of future  HV LEDs development in the lighting market. In the company’s product portfolio, mid voltage and high voltage LED chips makes up 10 percent of the company’s lighting products.

At the 2014 International CES, NXP Semiconductors (NASDAQ: NXPI) is demonstrating a wireless smart lighting network designed for ease of installation in the home. The demo includes an energy harvesting switch (battery-less, no wires) developed by EnOcean, a world leader in energy harvesting wireless solutions. The switch uses the NXP JN5161 wireless microcontroller and implements the ZigBee® Green Power feature.

Phoseon Technology continues its expansion in the Asia Pacific region by participating at the upcoming Industrial Digital Showcase Asia (IMI) in Hong Kong. Phoseon plans to feature the latest UV LED curing systems on the market to help support new and existing customers in Asia. 

Orion Energy Systems is ringing in the New Year with the launch of the complete suite of LED Door Retrofit (LDR) products. The LDR is an energy efficient LED retrofit that is completely assembled within the door frame.

The rejuvenation of the LED market is unsurprisingly a hot topic in the investment market recently. Foreign investor’s interest in LED companies is gradually growing. In a recent report, Credit Suisse gave their outlook for Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar. The financial firm believes that is in a good position to ride on the general lighting demand growth and outgrow the market in the TV backlighting space due to their advantages in technologies and scale. However, the company will still be affected by seasonal factors with the upcoming Lunar New Year. The company’s 1Q14 revenues are expected to have a 10 percent QoQ decline.

LiteOn released their December revenue yesterday, announcing that it had reached NT$ 20.18 billion (US $670 million), a monthly and yearly increase of 3 percent and 16 percent respectively making it the highest single month for 2013. Increase of end market demands spurred continual growth for core technologies, said LiteOn. Consolidated revenue for 4Q13 was NT$ 59.23 billion, showing unusually good performance for a slack season with quarterly and yearly growth of 4 percent and 12 percent respectively, the highest single quarter revenue in two and a half years. Revenue for all of 2013 reached NT$ 212.8 billion.

NEMA’s shipment indexes for T5, T8 and T12 lamps retreated during 2013Q3, decreasing by 7.3, 9.4 and 5.5 percent, respectively. Year-over-year (y/y) performance showed mixed results for the different lamp types. The T5 lamp index increased by 5.7 percent compared to 2012Q2. T8 lamp shipments improved as well increasing by 10.7 percent. Shipments of T12 lamps continued to decline, registering a decline of 6.3 percent (y/y).

AIXTRON SE, a supplier of deposition systems to the semiconductor industry, and Manz AG, a Reutlingen-based specialist engineering company, have agreed on a strategic cooperation. Both partners will be working on further developing solutions for use in efficient organic light-emitting diode (OLEDs) production, aiming to jointly exploit the opportunities offered by the future market for OLED technologies.