Hong Kong will soon replace its street lights with more energy-efficient LED units, government officials confirmed. The competent authority, Honk Kong Highways Department, on Wednesday said due to mature LED technology and the significant drop in prices of LED light, the department agrees now is the right time to commence LED street lights replacement scheme. It added that replacement work has already started in the current financial year.

U.S. LED maker Cree Inc. on Tuesday reported a fiscal third-quarter loss that missed expectations. Shares of Cree further plunged 11% on Wednesday. Cree also announced that it is forming a joint venture with San’an Optoelectronics Co., Ltd., China’s largest maker of LED epitaxial wafers and chips, to produce and deliver to market high-performing, mid-power lighting class LED packaged products. The news caused quite a stir in the LED industry.

ActiveLED, Inc., a U.S. based innovator and manufacturer of performance LED lighting luminaires, announced that it has formally introduced the FLB Series LED Shoebox Flood Light. This new fixture is engineered as an energy efficient replacement for high wattage Metal Halide and High Pressure Sodium light fixtures.

Hong Kong-based investment company Kiu Hung International Holdings Limited ("Kiu Hung International" or the "Group") plans to develop robotic technology business in the hotel industry together with Shanghai Liming Intelligent Technology Limited ("Shanghai Liming"). The 2014 Nobel Laureate physicist, Professor Shuji Nakamura, was invited to the conference named "First Launch Front-desk Robot in China", hosted by Shanghai Liming and title-sponsored by the Group to share his views on the trend and potential of the intelligent hotel technology business.

Globe trotters, businessmen and sportsmen who cringe at the thought of jet lags finally have a solution now! Rising French startup Alive Energy has recently introduced a game-changing LED lamp JETLight that will eliminate all the jet lag woes even before you board the flight.

Monocrystal, a specialist in synthetic sapphire growing and processing, announced the release of its new Ultra-Clean sapphire wafers.

Following Sony’s introduction of CLEDIS (Crystal LED Integrated Structure) displays and Apple’s acquisition of LuxVue, more technology companies are exploring the possibilities of micro-LED in various display applications. LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, reports that there are now nearly 100 private companies and research organizations participating in the development of micro-LED displays. Besides Apple and Sony, there are other major technology brands that invest in micro-LED. Notable cases include the acquisition of InfiniLED by Facebook’s Oculus and the partnership agreement between Ostendo Technologies and KDX. By entering this field in advance, these companies hope to gain favorable positions in the future.

AIXTRON SE (FSE: AIXA; OTC: AIXNY), a major provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced its financial results for the first quarter 2017.

Inspired from the heritage legacy, Dubai Municipality’s Al Lisaili hall is facility for organizing wedding functions and all other events, providing main amenities for nuptials and ceremonies to be a jubilant memorable event. The hall has a capacity of 750 invitees in addition of service areas for visitors, kitchen utility, electric, sound rooms, and a bride room. 

VIZIO, Inc. announced its all-new 2017 VIZIO SmartCast P-Series Ultra HD HDR XLED Pro Display collection. Powered by XLED Pro, VIZIO's most powerful full-array local dimming backlight technology, and XHDR Pro™ with Dolby Vision™ and HDR10 content support, the 2017 P-Series pushes the boundaries of high dynamic range. 

Osram Lighting Solutions designed and implemented innovative LED hall lighting for the Nordichallen, a modern exhibition space and football hall in the Swedish city of Sundsvall. The new lighting solution complies with professional light requirements as stipulated by the Swedish Football Association and simultaneously saves around 65 percent energy. The home team of GIF Sundsvall, a club in the Allsvenskan premier Swedish football league, uses the hall for daily training, hall competitions and friendly matches.

Avnet, a major global technology distributor, announced that Avnet Illumineer Bob Householder will be among the featured course instructors at this year’s LIGHTFAIR International (LFI), May 7-8, 2017, at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, Philadelphia. LFI is the world’s largest annual commercial lighting conference and trade show.

Apart from reporting its third-quarter financial results, Cree, Inc. on Tuesday also announced that it is forming a joint venture with San’an Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. to produce and deliver to market high-performing, mid-power lighting class LED packaged products in an exclusive arrangement to serve the expanding markets of North and South America, Europe and Japan, and serve China and the rest of the world on a non-exclusive basis.

Cree, Inc. on Tuesday announced financial results for its third quarter of fiscal 2017, ended March 26, 2017, which missed Wall Street expectations. Shares of Cree declined over 7% in after-hours trade.

Osram announced the availability of SIMPLUX™, a simple standalone wireless lighting control system designed for small- to mid-sized spaces up to 10,000 square feet and/or up to 100 nodes. For maximum design flexibility, SIMPLUX enables specifiers to choose virtually any manufacturer’s luminaire that has a 0-10V dimmable ballast or LED driver, and deliver fixture-by-fixture or full group control as needed. SIMPLUX also offers an easy upgrade path to POLARIS 3D software and the ENCELIUM® networked light management system for more sophisticated, enterprise-level control or integration to building automation systems via BACNet®. 

Philips Lighting announced that MediaMarkt’s flagship store in the center of Eindhoven will introduce "Store Guide” app.  It allows customers in store to use their smartphones to locate products and be guided to them quickly and easily thanks to innovative LED lighting that acts as an indoor positioning system.  

NTT DOCOMO, INC., in a continuing quest to create innovative new business, has developed a spherical drone display - an unmanned aerial vehicle that displays LED images on an omnidirectional spherical screen while in flight - which DOCOMO believes to be a world first (as of April 16, 2017).

The Brecon Beacons National Park, one of the three national parks in Wales, UK, has earned special protection of its night sky from light pollution and is an ideal place for stargazing. However, for the sake of safety, the Welsh Government recently installed LED street lights in Cwmdu, Powys, leaving a campaign group concerned. 

Ricoh USA, Inc. announced the addition of EFI's H1625 LED and VUTEk® H2000 Pro hybrid roll/flatbed wide format printers to its growing wide format portfolio through a reseller agreement with EFI™. This new partnership is part of Ricoh's ongoing efforts to better serve customers looking to add or enhance capabilities in the fast-growing wide-format segment. 

At the 2017 National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) Show, Leyard, a global leader in visualization products, and Planar, a Leyard company, launched the Leyard® LED MultiTouch, the industry’s first seamless LED touch-enabled video wall. This proprietary multi-touch solution revolutionizes interactivity for narrow pixel pitch LED video walls without the disadvantages of front glass—offering a seamless, smooth, lightweight and durable LED touch surface that delivers superior visual performance enabled by the patent-pending Leyard® PLTS™ (Pliable LED Touch Surface™) technology.

The Optoelectronics group of Vishay Intertechnology, Inc. has introduced a new series of super red, red, amber, and yellow ultrabright LEDs in compact untinted surface-mount packages with dome lenses. Utilizing the latest ultrabright AllnGaP on Si chip technology, the space-saving Vishay Semiconductors VLD.1535.. series delivers extremely high brightness with luminous intensity to 14000 mcd and an emission angle of ± 22° without the need for an external lens.

Along with the escalating competition in the OLED industry, strategic investments and capital operations among large enterprises were growing more frequent in 2016 when a large number of excellent OLED brands rose rapidly. The year of 2017 will be the inflexion for significant growth in the global OLED market when Asian panel makers from Korea, China and Japan that represent the makers of the world will become the fulcrum for the development of OLED across the entire industry chain, which will promote the innovation in the display industry all over the world.  &n...

Ultratech, Inc. a supplier of lithography, laser-processing and inspection systems used to manufacture semiconductor devices and high-brightness LEDs (HB-LEDs), announced unaudited results for the three-month period ended April 1, 2017.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Sunday the first span of the new Kosciuszko Bridge will open to drivers between Brooklyn and Queens on Thursday, April 27. 

Philips Lighting announced the company’s 2017 first quarter results on Friday, which showed improvement in comparable sales growth, continued increase in operational profitability and free cash flow.

High Power Lighting (HPLighting) is a major UV and IR LED vendor. Over the years, HPLighiting has worked closely with chip vendors and focused on LED packages and optical design. The company has successfully developed UV and IR LEDs based on its competitive advantages. At OPIE’17, LEDinside interviewed Charles Wei, General Manager of HPLighting, to learn about HPLighting’s progress of UV and IR LED technologies.

Alabama Power is partnering with Signature Homes, Southern Company, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and technology vendors to introduce Smart Neighborhood™ by Alabama Power.

Beaverstate Dental Systems (BDS) announces the release of their new L-series LED patient light. "We have designed an operatory light that provides all the advantages of an LED, while remaining in the comparable price range of a halogen," states BDS President Rick Whitman. "We excel at offering more bang for the buck, each and every time. It doesn't have to cost you more to get a long-lived, reliable product. Our L-Series is low wattage, with a 5,000-5,500 K color temperature. With multiple mounting configurations and 3-Axis head rotation, our LED lends itself to increased flexibility."

This Tuesday (April 18th, 2017), Samsung Electronics (SAMSUNG), the second largest LED chip manufacturer, successfully held the 2017 “SAMSUNG LED New Product and Technology Seminar” in Shanghai Marriott Hotel Pudong East. The seminar discussed topics on medium power LED, high power LED, CSP, COB, filament LED, and LED’s future development trend.

Nan Ya Photonics Incorporation (NYPI), a leading LED lighting manufacturer, has begun to develop system products over the past two years. The company removed its mid-to-upstream LED production lines in 2016. In order to operate in coordination with the government’s green energy policies and expand revenue, NYPI conducted transformation in 2H16 and entered the green energy industry. LEDinside had the privilege to interview the vice president of NYPI, Jung-huang Lo, to discuss about NYPI’s transformation process and its future business direction.