Current, powered by GE has announced a new energy efficiency program with Morgan Stanley. The companies are collaborating to evaluate energy savings opportunities across more than 600 Morgan Stanley retail branches with a turnkey LED lighting and digital controls solution that will reduce lighting-related energy consumption by up to 50 percent in some branches, plus improve operational productivity and enhance the customer experience. 

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

Epistar’s acquisition of FOREPI earlier this week rocked the LED industry. Foreign financial institutes have tooted the merger as a win-win for both sides, as it will boost Epistar’s global market shares to 20 percent and production capacity up 30 to 40 percent, according to a United Evening News report. 

The Korean won is anticipated to rise against the U.S. dollar in the coming months, the strongest in six years. The Taiwan new dollar, on the other hand, is expected to depreciate against the Korean currency. 

Epistar’s February 2014 revenue outperformed initial estimations, according to Morgan Stanley. Growing lighting demands drove up revenue and operating margin. Client orders in 2Q14 exceeded the company’s production capacity, which will be beneficial in improving its product portfolio and increasing product’s Average Selling Price (ASP). 

Corning Glass Senior Vice President Tony Tripeny had some not so nice words to say about sapphire during a Q&A session at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference on March 4. The company blasted the material in defense of their Gorilla Glass. 

LED driver IC is unsurprisingly the upcoming star of 2014, spurred by the increasing demand for LED general lighting. However, the driver IC market appears to commoditize rapidly with competition from China vendors. According to a recent report by Morgan Stanley, LED general lighting penetration rate is estimated to reach 17% in 2014, up from 8% in 2013. LED lighting penetration rate is anticipated continue rising to 44 percent by 2016. Each light needs an LED driver IC to control the electric current and, in some cases, offer dimming function. The volume for LED driver ICs will thus grow proportionally with LED lighting.

LED lighting demand is a key player for Taiwan LED package manufacture growth in 2014, according to a recent report from Morgan Stanley. Everlight’s goal is to increase lighting revenue percentage to 30 percent in 2014. Morgan Stanley estimates that the company’s lighting operations will double, but that increase in product inventory still requires a lot of attention.