Since the initial production began in the second half of 2018, Mini LED products including backlit panel and RGB displays are gaining more and more visibility in the industry with a wide range of applications launched in 2019 and the coming 2020. The LED industry players in Taiwan and China see the rising market of Mini LED and are putting their strength into product development and capacity increase. Epistar, as a Mini LED pioneer, has already shipped backlight product for high-end monitors, notebooks, automotive displays and smartphones. The company is going t...

2019 may not be a prosperous year for LED manufacturers given the market uncertainties resulting from the changing global politics. Yet, industry players continue their technology developments and expect Mini LED to revive the stagnant market. Mini LED, as an improved version of conventional LED, provides refined diming zones when serving as backlight and can be utilized in curved displays when coupled with flexible substrates. Since last year, several LED makers including Lextar have begun shipping Mini LED backlight products for high end applications such as gami...

With its continuous development in Mini LED, Harvatek projects that Mini LED products will take around 15 percent of its revenue next year, driving its business performance in 2019. The LED manufacturer focuses on display products including notebooks, gaming monitors, mobile devices and automotive displays. The shipment of its Mini LED product, 4 in 1 Mini COB and RGB Mini LED COB, has been processed by its display clients. Harvatek expects that its Mini LED product shipments will be boosted by the second quarter of 2019, bringing profits to the com...

Taiwanese LED companies have registered their revenue for September and most of them posted an on-year decrease. 

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Harvatek Corporation is expecting a better performance for 3Q18 with its new production capacities in China and the steady orders of displays and consumer electronics products. 

In September 2010, Nichia Corporation (“Nichia“) started a patent infringement lawsuit in Germany against Taiwanese LED manufacturer Harvatek Corporation (“Harvatek“) concerning Harvatek‘s white LED products

Mini LED as an enhanced version of conventional LED backlight has been considered as a transitional technology between conventional LED and Micro LED. According to the estimation of LEDinside, the revenue of Mini LED products is expected to reach US$689 million by 2022. Before the second half of 2018 started, many LED companies have reported their progress and shipping schedule of Mini LED products including applications of automotive lighting and mobile devices.

Several Taiwanese LED companies have seen positive results after three quarters of business transformation. As they have been shifting more capacity to non-blue LED applications, more mid- and small-sized LED firms starts to see turnarounds. Looking ahead to 2018, Taiwanese companies will keep differentiating themselves from Chinese competitors and expanding product lines in niche markets, such as IR LED, sensors, and Mini LED.

Japanese LED giant Nichia Corporation recently announced that the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal in Germany has confirmed that four white LED products by Taiwanese LED manufacturer Harvatek Corporation infringe Nichia’s YAG Patent EP 0 936 682 (DE 697 02 929).

With judgment of January 20, 2017 (docket number I-2 U 41/12), the Düsseldorf Court of Appeal in Germany has confirmed the infringement of YAG Patent EP 0 936 682 (DE 697 02 929) of Nichia Corporation (“Nichia“) by Taiwanese LED manufacturer Harvatek Corporation (“Harvatek”) concerning four accused white LED products.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Harvatek's revenue growth was incremental during first half of 2016. However, following its success in LED thread technology, the company intends to supply related products to the market by second half of 2016, resulting in turn around of its financial performance.

Over the last two weeks, two Taiwanese LED manufacturers Harvatek and Knightbright decided to settle patent disputes with Cree, ending a nearly two year lawsuit. Both Taiwanese vendors agreed to sign patent royalties for an undisclosed sum. Few details have been released about the conditions of the settlements. It is becoming clearly evident that Cree’s strategy is centered on cashing in from its LED patent portfolio, said a LEDinside analyst, who chose to remain anonymous.

Cree a leader in LED lighting, announced that it has reached a confidential settlement in its patent infringement lawsuit with Harvatek. Harvatek has agreed to a royalty bearing, worldwide license to the Cree patents-in-suit, thereby ending the lawsuit between the parties. Harvatek will pay Cree a license issue fee and ongoing royalties as part of the license agreement.

On Jan. 26, 2016, Harvatek announced it has entrusted Devlin Law Firm LLC to represent it in a patent infringement case against Cree that has been filed in the United States District Court for the Central District of California . The patent in suit is US 6,841,934.

Low market demands in the past few months has driven Taiwanese LED manufacturer Harvatek to explore innovative LED technologies including forming a partnership that includes teaming up with Taiwan Textile Research Institute (TTRI) to develop LED thread and related technology applications

Chinese courts have invalidated Cree’s patent “Apparatus and method for mounting electronic elements” (CN 200780015100.X) in its patent infringement lawsuit against Harvatek, said Harvatek Spokesperson Chi Hsiung Cheng. The company’s future product sales will benefit from the ruling, he added.

Flash LEDs in smartphones have evolved from being a “marketing gimmick” to “standard equipment.” LED usage in smartphones have also jumped up from single to dual flash LEDs, and it is increasingly common for flash LEDs to be found in latest smartphone models.

Recent patent litigations launched by major LED companies aim straight at latecomers in Chinese and Taiwanese LED industry, who have insufficient patent portfolio. The LED market will be restructured to focus on major LED companies with extensive patent portfolio and technological strengths.

Harvatek declared to entrust Devlin Law Firm LLC to file a patent litigation against the U.S. LED company—Cree, Cree Hong Kong Limited and Cree Shanghai Opto Development Limited in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California to prohibit Cree and its affiliates from infringing Harvatek’s U.S. LED patents.

LED package manufacturer Harvatek revenues is expected to drop during third quarter in 2014, due to adjustments in lighting OEM orders, according to a Money DJ report. However, the company is expected to see revenue growth next season. While further long term observations are required to determine the impact from Cree’s patent lawsuit.

Harvatek Corporate announced that U.S. LED manufacturer Cree, has taken legal action against the Taiwanese company to enforce its six patents in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin on September 15th, 2014. Although, Harvatek has not received an official copy of the complaint yet, is is aware of the dispute and preparing reactive measures.

Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE) has filed patent infringement lawsuits in the United States District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin to prevent Harvatek Corporation and Kingbright Corporation from infringing Cree’s patented intellectual property. These patents, among other things, protect Cree’s LED component portfolio, including Cree’s white light LEDs.

Harvatek Corporation (“Harvatek”) and Toyoda Gosei Co. Ltd (“TG”) have voluntarily signed and entered into a License Agreement relating to silicate-based LEDs.

Market listed companies have released their March revenue reports this week with the LED industry coming out on top, according to an article by Economic Daily News. LED manufacturers had unusually good performance in January and February, a traditionally slack season for the industry. The growth trend continued into the peak season where it picked up pace in March. Order visibility already extended to 3Q14. The second half of this year is anticipated to be smooth for the industry. 

The LED outdoor lighting replacement trend is growing with over 600 cities in the U.S. already planning to switch old streetlights to LEDs, according to Commercial Times. New York plans to switch roughly 25,000 streetlights to LEDs by 2017, making it the largest undertaking in the North American market. Europe, China, and Japan are also initiating replacement projects. LEDinside estimates that compound annual growth rate will surpass 20 percent in 2014-2017, which will encourage lowered stock prices.

RGB package technology continues to advance. As LED package components shrink, display dimensions follow suit, gradually reducing in size. This as well as improvements to driver IC and backend system technology is driving up display resolution and color performance. Technological improvements and increased demand for displays used in outdoor commercial, public buildings, and indoor commercial spaces is anticipated to drive up the display replacement trend in 2014. Industry insiders are optimistic about the development of the display market for 2014.

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.

LED manufacturers are aiming to take advantage of business opportunities arising in the display market due to improvements in RGB LED package technology, increased image resolution, and growing demand driven by the upcoming international sports events. Taiwan LED package manufacturer Harvatek that launched their RGB LED product in 2013 is upgrading package specs from 2020 to 0606. The company’s current monthly production capacity for RGB LEDs is 50KK and projected to expand to 100KK in 2014.

Taiwanese package manufacturer Harvatek operational performance strengthened during the second half of 2013. The company hopes profit gain in 3Q13 will carry on into 4Q13, said Billy Wang, Chairman of Harvatek. The company hopes to maintain its profitable performance in 4Q13 , and aims to turnover previous losses to make 2013 a profitable year.

Taiwan package manufacturer Harvatek reported a turnaround in 3Q13 after seven straight quarters of loss. Benefiting from an increase of 50 to60 percent in production capacity utilization rate in 3Q as well as investments of NT $22.39 million (US $758 thousand) in 3Q, revenue reached NT $1.24 billion, a quarterly growth of 9.86 percent.