The value of the global LED market has been growing at a crawling pace as demand for backlight LEDs contracts. Automotive LEDs, however, are one of the few sizable application markets that are developing rapidly along with other smaller markets for niche industrial LED products. The latest analysis by LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, finds the replacement of traditional light bulbs with LED light sources continues steadily in the automotive lighting market despite the slowing growth in the regional automobile markets worldwide during the second quarter. While the percentage of LED-based products in developed markets continues to expand, emerging markets are also seeing gradual adoption. LEDinside projects that the value of the exterior automotive LED market will reach US$1.57 billion this year and will grow at a CAGR of 6% in the 2016~2020 period.

A lawsuit filed by Nichia against Tachibana Eletech and E&E Japan, which companies imported and/or sold Blue LEDs manufactured by a Taiwanese company, Everlight Electronics, the Tokyo District Court found that the importation/sale of those Blue LEDs by E&E and Tachibana constituted infringement of Nichia's patent. However, Everlight refuted that it respects the court’s judgement as JP3972943 expired on July 6, 2014. Therefore, the infringement will not have negative impact on the company’s products.

Lighting innovations from Osram lead the way into the future. Intelligent street lights that find and assign parking places, infrared lighting solutions that unlock smartphones via iris scan or transmitting units integrated into luminaires that  navigate people through buildings are just a few of the new solutions that Osram will present at this year's Light + Building show starting on March 13 in Frankfurt. A focus at the booth will be on intelligent and efficient lighting solutions for cities and buildings, but also present pioneering innovations in other areas. "Our products have set major trends in the lighting market for more than 100 years - and they will also do so at Light + Building 2016", said Olaf Berlien, Chief Executive Officer of OSRAM Licht AG.

According to statistics, the majority of accidents occur at dusk or at night – poor visibility is often the trigger. Intelligent headlights adapt to the current traffic situation, and can be a remedy. In collaboration with industry partners, Fraunhofer researchers have developed a high-resolution illumination system with more than 1,000 LED pixels: It offers considerably more options for precise light distribution than previous solutions have and is also energy efficient.