Lextar, a large LED manufacturing company under the AUO group, has sold one of its factory in Hsinchu County, Taiwan for NT $361 million (US $11.82 million) to Twoway Communications.

Lextar today announced its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2014 financial report.

A China Times report has highlighted five major LED market trends in 2015:

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Lextar reported incremental revenue growth in December 2014, according to a latest United Daily News (UDN) report.

Upstream Taiwanese LED chip manufacturers including Epistar and leading downstream LED manufacturers Everlight and Lextar were upbeat about the industry’s growth in 2015, with most forecasting at least 20% growth, reported UDN.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Lextar’s recently announced revenue last month was slightly down, due to the slack season in 4Q14.

Lextar’s revenue in October 2014 continued to decline, with initial estimations November to December performances being flat or showing only minor growth, mainly due to backlight’s slack season, according to a Money DJ report.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Lextar has approved leading U.S. LED manufacturer Cree’s NT $83 million investment in the company during a recent shareholder meeting, according to several Taiwanese media reports.

 Lextar Electronics Corp. (TAIEX: 3698, “Lextar” or the “Company), a vertically-integrated LED company from Taiwan, debuted an ultra slim flat panel LED luminaire, LEAFIA, with a thickness of only 8mm and has been named a winner in Japan’s Good Design Award 2014. This is the fourth time Lextar has received recognition from the award. Lextar will unveil LEAFIA at the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair taking place during October 27-30, 2014.

Lextar Electronics set another new revenue record last month, after three consecutive months of growth drove up revenue by 14.7 percent YoY to NT $1.42 billion (US $50 million), according to a UDN report. On a monthly basis, the company’s growth in August was only up 0.3 percent compared to July 2014.

Epistar and FOREPI stockholders have approved the proposed merger between the two companies today, according to a report by Cynes.com. FOREPI stocks will be swapped at a rate of 3.448 per Epistar share. 

At a press conference held in Taipei today, David Su, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Lextar spoke about how the company sealed the US $83 million investment deal with leading U.S. LED manufacturer Cree.

The new agreement between leading U.S. LED manufacturer Cree and Taiwan electronics firm Lextar, which stipulates Cree will invest $US 83 million in the Taiwanese firm, comes as a surprise, according to LEDinside, a subsidiary of the Taiwan-based market research firm TrendForce. Under the agreement, Cree and Lextar will also cooperate on LED chip supply and royalty-bearing licenses for certain Cree LED chips. 

Leading U.S. LED manufacturer Cree surprised the LED industry on Aug.26, 2014 with the announcement of an investment partnership totaling US $83 million to purchase 83 million Lextar shares at a price of NT$30 (US $1.00) per share. The company also stated the partnership included long-term LED chip supply agreement and royalty-bearing license agreements for certain Cree LED chips. Why has Cree decided to invest in Lextar now?

Cree, a market leader in LED lighting, and Lextar Electronics Corporation (TAIEX: 3698), today announced that the companies have entered into an agreement whereby Cree will make an investment in Lextar and the companies will enter into a supply agreement for sapphire-based LED chips. As part of the agreement, Cree will invest approximately US $83 million to purchase 83 million Lextar shares at a price of NT$30 (US $1.00) per share. 

Lextar will be scaling up investments in 4Q14 to expand production capacity in 2015 to overcome production shortages, according to a UDN report.

Lextar Electronics Corp (Lextar) today reported consolidated revenue for the second quarter of 2014 of NT$ 3.8 billion (US $130 million), up 17.7 percent from previous quarter. Consolidated gross margin was 14.5 percent, with a 2 percent QoQ growth. Net profit for 2Q 2014 was NT$ 163 million; a basic EPS for 2Q was NT$ 0.32. 

As the LED lighting and backlight industry rebounds, Taiwan’s upstream and downstream LED manufacturers have all expanded to some degree, according to a Commercial Times report. Manufacturers including Everlight, Epistar, Lextar and Harvatek revenue are expected to grow during second half of 2014.

Taiwanese LED lighting manufacturer Lextar revenue will grow steadily in second half of 2014, as the company benefits from international manufacturers rising lighting OEM orders and new LED TV backlight clients that is alleviating the risks of relying on orders from a single client, according to a Money DJ report.

Taiwanese LED manufacturer Lextar announced revenue for May 2014 was up 7.3 percent compared to the previous month to NT $1.26 billion (US $ 40 million). However, on a Year-on-Year basis, the company revenue slid 4.3 percent.

Flip chip gold-wire free LED packages are going mainstream in China this year, according to a report by China-LED.org. With Samsung LED bringing flip chips into TV products, the market has been assured that the technology is here to stay. Many big brands in Asia including Samsung and Lextar are focusing development on package free and gold-wire free LED packages.

Lextar Electronics, a vertically-integrated LED company from Taiwan, will showcase its COB (Chip-on-Board) "Nimbus" series that feature high CRI (90), LM-80 quality and Hot Color Targeting (see note 1). The Company will also release Flip Chip COB : "Nimbus-P" series. Lextar has deployed the widest COB product line in the industry and it will debut this new COB collection at 2014 Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition starting from June 9th in Guangzhou, China.

LED manufacturer Lextar released their fiscal first quarter 2014 financial report on May 12, 2014. The company reported revenue dropped 3 percent QoQ to NT $3.22 billion (US $106.7 million) but up 11.6 percent from 1Q13. Gross margin improved 2.3 percent QoQ to 12.5 percent. Net profit for 1Q14 reached NT $21 million with EPS of NT $0.05. 

LED industry demand is booming, causing downstream epitaxial manufacturers to upstream package manufacturers to face the possibility of an undersupply situation. LED demands started strengthening from 4Q13 to 2Q14, said Zhang Shixian, Deputy General Manager of Epistar. Zhang estimates that demands will continue increasing in 3Q14. Epistar’s production capacity has already reached 90 percent. The company is now concerned that supply will not meet demand after 3Q14. 

Taiwan LED manufacturers were very active at this year’s Light+Building 2014 show that took place in Frankfurt, Germany last week. The main theme of Taiwanese manufacturers at the show was LED technology. Some major technology highlights included flip chip LED, Alternating Current (AC) Driver-on-Board (DoB) Chip-on-Board (COB) modules.

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. 

Lextar Electronics Corp., a vertically integrated LED company, announced packaging-free “White Chip” to demonstrate its new achievement in LED technology. This new White Chip LED will make its debut at “Light + Building Frankfurt 2014” until April 4th. It is demonstrated by various LED lamps, including 50-watt halogen equivalent GU10 LED spot lamp, point-light candle lamp, and omni-directional LED tube featuring ultra high efficiency.

Lextar Electronics Corp. announced its LED point-light candle lamp based on its significant advances made recently in light source design. This new candle lamp illuminates objects from a small pointed light source. It spreads outward in all directions as wide as nearly 360 degree, giving identically glowing effects to the starlight. The Company will debut this new product at “Light + Building Frankfurt 2014” from March 30 to April 4, 2014.

Lextar Electronics Corp. will release an ultra slim direct-lit panel light. Only 28mm in thickness, this new product is free from the stereotypically bulky exterior of its comparable products. Besides, it minimized the number of LED thanks to Lextar's state-of-the-art direct-lit backlighting technology. Lextar's new ultra-slim direct-lit panel light features low glare, creating a new alternative for customers who value both aesthetics and light quality. The Company will debut this new product at "Light + Building Frankfurt 2014" from March 30(th) through April 4(th) , 2014.

Lextar Electronics Corp. (“Lextar” or the “Company) reported consolidated revenue for the fourth quarter of 2013 of NT$ 3.32 billion (US$ 110 million) Consolidated gross margin was 10.1 percent, net profit for 4Q 2013 was NT$ 33 million. Consolidated revenue for full-year 2013 was NT$ 13.75 billion on year. Consolidated gross margin was 12.7 percent. Full-year net profit was NT$ 948 million. Earnings per share were NT$ 1.25.