Sumitomo Chemical has reportedly phased out its LED sapphire substrate business. SSLM, a South Korean sapphire wafer joint venture funded by Sumitomo Chemical and Samsung, stopped manufacturing sapphire substrates and Samsung also claimed to have halted investments in the company, reported The Nihon Keizai Shinbun.

China-based LED chip supplier SemiTek announced an agreement signed by its wholly-owned subsidiary Yunnan Lanjing Technology and the People’s Government of Hongta District, Yunnan to build a new LED substrate fab for capacity expansion.

In the first six month of 2010, sapphire substrate supplier Crystal Applied Technology’s EPS was only NT$1.50 but the figure increased substantially to NT$11.75 at the end of November. The company noted the strong result benefitted from the increasing prices for sapphire crystals, as well as increased capacity in 2Q10.

The largest leading provider of equipments used to produce polysilicon and ingots, GT Solar, announced its intention to expand its business into the LED market. The company claims that it is currently in the process of working closely with select customers to test the Sapphire crystallization systems before proceeding to mass production, which is estimated to take place in 2011.

Rubicon Technology Inc., a LED sapphire substrate provider, claimed to have successfully grown what it believes to be the world’s largest sapphire crystal (or boule) which weighs 200 kg.