Chinese LED chip manufacturer San’an Opto is in talks of acquiring Osram group, German magazine Wirtschaftswoche reported Thursday, without indicating information sources.The acquisition talks are more than just business transacations, but reveal Chinese government's industry policies, analyzed LEDinside.

Prospects of the LED lighting market in Indonesia is promising and set to soar this year, due to growing electrification ratio in the country, reported Indonesia Investments.

When the LED industry speaks about emerging markets, India, Russia, and Middle East countries are probably the top three markets that pop up in manufacturers’ minds. Rarely, do people think about testing the waters in the African market, but one Hong Kong LED lighting manufacturer has made its way into Nigeria.

Five Chinese LED manufacturers have been competing head-to-head in the bid for Osram’s lighting business, after the German company announced it would be spinning-off its less profitable general lighting business in April 2015. The five listed Chinese companies in the race for Osram’s lighting business include MLS (also known as Forest Lighting), ETI, Tsinghua Tongfang, Felio Acoustics and Foshan Lighting. All the potential Chinese buyers have the needed financing platforms, but for the German lighting company price is just one of the decisive factors, another main concern is the synergetic effect from the resulting partnership. In the article below, LEDinside evaluates the chances of the five companies’ succeeding in the acquisition of Osram’s general lighting business.

Indonesia is situated in Southeast Asia and is located on the Equator. It is close to Papua New Guinea, East Timor and borders Malaysia. Geolocation wise the world’s largest archipelago is also an ocean across from Thailand, Singapore, Philippines and Australia. With a population of 240 million people scattered across 18,307 islands, Indonesia is the fourth most populated country in the world following China, India, and U.S. Annual economic growth rates peaked to 6.3% over the past few years indicating it is a country that holds great market potential.

Global LED chip demand and supply condition is gradually reaching an equilibrium, and easing the industry’s oversupply situation, according to a Qianjia.com report that quoted an electronic component industry report by UBS. Lighting is becoming one of the major application sectors in the LED industry, and China’s LED supply chain is expected to benefit from these changes. LED chip manufacturers are expected to benefit the most in the future.

LED lamps (lightbulbs) are proving to be a disruptive catalyst creating a very different dynamic in the long established lamp distribution channel. While the transition to LED technology in the light fixtures for new construction and/or building renovation is being smoothly managed by the established eco-system of independent specification agents and established electrical distributors, the impact on the existing sales and distribution channels and their respective supporting processes is being felt.

Different types of smart LED lighting solutions have taken the spotlight at lighting exhibitions these years. There has been a heated discussion about whether smart lighting’s entry in the market. Bestselling smart lighting products in China are not necessarily those with the best quality, and are often average quality. The fact that they are manufactured in China also doesn’t excite consumers.

China’s A-shares started off with a strong rebound this week, after plunging to an all-time low last Thursday and Friday. In the short term, A shares are stabilizing on the market. Many listed LED manufacturers that suspended trade to avert impacted by the volatile stock market have gradually resumed trade. More than 350 listed Chinese companies resumed trade as of Monday, according to latest statistics.

The Guangdong Province in Southern China incurred the greatest losses in China’s lighting industry, according to monthly statistics compiled by National Bureau of Statistics.

Even though the Thailand government is not too keen on issuing more incentives to support the local LED industry, there is still plenty positive market developments that manufacturers can be optimistic about.

As market competition intensifies, LED manufacturers are adjusting their strategies to expand into new niche markets and create new opportunities with their technological advantages. As a specialist manufacturer of high-power LED components, Edison Opto has accumulated more than a decade of R&D experience in LED technology, especially concerning spatial distribution. With this expertise, the company has recently made the strategic decision to enter the automotive LED lighting market.

This interview performed and was published by Lumen&ExpertUnion – Russian professional magazine about light and lighting (www.lumen2b.ru) The interviewee, Alexey Malakhov. Graduated in 2007 from National Research University Moscow Power Engineering Institute (MPEI). Cathedra specialist of lighting “Light source & Electronic starter”. Malakhov has worked in the lighting industry since 2005. He participated in the implementation of lighting projects including airport, stadium, factories, city infrastructures and transport.

Intense market competition from Chinese manufacturers has driven down profits for LED manufacturers, cost efficient technologies and getting the most out of cost/performance ratios has driven LED chip technologies to ever new economic developments.

Declining LED prices are driving more Filipino consumers to convert from conventional CFL lights to LEDs, reported BusinessWorld Online.

Leading U.S. LED manufacturer TCP Lighting will be using its Taiwan arm as its new Southeast Asia headquarters, said the company CEO Ellis Yan in a recent interview with LEDinside in Taipei, Taiwan. As the next step of its business strategy, TCP Lighting plans to venture into Southeast Asian countries including Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Singapore and others. “We will be training staff in Taiwan, before sending them to neighboring Southeast Asian countries,” explained Yan.

Several Indian LED manufacturers have asked the country’s government to consider implementing tax reforms to make it easier for companies to conduct business across different India states, reported The Hindu.

Leading Taiwanese LED manufacturers Epistar and Everlight reported declining revenues in February 2015, according to a report from CNA.

Despite leading the global LED component market in 2014, Taiwanese LED manufacturers are entering LED niche markets, according to an UDN report.

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

India’s LED lighting market is currently at a nascent stage. Though the LED market is already growing at a robust pace over the last 2-3 years, the country offers huge growth potential, especially over the next 5-10 years. Increasing adoption of LED lighting is being witnessed across commercial and residential sectors, government projects, upcoming smart building projects, etc. According to a recently published report by TechSci Research “India LED Lighting Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2020”, the country’s LED lighting market is projected to register a growth of over 32% during 2015-20.

Taiwan’s LED component industry market value is expected to grow 14% in 2015, according to estimates by Taiwan’s Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association (PIDA).

Indian consumer electronics manufacturer BPL plans to expand its LED product portfolio, after starting in the industry with solar LED lanterns a year ago, according to a report by The Economic Times.

San’an Opto is expected to fully benefit from the growing LED market value, according to a report from China Finance Media.

One of the main LED industry indicators to look into in 2014 is manufacturers exponentially growing production volume. Where did this production capacity come from? Production capacity seen in 2014 mostly came from 2Q13 LED package expansions. A cloud of doom crept over the industry in 2012, as the industry’s oversupply situation triggered price wars and bankruptcy tsunami. Yet, in 2Q13 severe LED package shortages emerged as the slumping lighting market abruptly boomed. Many LED package manufacturers shared an optimistic market outlook at the time, some even doubled production capacity in a relatively short period.

More manufacturers are turning to emerging markets that hold high growth potential as maturing U.S., Europe and Japanese markets become saturated. Emerging markets including India, Thailand, and Russia hold many business opportunities for LED manufacturers, due to their high reliance on LED chips, components and package imports.

Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI), a subsidiary of the Chicony Group, recently announced at an investors’ conference that the company received big flip chips order from Samsung, and flip chips will account for 25% of the company’s 2015 overall revenue, according to an Economic Daily News report.

In recent years, the LED lighting market has blossomed in emerging countries, and manufacturers’ development strategies in these markets have become increasingly important. This is mainly because in mature markets, such as Europe and Japan, global traditional luminaire brands still have the greatest market share. While in highly competitive countries, such as China where it appears profitable, many manufacturers have been unable to reap profits.

Will Russia become the next Pure Land for the LED industry? Or is it a market full of unknown risks? Could it be a paradise for foreign manufacturers? Or is it market full of threats? Out of potential emerging markets, LEDinside analysts have chosen the Russian market for “further studies”. Why not Southeast Asia, Middle East, or South America? What is so special about Russia that the LED lighting industry “should not” miss out?

Worldwide adoption of Acrich technology optimized for various lighting applications.High efficiency, reliability, quality of light and cost-savings are the key factors.