In order to know what oversea buyers consider the biggest obstacles they face when sourcing from China, we surveyed over 100 professional international buyers over the past several months and asked them “What is your biggest procurement challenge when buying in China?” It turned out that amongst the most frequent answers, such as quality control issue, supplier relationship management or product certification issues, the top rated one are all supply-chain related challenges. 

In late 2013, LEDinside team forecasted major company restructure market trends will continue throughout the year. The trend has been consistent in 2014, as more lighting manufacturers take necessary restructure measures to remain competitive in the market, such as Philips, Epistar or NVC Lighting.

In late 2013, LEDinside team forecasted major company restructure market trends will continue throughout the year. The trend has been consistent in 2014, as more lighting manufacturers take necessary restructure measures to remain competitive in the market, such as Philips, Epistar or NVC Lighting. Top players restructure decisions in the fast changing LED industry landscape further reinforces the trend that large companies will become even bigger and influential, while smaller manufacturers will find it increasingly difficult to compete.

Global LED market prices have been disrupted by heavily subsidized Chinese manufacturers, to stay relevant Taiwanese manufacturers need to work on strengthening patent portfolios, said Katsuyuki Akutagawa, Chief Legal and IP Officer Board Director for Nichia at a press conference in Taipei, Taiwan on Thursday.

"This is the 40th patent granted in 2014,” said CEO Ed Bednarcik. “Our ability to spectrally tune light to deliver proven biological and physiological effect is a game changer that will have dramatic, positive impact on all living things. Our team of lighting engineers is continually finding ways to improve health and wellbeing by innovating and redefining how we use light. It is a huge competitive advantage for us.”

The Illuminating Engineering Society recently shared an article by Don Peifer from his recent column in LD+A that addresses whether the hype surrounding LEDs match the reality? Or put another way: Is the battle over and have LEDs already won? Below is the excerpt posted on their website:

The Guangdong Solid State Lighting Industry Innovation Center (GSC) recently announced plans of establishing a LED patent alliance in China during a talk at LED business patent management forum in Guangdong Province, according to a recent report from Chinese-media Intellectual Property News.

LED prices are anticipated to drop around 20 percent in 2014 and pricings are already at a level comparable to traditional lighting, according to an Ofweek report. At the Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition (GILE) LEDforum, Dr. Ke Zhang, Director of Business Development and Government Affair, Asia Pacific Osram and Dr. Guoqing Tang, General Manager, LED China, Samsung and Sr. Vice President, expressed their optimism about LED prices continual decline. The LED industry remains upbeat despite faltering macroeconomic growth for LED products, and manufacturers aggressive production expansions.  

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has published the 2014 edition of the Solid-State Lighting (SSL) R&D Multi-Year Program Plan (MYPP). This year's edition provides a description of the activities DOE plans to undertake over the next several years to implement its SSL mission, and informs the development of annual SSL R&D funding opportunities.

Guoqing Tang, China President of LED BU, Samsung, who is also Chairman of SEMI China LED Committee, gives an in depth analysis of the LED industry developments and categorization in this article. 

Why should we pay attention to OLEDs? Rumors this week pointed Apple plans to make iPhone 6 an OLED phone. With the company’s previous trend setting records, it might be creating a window of opportunity for OLED displays to go mainstream. More Apple news, TechCrunch gives an in depth analysis on the company’s recent hefty sapphire substrate investments in GT Advanced Technologies and technology behind it to keep sapphire substrate costs low. LEDinside has also released its new price reports this week. Please see below for more:

SEMICON Taiwan Semiconductor exhibition and LED Taiwan held a press conference yesterday before the exhibition officially launched on September 4th. SEMICON expressed that global semiconductor growth is stable and capital for 2013 is expected to be similar to that of 2012, with hopes that capital in 2014 will return to NT $44 Billion.