Effective Oct. 4, 2016, Osram, a leading global lighting and technology company, has successfully completed the acquisition of Novità Technologies, a U.S. manufacturer of automotive LED modules which are used primarily in tail lights, fog lights and daytime running lights. With this move, Osram will further expand its position in the U.S. automotive LED market. “The successful closing of this transaction is a further step in our strategy to strengthen our leading position in automotive lighting and to expand our LED automotive portfolio for project business,” said Hans-Joachim Schwabe, CEO of the Specialty Lighting business unit. 

Chinese LED manufacturer Ledman announced it is planning to acquire a new LED luminaire company as of July 8, 2015.

Epistar Corp. and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) Board of Directors held simultaneous meetings to approve the sale of all shares of TMSC Solid State Lighting (TSMC SSL)  to Epistar at NT$ 1.46 per share, with the total price amounts to NT$ 825 million. Epistar will control 94% of TSMC SSL holdings after this acquisition. While TSMC will completely relinquish its control of TSMC SSL, the business operations will be jointly manned by the present TSMC SSL team and Epistar personnel.

Last week LEDinside reported Epistar’s intention of acquiring TSMC SSL, a LED lighting subsidiary of leading Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer TSMC, the two companies have released a joint press release Friday (Taipei Time) confirming the deal.

Leading Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar is planning another merger to complete its white LED portfolio, according to a Chinese-language report by China Times.

Epistar is reported to fully integrate with FOREPI before the end of 1Q15, with the possibility of FOREPI’s Chairman Feng-Ren Chien stepping down from the management board, according to a report from the China Times.

While the LED industry was still reeling from news of Epistar’s acquisition of FOREPI, Philips dropped another bomb shell, announcing the merger of its LED component and automotive lighting assets on June 30, 2014. 

The two German high-tech companies temicon GmbH and holotools GmbH join forces to expand their product portfolio in the area of micro and nanotechnologies. In the future they are going to operate under the corporate roof of temicon, continuing the well established brand “holotools” as their trademark for laser interference lithography. Both companies have been working together successfully over many years using complementary technologies in the production chain of high-tech components for optical, medical, solar and environmental applications.

The merger between LED chip manufacturer Epistar and FOREPI has generated much discussion in the industry. Industry insiders have different views on the trend of large LED upstream manufacturers dominating the market. While foreign investment firms are optimistic the merger will create a win-win situation for Epistar and FOREPI, other market insiders are concerned it will have a negative impact on downstream manufacturers.

Epistar’s acquisition of FOREPI earlier this week rocked the LED industry. Foreign financial institutes have tooted the merger as a win-win for both sides, as it will boost Epistar’s global market shares to 20 percent and production capacity up 30 to 40 percent, according to a United Evening News report. 

Once news broke of Epistar’s acquisition of FOREPI, all eyes turned to China based chip manufacturer San’an Optoelectronics (San’an Opto), eager to see how the company would react. 

Royal Philips  today announced that it will start the process to combine its Lumileds (LED components) and Automotive lighting businesses into a stand-alone company within the Philips Group. Philips will explore strategic options to attract capital from third party investors for this business. Philips intends to remain a shareholder and customer of the new company, and will continue the existing innovation collaboration.

Taiwan-based manufacturers Epistar and FOREPI today announced merge plans. Through conversion of shares, FOREPI will become a 100 percent fully owned subsidy of Epistar. The trend of acquisitions within the LED industry will continue in 2014, observed LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce. Epistar’s merger with FOREPI will improve production capacity, cost management, as well as client and product integration. After the merge, the two companies will also be able to jointly resist market threats from Chinese LED chip manufacturer San’an Optoelectronics (San’anOpto).