Sharp Corporation will introduce into the Japanese market four models (60V-inch, 52V-inch, 46V-inch, and 40V-inch*1) of the LX Series “LED AQUOS” LCD TVs from November 10, 2009. Coming on the verge of 2010, the tenth anniversary of the first AQUOS LCD TVs, this series employs a newly developed LCD panel and an LED backlight.

Innolux Display Corp., a Taiwan-base panel maker, has teamed up with Nichia, a global leading LED chip maker, in a bid to lead the industry of LED monitors by shipment volume, the Taiwan Economic News reports, citing company sources.

Sharp Electronics announced the availability of its range of AQUOS Full Screen LED backlight LCD TVs for commercial use. Originally introduced to the world’s media in August this year, the ultra-low energy, affordable LE600 and LE700 televisions are expected to be popular for digital signage and multimedia applications. The LE600 is available in 32”, 40” and 46” models with the LE700 spanning the same range with the addition of a 52” model.

Honeywell announced that it has developed a new thermal management material that improves energy efficiency of light emitting diodes (LEDs), which are increasingly being used in applications such as street lamps, automotive lighting, flat panel TV displays and computer monitors.

JVC today announced a super slim LCD monitor for home theater use that measures a mere ¼-inch (6.4mm) deep across most of the panel and weighs just 12.5 pounds (5.7kg). The new 32-inch class LT-32WX50 will be available in the U.S. in November.             

Yoshinoya America Inc., famous for the original Beef Bowl®, and EcoTek Lighting jointly announced today that the Yoshinoya America Inc. will be installing energy efficient, high performance Menu Boards with LED illumination in its new store to help save the environment.

Samsung targets to sell at least 2 million LCD TVs with LED backlight in 2009 and at least 10 million units in 2010, according to a company executive. "We are aiming to sell at least 22 million (conventional) LCD television sets and at least 2 million LED televisions in 2009," said Yoon Boo-keun, president of Samsung's visual display division at a press conference ahead of IFA 2009 in Germany.

Maxim Integrated Products introduces the MAX16814, a highly integrated four-string HB (high-brightness) LED driver capable of delivering up to 150mA per string. This device packs in all the features necessary to implement a high-performance backlight driver for LCD TVs, monitors, and automotive displays.

Microsemi Corporation, a manufacturer of analog/mixed signal integrated circuits and semiconductors, announced the expansion of its line of complete high performance system solutions for powering light emitting diode (LED) backlit displays. The family now includes 3-string applications for 3.5 inch to 7-inch displays.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) announced new color active-matrix, thin film transistor (TFT) LCD modules for industrial applications with long-life, light-emitting diode (LED) backlight systems with a Mean Time Between Failure (MTBF) 1 of 100,000 hours (approximately 11.4 years). Developed by Toshiba Mobile Display Co., Ltd.

Taiwan’s leading panel maker AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) recently decided to invest NT$30 billion (US$923.08 million) to establish four LED chip factories in Taiwan in the fourth quarter this year, to meet the strong demand for LEDs used in panel backlight modules, Taiwan Economic News reports, and the facilities is planned to begin mass production in late 2010.

Recently, LED-backlit LCD monitors are more frequently showing up in the market, indicating the increasing application of LED backlight in monitor field — the slowest growing section among the three major LED backlight application fields. According to LEDinside, the specialized market research house, LED backlight penetration rate in monitors will be no more than 1% in 2H09, while is expected to rise to 35% by 2012. Vendors are promoting LED monitors; are consumers ready to buy?

LG Display (LGD) and AmTRAN Technology recently jointly invested in Formosa Epitaxy Inc., a Taiwan-based LED chipmaker, according to an article on Taiwan Economic News. LG Display and AmTRAN have co-invested NT$2 billion (US$62 million at US$1:NT$33) in the LED chipmaker by acquiring 18-19% stake in Formosa, industry watchers said.

BenQ last week launched its new 24” and 21.5” LED widescreen displays, namely the Full HD 1080p V2400 Eco and Full HD 1080p V2200 Eco. These first two models will prelude what BenQ promises to be a broad-spectrum offering of LED displays to be launched by mid-August, according to the company.

Sharp extends its range of industry-compatible LCDs with LED background lighting with two new displays in diagonals of 12.1 and 23 inches. The range now comprises nine displays with screen diagonals of 2.5 to 23 inches.

According to institutional investors, Taiwan-based Epistar Corp. and Unity Opto Technology Co. are both expected to post increased sales for July from June, the Taiwan Economic News reports.

Samsung Thursday announced in the U.S. its new 8500 HDTVs with a dynamic contrast ratio of 7,000,000:1. The new 46 and 56-inch models feature local-dimmer LED backlighting. Samsung said that their new LED technology delivers a more uniform illumination across the full width of the frame, and improves black levels, contrast and color saturation.

Taiwan’s leading panel vendor AU Optronics plans to fully-adopt LED backlight for all NB panels shipped before the end of 2010; penetration of LED backlight in its internal monitor shipments is expected to reach 10 ~ 15%. In 2010, the estimated global LED TV penetration may hit 10%. Dr L.J. Chen, CEO of AUO, indicated that as a result of strong demand for LED panels, tighter supply of LED chips is expected in 2010.

Due to increasing global demand of LED (light emitting diode) for TV backlights, Unity Opto Technology Co., a Taiwan-based LED supplier, had recorded a single-month high of NT$340 million (US$10.378 million at US$1: NT$32.76) in sales for June, up by 78% from last June or 5.52% from May, according to company sources.

Light emitting diodes (LEDs) have been a hot topic in the TFT LCD market due to their rapid adoption in notebook PC displays and the high potential in LCD TV panels. In 2012, 34 billion LEDs will be used in TFT LCD backlights, in sizes ranging from 1" to more than 70", up more than 300% from 8 billion in 2008, according to the new DisplaySearch report Display LEDs: Lighting Up the Display World.

With LED backlights more and more used in LCD TVs, Taiwanese LED makers, including Epistar Corp., Formosa Epitaxy Inc. and Tekcore Co., Ltd., have seen a flood of orders in recent months, according to Taiwan Economic News.

White LED backlight in LCD TVs will be the mainstream of the market rather than RGB three-color LED backlight, said Yuji Motomura of Toshiba in the company’s new "Regza" LCD TV series presentation.

Bloom of worldwide lightweight and ultra-thin laptops market is boosting use of LED backlights in netbook PCs and CULV-based notebook PCs, from which Taiwanese LED industry is benefiting significantly, according to industry sources.

After Taiwan’s major computer provider Acer recently heightening the proportion of LED-backlit Notebooks, Asus, another major maker in the industry, announced that it would also boost the proportion of its LED-backlit Notebooks, and estimates to use LCD panels with LED backlight in all Notebook computer products by the end of 2009, including high-end ultra-thin Notebook, middle- and low-end Notebooks.

LED TV market features infinite imagination space but is immature yet, LEDinside estimates the market penetration rate of LED TV to be 2% in 2009 and 11% in 2012

After release of the energy efficient C8000 REGZA LCDs, Toshiba is ready for its higher end LED backlit ZX8000 (labeled SV670 in the U.S.) series. Featuring a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio and local dimming technology, this series also pack the latest edition of Super Resolution+ upconverting, ClearScan 240Hz motion and fifth generation Pixel Pure image processing.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics, a component provider in Taiwan, has decided to manufacture new LCD screens for notebooks with LED backlights in 2009. The first to come will be a 13.4-inch display with LED backlight which offers a 500:1 contrast ratio, suitable to be used in thinner notebook models. Another display product will be 15.6-inch in size, featuring a brightness of 250-nit, a 8ms response time and a 1,600 x 900 resolution.

Bright Green Technology introduces an LED backlight system - Bright Green Matrix™. The company says it is designed to illuminate large format signs and billboards in retail, commercial and advertising environments and it is equally suited to retrofitting into existing boxes or incorporating into new designs.

The shipments of notebook PCs with LED backlights reached 3.7 million in the final quarter of 2008 – a 62% rise on the preceding quarter. 13.4% of notebooks shipped in the closing quarter of the year featured LED backlighting technology, compared with a market share of only 6.3% in the third quarter, according to a recent report.