Taiwan LED lighting makers estimate LED market to take off in 2009 in spite of the ongoing financial crisis. In Taiwan, several significant LED lighting projects have launched by governments. The Taichung City government installed 5,000 streetlights by the end of October, the largest number of all. The Bureau of Energy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs has announced it will budget NT$150 million (US$4.5 million at US$1:NT$33) in 2009 to finance local governments on the island to erect a total number of 12,500 LED streetlights islandwide.

ENE TECHNOLOGY, the NB Keyboard Controller (KBC) provider, starts to focus on LED Driver IC. Recently, ENE is promoting its latest LED product claimed to be the fastest amongst its middle-end competitors. In order to gain more insights of the company, its strategies and products, LEDinside interviewed Jeff Cheng, the product manager of ENE TECHNOLOGY. The leading firm of KBC

The shipments of notebook-PC panels with LED backlights grew by 63% quarter-on-quarter (QoQ) to 2.1 million in the third quarter from 1.3 million in the previous quarter, according to the related report. Taiwan TFT-LCD panel suppliers AU Optronics Corp. (AUO) and Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO) ranked the world’s third- and sixth-largest, respectively, LED-BLU notebook PC panel makers during the period.

Taiwan epitaxial wafer maker Genesis Photonics Inc. has successfully landed orders from a globally leading printer supplier for yellow, green and blue LED light sources used in LED printers.

Based on recent global economic crisis, Stock prices of LED makers, packagers, and fixture makers have declined tremendously over the last few months. Many companies have been forced to take drastic measures to make ends meet. Taiwan LED packager company Everlight is the only one of them.

It’s reported that Taiwan there private companies have jointly developed an automatic-charging LED bicycle lamp. It’s disclosed that the high-tech LED bicycle lamp will be commercialized and launched in the market in February 2009. Lee Shui-yuan, president of Acxing Industrial Co., Ltd., one of the joint developers, pointed out that the new LED bicycle lamp is the only multi-function LED illumination device available on the market that can function as a bicycle front lamp, rear warning light, brake lamp, or an emergency flashlight.

Edison Opto, a Taiwan-based high power LED packaging manufacturer, has announced Edixeon Federal series into its Edixeon family of products

GlacialTech Inc, in co-operation with the Taurus community in Changhua county near the center of Taiwan, have incorporated GlacialLights innovative LED luminaries as part of a drive to bring down the growing costs of power consumption. The community is built with the future in mind; incorporating all the latest and greatest elements of futuristic design into one community where only the highest quality counts. Tied to that is the goal of reducing power consumption and in this particular community original models predicted 20,000Watts power consumption using standard lighting fixtures.

It’s reported that Taiwan LED maker Epistar Corp. brings its green-blue LED chips with brightness of 2000mcd to join Korea’s Samsung Electronics’ supply chain of LED-backlit LCD TVs.

The LED backlight units (BLUs) penetration in notebook PCs will be about 10%, and is expected to rapidly grow to reach 28% in 2009, according to a market-researcher and consultant firm. So such portable devices have become more energy-saving and slim.  

Taiwan LED maker Epistar is reportedly that it has increased its high power blue LED efficacy to 100lm/W. The company expects to begin mass production of the blue LEDs in the first half of 2009. It’s disclosed that its small blue LEDs should reach 150 lm/W in 2009, and its high-power blue LEDs should increase in efficiency to 120 lm/W.

It’s reported that the global LED output is expected to grow by only 5 percent next year, given the impact of the global economic downturn. While Taiwan, which accounts for 20 percent of the world’s LED output, is projected to fare slightly better with a 7 percent increase, according to an analyst with the Industrial Economics and Knowledge Center (IEK) under the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI).

It’s reported that Taiwan’s DRAM chipmakers and backlight-module makers had announced aggressive investments in LED epitaxy-wafer production last year in anticipation of bright market future, touting to add a total of 100 metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) machines to the Taiwan industry. However, their optimism has been dampened by the global economic crisis, which has hamstrung consumer spending of various sectors including high-tech products like LED, DRAM and LCD TVs.

Recently, GlacialTech Inc. announces the availability of T8 LED light tubes. It’s disclosed that the LED T8 tubes come in ten models which range in brightness according to the number of LED’s present over the length of the tube. The three sizes of tube vary in length from 580mm to 1198mm to the longest which stands at 1498mm.

Recently, RiTdisplay Corp., a reinvested company of Taiwan’s larges-sized disc maker RiTek Corp., has received orders for 35 million units of passive matrix organic light emitting diodes (PMOLEDs), with 30 million units to be delivered this year, making it the world’s No. 1 supplier of this product presently.  

Macroblock will showcase its technology breakthroughs at Electronica 2008

With the diverse applications of LED, the emerging SSL market also demands for higher luminous flux and efficacy of LED. Edison Opto, a Taiwan based high power LED packaging manufacture, has introduced Edixeon® ARC series, a production-ready,100lm packaged light source to its high power LED Edixeon® family. Driven at 350mA, Edixeon® ARC series is the first of its kind to truly achieve luminous efficacy over 100lm/W at cool white LED (CCT: 5,000K~10,000K).

It’s reported that Global Lighting Technologies Inc, a Taiwan’s company, showcased an edge type LED backlight unit at FPD International 2008. The Edge-type LED Backlight with light sources located at the bottom sides of the panels that can reduces the size and thickness of large LCD TVs

 Liquidleds®「Liquid Immersed Heat Management Solution (LITMS)」 The LITMS technology of Liquidleds® win the National gold medal award  in 2008 The high power LED illumination faces a lot of technological challenges at present. In order to solve the difficult problem of this field, the LED industry has developed a lot of different methods and solutions in addressing key problems such as heat dissipation, Light Shape, luminance, product  life and cost ,etc..

Recently, Taiwan display maker Chi Mei EL unveiled its 25-inch screen that's less than a millimeter thick at the FPD International exhibition in Japan on Wednesday. The new screen is based on the emerging OLED technology and attracted a steady stream of show attendees who snapped pictures of the screen or who peered around the edge to take a look at just how thin it is.

The LITMS technology of Liquidleds® win the gold medal award of Country in 2008 The high power LED illumination faces a lot of technological challenges at present, LED industry, in order to solve the difficult problem of this field, develop a lot of different methods and solve and include key problems such as heat dissipation, Light Shape, luminance, product  life and cost ,etc..

It’s reported that Para Light Electronics Co., Ltd., a leading Taiwanese LED packager, won a contract to supply LED emitters to a leading auxiliary-lighting manufacturer in the United States, which sells lighting products to major retailers stateside.

Recently, LED lighting startup AHA LED of Taiwan opened its flagship shop in Taipei to build global marketing in light of the huge market potential of LED lighting. The company has reportedly landed US$72 million of orders from South Africa for LED lighting for roads and streets.

The global LED market is taking off in 2008 and is expected to become a full-blown one by the year 2010, according HP Lighting, a major LED manufacturer in Taiwan. HP Lighting’s insight is shared by LEDinside, which has predicted that as LED makers in Taiwan and Japan keep raising production, LED prices are bound to fall further before 2009. Lower prices will eventually lead to higher LED penetration among households, said the LED industry research group.

School goes GREEN

It’s reported that LED chipmaker Epistar Corp. has landed hefty contracts to build the chips for Samsung and begun shipping the chips last month.

It’s reported that Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), with its One-Chip AC LED technology, has been selected a winner of the 2008 R&D 100 Awards competition sponsored by the U.S.-based R&D Magazine.  

It’s reported that Taiwan-based LED chipmaker Epistar has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against competitor Huga Optotech, seeking NT$200 million. Epistar filed the lawsuit with Taiwan's intellectual property court, claiming that Huga's blue and green LED products infringe on its patent.

It’s reported ResearchInChina releases Global LED Industry Report, 2008. Since 2002, LED has been developed rapidly caused by the wide application in mobile phones. With the improvement of LED luminescence efficiency, LED has got rid off the reliance on mobile phone industry and enters the semiconductor lighting era. LED development has the following four trends:

It’s reported that Tekcore Co. wants to become one of Taiwan’s top three manufacturers of LED epitaxy wafers and chips by 2010.