Silk Road Economic Belt (or One-Belt One-Road), China’s initiative to strengthen cooperation among countries between China and Euroasia, has opened up many new opportunities across industries.

Many manufacturers and industry leading UV curing and disinfection specialists seeking comprehensive system solutions attended RadTech UV 2016, which took place in Chicago, U.S. from May 16-18, 2016. The exhibition hosts both forums, while showcasing innovative UV products, making it a leading indicator in the UV sector.

Pixelligent, the leader in high-index advanced materials, announced today its 2016 predictions for high refractive index applications in the electronics markets that it serves.

The worst is thought to be over as 2015 comes to an end, a quick overview of developments in the past year show product prices have reached new historical lows in the past year. The elimination race has escalated with restructures becoming the new norm in the industry.

In an exclusive interview with LEDinside, Beatrice Witzgall, founder and CEO of LumiFi shares her valuable insights and opportunities in the smart lighting industry. The award winning lighting designer, who has been in the lighting industry for over two decades, shared how she transformed  experience accumulated from working with prestigious lighting design firms L’Observatoire and I3D to developing smart lighting products.

Demand for lighting equipment jumped 4.4% between the second and third quarters of 2015 to achieve what the National Lighting Bureau hails as “the best quarterly performance since the second quarter of 2008.” The dramatic improvement – a 4.8% year-over-year gain – was revealed by data developed by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) for the NEMA Lighting-Systems Index (LSI). According to NLB Executive Director John Bachner, “Three months ago we said that ‘lighting-equipment demand is moving in the right direction’ and “We’re optimistic that the next report will show continued growth over the third quarter.’ Our optimism has been justified; in fact, it has been more than justified. Lighting’s back!”

NEMA's Electroindustry Business Conditions Index (EBCI) for current conditions in North America fell to 41.2 in December as a larger share of panelists reported conditions deteriorated than reported they improved. The December reading represented a substantial decline from November's reading of 58.3. Meanwhile, the EBCI for future North American conditions slipped to 52.9 in December from 55.6 in November.

Several factors have caused manufacturers to flood emerging blue sea markets, such as China’s soon to be implemented 13th five-year plan; drying up LED subsidies; price wars in lighting industry that have resulted in pricing and selling bulbs per kilogram; and industry restructures which have benefited the expansion of big players on the market. SMEs in the industry have been treading on thin ice.  When the UV LED emerged as a blue sea market in the LED industry, only a few manufacturers were competing in the market sector. Fast forward to present, manufacturers once standing on the sidelines speculating are starting to jump in. In the near future, it is possible that this niche market might be on the same road as blue LEDs and become another hotly contended red sea market.

Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are occurring at a rapid pace in the LED industry. Based on incomplete statistics compiled by LEDinside editorial team in China, more than 37 mergers have occurred in the LED industry during first half of 2015, averaging three acquisitions per month. Acquisitions in the industry are maturing, and new M&A trends have emerged.

When GE sold its home appliance division in September 2014 for US $3.3 billion to Swedish company Electrolux, market rumors surfaced that the company might sell its lighting business too. The company denied intentions of selling its century old lighting business at the time. Instead of selling its lighting business, GE announced it would be spinning off its commercial LED lighting business, solar energy, and energy storage devices into a new startup company on Oct. 7, 2015. According to aBloomberg report, the new business is expected to increase annual sales to about US $5 billion from its current start of US $1 billion.

China’s Light Industry Internet (CLII) recently published important lighting product export statistics for three markets during the first six months of 2015, showed export growth was highest for the Argentina market, and plunged the most in Saint Lucia. Lighting exports to France showed incremental growth.

Numerous experts from the lighting industry and research have come together in Bregenz to analyze trends and technologies for future SSL solutions at the 5th LED professional Symposium +Expo (LpS 2015). The atmosphere is inspiring with discussions and networking taking place throughout. Amongst the more than 100 well-known companies exhibiting this year are the world’s top LED manufacturers Nichia, Cree, Everlight, Lumileds, Osram, Samsung and Seoul Semiconductor. A total of eighteen products have been launched and the best scientific paper has been honored with the LED professional Scientific Award.

Latest market rumors from Korea have noted South Korean display manufacturers are trying to persuade Apple to use flexible OLED screens in its future iPhones, reported Business Korea.

LED market trends observed at Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition  2015 (GILE 2015) that took place in Guangzhou, China in mid-June  can be summed up in this short poem:

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.

The Indian government rolled out a massive green policy last October to replace the country’s 750 million tungsten bulbs with LEDs. But it will be Chinese companies that might acquire the potentially INR 240 billion (US $3.78 billion) worth of LED orders in the Indian market, due to domestic companies limited supply and lack of finances to meet this demand, reported Hindustan Times.

Two years ago, Apple CEO Tim Cook deemed OLED screens color saturation as “awful,” and lauded Retina display resolution and color performance as far superior, but this all might be changing for the company’s future iPads.

Intense market competition from Chinese manufacturers and deluge of LED suppliers on the market has made cost reducing strategies crucial for LED chip manufacturers’ survival. To cope in an increasingly low profit industry, LED chip manufacturers are developing more advanced and efficient LED chip technologies, finding cheaper chip materials, or exploring untapped niche markets. Representatives from global top LED chip manufacturers Epistar, Osram, Philips Lumileds (Lumileds), and Cree addressed these pressing issues recently at 2015 LED Executive Summit hosted by SEMI at TILS 2015, TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall.

Backlight orders have eased this month, but will rebound in April, a UDN report cited Epistar Chairman B.J. Lee saying at Taiwan International Lighting Show (TILS) 2015.

Apple has recently sent out e-mail invitations to reporters and others to attend it’s “Spring Forward” media event, which is scheduled to take place on March 9, 2015 Pacific Time, according to a caijing.com report.

The LED industry can be a peaceful paradise or a burning inferno. It can be a place where you introduce your beloved so they can prosper, or be turned into a torture device to be used against your worst enemy. Euphoria tightly entwined with bitter misery can be observed in the industry throughout 2014. Some manufacturers have emerged successful at the end of 2014, while others have sadly left the market.

Taiwan topped global rankings last year for LED component output value, and the industry is expected to keep up 14% growth throughout 2015 to reach US $5.37 billion, according to statistics compiled by Taiwan’s Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association (PIDA).

In recent years “labor shortages” and “layoffs” have become common terms in the Chinese LED manufacturing industry. In Guangdong Province in Southern China, short term labor shortages have increased in 2014 to reach between 800,000 to 1 million workers, according to a report by Chinese-language LEDtimes. Chinese electronic manufacturing conglomerates Haier Electronics, Gree Electric and Foxconn’s layoffs also attracted market attention.

LED lighting has entered the state of cutthroat battlefield, and manufacturers are seeking new Blue Ocean Strategy. LED automotive lighting has a relatively higher gross margin compared with other traditional LED applications, attracting many Taiwanese LED makers to start planning to enter the automotive-use LED lighting field. Duff Lu, research manager at LEDinside, a research division of TrendForce, indicates that even though automotive-use LED certification periods are long and the entry barrier for entering the supply chain is high, but its overall market revenue from 2014-2018 has a compounded growth rate of 9%. In particular, the daytime running lamp (DRL) and high-low beam headlights (H/L Beam) have compounded annual production values of 21% and 48% respectively; they are two major production applications to be watched. 

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.

Energy saving is one of the major concern for state and national governments throughout the globe. Energy loss through lighting has become national concern for the governments. Smart lighting is a new innovation in lighting technology developed for energy efficiency. Smart lighting technology may include efficiency fixtures and automated controls lighting system that make adjustments according to the conditions and requirement of the internal or external environment such as occupancy or availability of daylight. Everyday lighting consumes lot of electrical energy globally accounting for 20-50 % of total energy consumed globally. To reduce the total energy consumption it is essential to use limited electric energy that pertains to certain condition and requirement.

Recently, 16 luminaire manufacturers in Zhongshan City in Guangdong Province were sued over patent infringements.Patent trolls have been rampant in the modern LED luminaire industry, affecting many manufacturers, and highlighting the Chinese LED industry’s lack of intellectual property rights awareness and other shortcomings. Patent trolls strange conduct has confused many manufacturers, and made them victims.

Seoul Semiconductor forecasted Acrich LED modules will provide a breakthrough in earnings as demands grow from overseas companies, according to a report from The Korea Times.

A distinctive trend in the Thai LED market reflected at EcoLightTech Asia 2014 was the lack of LED chip, driver and component manufacturers, and the overly dominant presence of LED luminaire manufacturers and traders.