Spark Wins China’s LED Promotion Financial Subsidies Bid

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Spark recently emerged as one of the successful bidders of the “2012/2013 Semiconductor Lighting Products Financial Subsidies Promotion Project”, a joint project between China’s Ministry of Finance, the National Development and Reform Commission, and Ministry of Science and Technology. This is the second time Spark has won a national LED lighting application promotion project after successful bidding of “Semiconductor Lighting Products Demonstration Project” in 2010.

The biddings organized by the three ministries are based on the requirement of Interim Measures for the Administration of Fund on Efficient Lighting Products to Promote Financial Subsidies (Finance Construction [2007] No.1027), aiming at encouraging the promotion, demonstration and application of semiconductor lighting products; further promoting green lighting program; energy conservation; reducing carbon emissions; and guiding the healthy and orderly development of LED lighting industry.

Through product quality and technical evaluations of bidders, only 30 enterprises out of hundreds of bidders made the cut, including Spark Optoelectronics S&T Co., Ltd.. The three ministries jointly promote LED lighting products promotion project and determine the shortlisted enterprise has added new impetus to the development of LED lighting industry. Spark will take this opportunity to increase R & D and innovation, positively respond to the nation’s call for the policy of promoting high efficiency and energy saving lighting products through the “Industrial Benefiting People” plan, and allow high-end LED lighting products to benefit end users with lower price and better services.

Spark Wins China’s LED Promotion Financial Subsidies Bid

Nichia, Everlight, Cree, Osram, Connected Lighting

Nichia and Everlight continue to scrap over intellectual property with the former taking new action, while Cree and Osram make executive appointments and The Connected Lighting Alliance will study commercial indoor SSL.

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Nichia has announced new filings with the US District Court in its ongoing LED-centric patent dispute with Everlight Electronics. Cree and Osram have both made changes to their board of directors, and Cree promoted Norbert Hiller and launched a new LED lamp. The Connected Lighting Alliance, comprising some of the industry’s top lighting companies, has announced plans to study the controls situation in the indoor commercial solid-state lighting (SSL) sector.

Nichia and Everlight

Nichia and Everlight have waged an extended intellectual property (IP) battle with Nichia generally claiming Everlight has infringed the former’s patents, and Everlight attacking the validity of Nichia’s patents. In the latest amended complaint filed in US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Nichia asserts that Everlight, subsidiaries Everlight Americas and Zenaro Lighting, and Zenaro distributor Zitroz LLC are infringing four Nichia patents.

The latest action amends a September 11, 2013 filing centered on one specific Nichia US patent — 7,432,589 — and extends the claim to cover patents 7,462,870, 7,521,863, and 8,530,250. The lawsuit (2:13-cv-703) is pending before District Judge J. Rodney Gilstrap and Magistrate Judge Roy M. Payne.

As Nichia acknowledged in its most recent press announcement, the companies have active legal disputes ongoing in several other countries including Japan and Germany. In September, Nichia announced that a German court ruled in its favor in an infringement case. There has still been no word on damages in that action and apparently Everlight is still seeking to have the German court nullify the patent in question.

Everlight has also attacked the validity of a Nichia patent in the US this past March, and prior to that had filed its own patent infringement lawsuit against Nichia.

Cree lamp and exec moves

Moving to some product news and executive reshuffling, Cree has added a 75W-equivalent Soft White LED lamp to its A-lamp family. Apparently the design is near identical to the 60W product in terms of the LEDs used, although the drive current has been increased to enable 1100-lm output. The main change in the design is a noticeably bulkier and heavier heat sink to keep the LEDs cool at the elevated current. We have a detailed article on the A-19 SSL retrofit lamp over on our Illumination in Focus website.

Cree also has appointed Norbert Hiller to the position of executive vice president lighting. Hiller has served in a similar role in the company’s LED operation for more than two years. Apparently the move was driven by Cree’s increasing presence in the lighting space as witnessed by the lamp announcement.

“The growth in our LED fixture business combined with the success of the Cree LED bulb has expanded the scale of our lighting business and increased the focus on sales and marketing,” said Cree chairman and CEO Chuck Swoboda. “Norbert brings a unique skill set and track record of success to the next phase of Cree’s growth.”

Cree also announced that Anne Whitaker has been appointed to the company’s Board of Directors. Whitaker is president of Sanofi’s North American Pharmaceuticals operation. Swoboda said, “Anne has proven herself to be a leader throughout her career and her extensive experience in strategic management and organizational development will be a tremendous asset to our company as we continue to carry out our mission to accelerate the adoption of LED lighting.”

Osram executive announcement

Osram is also making changes to its Supervisory Board. Peter Bauer is the new chairman for both Osram Licht AG and Osram GmbH. Bauer had previously been a member of both boards and succeeds Siegfried Russwurm as chairman.

Osram had said back in June that Russwurm would be stepping down, and Bauer is a ready replacement having served as deputy chairman in the past. Bauer had a long career with Siemens and Infineon, and currently works as a management consultant.

The Connected Lighting Alliance

Moving to something of a technology story, The Connected Lighting Alliance has announced that it has formed a study group focused on lighting networks and controls for the commercial space. Previously the industry organization has been focused on the residential sector, having endorsed ZigBee Light Link as the technology of choice.

The action in the commercial sector focused on indoor lighting could have a major business impact because of the companies behind the organization. Founders include GE Lighting, Lutron, Osram, Panasonic, Philips, and Toshiba. If the organization decides to tap a specific technology, the action will carry broad impact.

“After the endorsement of ZigBee Light Link last summer, our members have decided to raise the bar and address the complex solutions required for indoor professional lighting,” said Simon den Uijl, secretary general of The Connected Lighting Alliance. “The benefit of this activity goes beyond stimulating the adoption of wireless lighting solutions and provides the lighting industry with an opportunity to interface with other industry stakeholders, such as building automation companies. We hereby invite any interested company to join the Alliance now and help shape the future of indoor professional lighting.”

Nichia, Everlight, Cree, Osram, Connected Lighting

Rishang Malaysia to Launch LED Commercial Lightings in Malaysian Market

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Rishang LED, manufacturer of LED lighting modules and components, will be launching its wide range of products for the Malaysian market. Marketed through Rishang Malaysia, there will be all types of products that can be used in the commercial lighting sector of the local market segment that will cover commercial and private properties respectively.

Rishang Malaysia is the sole and exclusive distributor for Rishang LED products in Malaysia where the company will be involved in all areas of distribution, marketing, sales and support for the complete product line. This is a significant milestone for Rishang Malaysia which will see the rolling out of all types of commercial lighting modules, LED power supply, components and LED bulbs that are suitable for use in all spaces.

LED or Light-Emitting Diode lights have been one of the fastest growing technologies in the world especially through its known benefits which offer better cost savings in utility bills like electricity. Apart from that, LED lights can operate for a longer time up to 7 times more than conventional lighting. By emitting lesser heat, LED lights help the premise owners to depend less on cooling units like air-conditioning systems which will in the long-run provide more savings and making them the ideal replacement for conventional light bulbs.

To launch the campaign, Rishang Malaysia will be bringing in popular modules like LED modules and LED strips for lightboxes and signages in Malaysia. In offering affordable options in this area, business owners who are using lightboxes and signages in their premises have a more economical and beneficial option. Rishang LEDs have been used in many businesses to replace fluorescent bulbs for signage purposes. The brand is currently being used by large corporations and organisations like AIA and the Pavilion Shopping Center in Kuala Lumpur. Apart from that, Rishang LED products are used in retail and convenience stores like 7-Eleven and many others.

Rishang Malaysia will be offering a wide range of LED bulbs in Malaysia which can be used in all types of environments. This product is highly energy-efficient and cost-effective which can be used for lighting, illumination, decoration and any other purposes required. The LED bulbs can be used for spotlights, wall-washers and in display cabinets as well as for customized purposes like garden and outdoor lighting in which the bulbs can be mounted into waterproof enclosures to withstand any type of extreme weather conditions.

Another popular product that business owners can consider through the launch is to replace the current fluorescent lights with Rishang Malaysia’s T5 and T8 LED tubes. These tubes are among the most commonly used and installed in many spaces where the dimension and length are identical. With minor adjustments, business operators can now enjoy up to 50% in electricity savings per month which would be highly advantageous in the long term.

Customers of Rishang Malaysia will enjoy technical support and customer service in terms of installation and on design. Pricing of the products are very competitive and based on the current market rate where bulk purchases will enjoy additional discounts. All Rishang LED products come with 5-years warranty with 1-to-1 exchange against manufacturer’s defects with no questions asked.

As part of this launch, Rishang Malaysia is inviting LED distributors from all regions around Malaysia to apply for exclusive distribution privileges. Entry into this market requires very low capital where Rishang Malaysia will be offering support in all areas. This includes providing the appointed distributor with a website for better online presence and e-commerce facilities for ordering of stock and other services. From there, Rishang Malaysia will facilitate all orders and make arrangements like logistics, delivery and technical support. Meanwhile, Rishang Malaysia will be responsible in the support of the distributor’s network through a well-planned and run advertising and promotions campaign throughout the year to ensure business growth for the partners.

On top of that, Rishang Malaysia is partnering with the Malaysian Advertisers’ Association through a collaborative programme which will be venturing into a major campaign to improve the Association’s services to its members. Rishang Malaysia will work with all parties involved to assist the Association in becoming more relevant and to play a more integral role for the enhancement and strengthening of the Malaysian advertising industry.

About Rishang

Rishang Malaysia to Launch LED Commercial Lightings in Malaysian Market

LEDTECH ELECTRONICS cultivates mainland markets and delivers finished LED Modules

LEDTECH ELECTRONICS, a Taiwanese LED packaging factory, mainly cultivates its European markets with low temperature lighting products, while mainly serving its mainland markets with LED package components. The company will actively cultivate its existing mainland power plant clients this year. But different from the past when it had only orders of packaged components, this August, after gaining the high-level LED backlight module standard case order, LEDTECH subsequently received orders of the mid-level, and then got 7-8 more orders, enabling the products it delivers to the mainland market to transfer from LED packaging components to finished module products, which is one of the major reasons why gross margin of the company rebounded to 30%.

About LEDTECH ELECTRONICS

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LEDTECH ELECTRONICS CORP. was founded in 1977. Holding onto the motto of “sincere, responsible and constantly improving”, we have been dedicated to the production of LED lamps and displays in the past twenty some years. We persistently foster our own personnel, develop new products, and upgrade our production facilities in the vigorous efforts to satisfy customers’ needs.

LEDTECH ELECTRONICS cultivates mainland markets and delivers finished LED Modules

PhotonStar Announces Controls Collaboration with Lutron

PhotonStar LED Ltd formally announced a collaboration with controls specialists Lutron at Lux Live 2013 in order to enable ‘seamless compatibility’ between products.

The announcement, which took place prior to show opening on Day 1, will allow PhotonStar customers to have the option of ordering many of the company’s high performance LED lighting products with a prewired Lutron Ecosystem® driver, straight from the factory.

Lutron’s EcoSystem protocol seamlessly communicates with all Lutron EcoSystem digital controls from the recently launched Energi Tripak solution to the complete building system Quantum and all systems in between.

PhotonStar’s Marketing Director Fenella Frost commented: “Adding seamless Lutron EcoSystem protocol compatibility as an option on our products is in line with our mission to provide the most reliable and workable control and lighting solutions to our customers. We intend to further deliver on this aim through collaboration with many respected industry leaders.”

Lux Live took place on the 20th and 21st November at Earls Court 2 in London.

About PhotonStar LED Group PLC

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PhotonStar LED Group PLC (“PhotonStar” or the “Group”) is a British designer and manufacturer of smart LED lighting solutions. The Group’s proprietary technology seamlessly integrates LEDs, sensors and controls to provide intelligent lighting for commercial and architectural applications which benefit from greater CO2 reduction, lower cost of ownership & improved functionality compared to other available light sources.

Photonstar’s lighting products have won numerous awards for performance, innovation and reliability, and are unique in the industry for the use of recycled, and recyclable materials, which means they have 90% less embodied CO2 than equivalent products providing the same levels of illumination.

PhotonStar comprises two divisions: LED Lighting Fixtures which works with lighting designers, architects, house builders, facilities management companies and sustainability consultants to provide intelligent, high-end LED lighting solutions for the commercial and architectural market, and LED Light Engines which provides LED lighting solutions for specialist applications such as film & television production lighting, UV curing and medical applications.

PhotonStar is based in Romsey, Hampshire with manufacturing in Wales.

About Lutron

Lutron_logo

Lutron is a technology-centered and people-driven company. As a private corporation guided by our founder’s simple but profound Five Principles, Lutron has a long history of significant growth and smart innovations.

PhotonStar Announces Controls Collaboration with Lutron

Epistar expanding LED capacity at China joint venture

Taiwan-based Epistar is expanding its LED wafer and chip production capacity at KFES Lighting (Xiamen) – a joint venture (JV) with China-based China Electronics in southeastern China – from nine MOCVD sets currently to 30 in 2014, according to sources with the LED supply chain.

As demand for LED lighting is taking off, Epistar is also enhancing operations at its other plants in China, including: Episcrystal in Changzhou, a JV with Taiwan-based Lite-On Technology and China-based LCD TV vendor Konka; and United (Shandong) LED in northern China, a JV with Taiwan-based United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC).

The JVs are expected to account for 10-15% of Epistar’s consolidated revenues, the company indicated.

About Epistar Corp.

Epistar-logo

Epistar Corp. is the largest manufacturer of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) in Taiwan.[1] The company was established in 1996, and its headquarters are in the Northern Taiwanese city of Hsinchu. In 2009 it had an annual turnover of NT$10 billion. Epistar specialises in high-brightness LED products, which are used in general lighting, traffic signals, and various consumer products such as mobile phones and laptop computers. The company supplies the LED backlighting for Samsung liquid crystal displays. It is the world’s largest manufacturer of red and yellow LEDs, and holds over 1000 patents.[1] It has a history of patent disputes with competitor Philips Lumileds over the use of AlInGaP LED technology. However in September, 2009, Philips Lumileds signed an agreement to license AlInGaP technology to Epistar.

Epistar expanding LED capacity at China joint venture

It"s Time for the LED industry to Tackle Compatibility

It’s Time for the LED industry to Tackle Compatibility
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Article by Jan Kemeling – Ledzworld Chief Sales & Marketing Officer (CMO)

The story behind LED development—only the 4th lighting technology developed in human history—is remarkable. The potential ahead of LED lighting to deliver real and measurable advantages—to save energy, last years longer, significantly lower bottom-line costs—is limitless. But for it to be the next great defining feature of the lighting landscape, LED lighting needs to work.

Yes, work. That’s precisely the question LED end-users, specifiers, designers, utilities and regulatory agencies ask themselves before adopting LED options for their stores and retail fronts, offices and homes. Will these alternative lighting offerings achieve what they promise?

And the simple, scary truth facing the LED industry today is often, there’s no guarantee they will.

Today, legacy infrastructure—the transformers, fixtures, and control devices already incorporated into built environments—creates unique and challenging compatibility interferences with widespread LED adoption.

What we’ve seen to date in our current, ongoing preliminary phase of LED adoption is “plug and play” applications–a customer simply installs an LED bulb into an existing fixture. Sometimes that fixture works with the LED bulb’s mechanical, electric, and thermal requirements; sometimes it doesn’t; and sometimes there are mixed results. The effect? Consumer uncertainty.

Any new technology only has a small window to prove its value. Second chances with first impressions do not exist—which is why in any market; it’s essential to capitalize on the moment of market introduction. It’s an opportunity—and a test—to gain the trust of the consumer on the first try.

The LED industry, peers, partners, and competitors, must work together to ensure full compatibility with the millions of lamps, dimmers, transformers, and fixtures on the market.

When looking at the compatibility problem, there are three separate issues to address: 1. Electrical compatibility; 2. Mechanical compatibility; and 3. Thermal compatibility.

Electric Compatibility. Common voltages in lighting systems are significantly higher than LED requirements. As a result, the transformer and dimmers often don’t operate consistently, or properly. Frequently this causes the LED to flicker and dim erratically, one lamp powering off before another, or the LED not even powering on at all.

Mechanical Compatibility. Problems arise when LEDs do not match the size and dimensions of traditional lamps. It’s simply a matter of fitting a square into a round hole—the LED does not fix the legacy fixture’s width or height.

Thermal Compatibility. Traditional light sources and LEDs operate at dramatically different temperatures. While some halogen lamps operate at 200 degrees Celsius, LED lamps must operate between a specific thermal temperature to ensure long life and safety standards. In much of the legacy fixture infrastructure, there’s no means to dissipate heat in the bulb design.

Let me be clear. Compatibility is the number one compelling problem facing the entire LED industry today. No end-user, designer, specifier will–or should—care what promises and potential LED technology holds in the future, if it doesn’t meet their needs in the present.

So while others keep the issue in the dark, Ledzworld works to guarantee our technology fits legacy lighting infrastructure. How? By proofing every one of our LED solutions against hundreds of the most commonly used dimmer, transformer and fixture applications. It’s painstaking work, but it’s this behind-the-scenes effort that gives our customers the peace of mind they need, and deserve.

We’re also innovating LED drivers that guarantee our lamps are hassle-free, and work seamlessly on a wide range of magnetic and electric transformers and in combination with commonplace dimmers.

Recently, the company launched a breakthrough MR16 LED lamp with our patented Chameleon driver. The Chameleon driver self adjusts to its environment by first detecting the transformer type, then analyzing its waveform, and finally adjusting itself to make a perfect electrical fit with that particular transformer. This innovative driver makes the company’s MR16 LED retrofit lamps truly “plug and play” devices that can be used in a wide variety of transformer and dimmer combinations. Anywhere, every time.

What’s more, the CTR functionality implemented in Ledzworld’s Chameleon driver design also provides an intelligent temperature control monitoring system. The temperature control system acts as a watchdog by continuously measuring the ambient temperature inside the driver compartment by utilizing a built-in thermal sensor embedded into the Chameleon driver chipset.

Bottom-line, our lamps work on the spectrum of magnetic transformers, in combination with most commonly used leading edge dimmers, and with a large variety of electronic transformers paired with commonly used trailing edge dimmers.

Ledzworld set out to revolutionize the lighting industry with one unshakable commitment: to develop, design, and manufacture LED lighting that meets—and exceeds—all LED technology expectations. But that starts with ensuring that our technologically progressive, best-in-class lamps work as well with older infrastructure as they do with the new.

So that a few bad actors don’t spoil LEDs reputation, it’s time for the entire LED industry to tackle compatibility, together.

It"s Time for the LED industry to Tackle Compatibility

China Electric Enters LED Lighting Field with Takeover of GIO Optoelectronics

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China Electric Manufacturing Corp. has announced its acquisition of GIO Optoelectronics Corp. in hopes to meet their operation goal of increasing LED lighting revenue share by 20 percent next year. The company announced yesterday its acquisition of 160 million shares at NT $ 0.8 per share with allocated funds reaching NT $83.9 million. Main shareholder of GIO, Chimei Corp. sold its 39.2 percent stake to China Electric and relinquished chairmanship. China Electric will join GIO in LED lighting product R&D, but will not interfere with the company’s operations.

With poor tablet manufacturing prices this year, China Electric has slashed backlight application prices. The company has therefore temporarily ceased OEM for backlight applications due to low profitability, leading to a drop in operation revenue for the year. October consolidated revenue reached NT $207 million, a yearly decrease of 63.24 percent. Consolidated revenue for the first 10 months of 2013 was NT $2.77 billion, a yearly decrease of 53.24 percent.

China Electric’s lighting brand TOA is a conventional lighting leader in Taiwan.

China Electric Enters LED Lighting Field with Takeover of GIO Optoelectronics

Japanese Manufacturers Take the Lead in Global LED Industry’s Patent Battles

Large international brands including Nichia, Osram, and Toyoda Gosei have begun to work more closely together in exchanging authorized patents to increase market control, noted Fan Bing, technical director of the software and integrated circuit promotion center under China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT). Big brands patent partnership strategies aim to monopolize high-end technologies and markets, and to acquire higher profits before the semiconductor lighting market matures. At the same time, rapid technological advancements are also forcing companies to abandon solo tech developments and turn towards multilateral technological corporation.

Japanese manufacturers are way ahead of competition in LED lighting patent applications. Nine Japanese companies have become major patentee in the LED industry, with Samsung as the sole Korean patent holder. Japanese companies have absolute advantages in the semiconductor lighting field.

Out of the top 10 global LED patentees, the industry recognizes Toyoda Gosei and Nichia as main patent holders in core LED chip manufacturing technology, said Fan. While top three electronic and display manufacturers are Panasonic, Sharp and Samsung.

Usually, companies will apply for new technology patents in their own country. Since the Japanese companies are the major leaders in the semiconductor lighting industry, the country’s number of semiconductor lighting patent applications is far ahead of other countries.

In comparison, Chinese LED patents have mostly been in package applications, Fan noted. Package alone accounted for 42 percent, applications 41 percent, drivers nine percent, epitaxal wafer three percent, white light two percent, die two percent, and only one percent was for substrates.

LED patents first appeared in 1960s and the the number of semiconductor lighting patents applications exceeded 100 by late 1970s. The number of patent applications has been rapidly growing since 2000. The increase of patents was mostly caused by soaring global high-power LED market since 2002, which achieved historical highs, Fan analyzed. The growth of high-power LEDs has been mostly driven by smartphone backlight applications that use GaN based white LEDs.

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The major three global LED camps

Fan pointed out the global LED industry is currently split into three major camps—Japanese, Europe and U.S. manufacturers are in the first camp, followed by Taiwanese and Korean manufacturers in the second camp, and Chinese manufacturers in the third camp.

Japanese and European manufacturers in the first camp including Nichia, Toyoda Gosei, Cree, Osram and Philips Lumileds possess patent advantages in core technologies. These manufacturers have been developing general lighting, automotive lighting and other applications for many years.

Taiwanese manufacturers in the second camp have massive chip production and package capacity. Korean manufacturers have relied on large enterprise strategies to vertically integrate consumer electronics to become the late rising star in semiconductor lighting. Korean companies have been growing at a very fast rate.

In the last camp, Chinese LED industry size has been expanding very quickly. There have been more than 5,000 Chinese semiconductor lighting companies at the end of 2010. Out of these, more than 1,000 are mid to large sized companies, and there are more than 20 listed companies. The industry market value has reached RMB 120 billion (US$ 1.97 billion). Chinese manufacturers have taken more than 60 percent of global LED lighting application share, with output value exceeding RMB 19 billion.

China has become the global manufacturer for functional LED lighting and landscape lighting. However, Chinese LED manufacturers tend to be small, and there are serious issues in low quality and overlapping markets. Breakthroughs are still required in Chinese manufacturers core technologies, improvements are also required in standards, testing, and recognition systems. Services to support the structure is still incomplete.

Japanese Manufacturers Take the Lead in Global LED Industry’s Patent Battles

Top-10 vendors to occupy 69% of 2013 global LED lighting sales, says PIDA

The 10 largest vendors will together account for 69% of global LED lighting product sales in 2013, according to Taiwan’s Photonics Industry & Technology Development Association (PIDA).

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The 10 largest vendors and respective global shares are Philips 20%, Osram 15%, Panasonic 8%, Toshiba 7%, Cree 4%, Endo 4%, Zumtobel 3%, Koizumi 3%, Iris Ohyama 3% and Sharp 2%, PIDA indicated.

According to LEDinside, global LED lighting production value in 2014 will reach US$17.8 billion and corresponding shipments will increase 68% on year to 1.32 billion units. On-year growth in LED lighting sales volume in 2014 will be 72% in the North America market, 64% in Latin America, 69% in Europe and 86% in China, LEDinside said.

Top-10 vendors to occupy 69% of 2013 global LED lighting sales, says PIDA

LED bulb average prices in Japan fall in October

Average retail prices for LED light bulbs equivalent to 40W and 60W incandescent ones in the Japan market stood at JPY1,717 (US$17.2) and JPY2,468 respectively in October, slipping on month by 3.2% and 3.7% respectively, according to Digitimes Research.
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October average retail prices for 40W- and 60W-equivalent LED light bulbs in other markets are as follows: US$21.40 (up 1.9% on month) and US$24 (down 10.1%) in the US; EUR14 (US$18.70, down 3.4%) and EUR17.60 (down 0.6%) in Europe; KRW15,157 (US$14.1, up 3.1%) and KRW15,685 (up 5%) in Korea, Digitimes Research indicated.

In the China market, October average retail price for 7W LED light bulbs stood at CNY43.8 (US$7.2, up 1.9%) and CNY55.4 (down 0.4%) for 9W ones.

LG 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and Samsung 60W-equivalent models for sale in the US market had the highest average lumen-price ratio of 77.6lm/US$ and 72.7lm/US$ respectively in October. In terms of luminous efficiency, Sharp 40W-equivalent LED light bulbs and Toshiba 60W-equivalent models available in the Japan market had the highest average level of 75

LED bulb average prices in Japan fall in October

Thomas Research and Lynk Labs" Strategic partnership - New LED and SSL funding, LED manufacturing

An AC-LED partnership between Lynk Labs and Thomas Research Products; funding announcements from Ledzworld, EcoSense, and Once Innovations; and new large-diameter patterned sapphire substrates from Rubicon top the recent SSL news space.

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Thomas Research and Lynk Labs announced a partnership that will yield cobranded AC-LED products including chip-on-board (COB) LEDs and modules, and perhaps discrete AC-driver products. Rubicon is now making patterned sapphire substrates available to LED manufacturers in large diameters. Several LED and solid-state lighting (SSL) companies have announced new investment financing including Ledzworld, EcoSense, and Once Innovations.

Strategic partnership

The partnership announcement between Lynk Labs and Thomas Research Products is a bit tough to decipher although the duo defined it as a strategic relationship. Lynk Labs is a manufacturer of LED light engines using AC-driver technology, while Thomas manufactures modular AC-DC drivers for luminaires. Both do sell to luminaire makers, although there is little synergy between the existing product lines of each company.

Lynk Labs, however, said that Thomas can help Lynk reach a broader audience with AC-LED technology just as the SSL industry is increasingly receptive to the AC technology. “Not only is AC LED now an established market segment, but one seeing rapid and substantial growth,” said Chick Huber, Lynk Labs vice president of business development. “We’re excited that this new partnership brings TRP’s manufacturing strength and broad distribution reach to our AC-LED offering.”

The announcement did specifically mention COB LEDs — an increasingly popular technology for SSL manufacturers that allows development of a lamp or luminaire using a single source. Presumably, you could integrate the AC-driver technology, which is much simpler than an AC-DC driver, directly on the COB substrate. But the partners didn’t provide any such detail.

We’d suspect that the partnership might ultimately make Lynk’s AC-driver intellectual property (IP) available in some form, an IC or a module, independent of the LED light engine. That’s a growing trend with Texas Instruments most recently announcing an AC driver IC. Such a product would be a natural addition to the Thomas portfolio. But Lynk CEO Mike Miskin would not confirm any such plans.

Miskin did comment on the growing popularity of AC-driver technology and its evolution in the SSL space, saying it’s quickly becoming a mainstream technology. “AC-LED circuits can be looked at like an enabling IP,” sadi Miskin. “Like phosphor-enabled white light, AC-LED circuits enable AC-LED products up the food chain from the circuit level [including] chips, COBs, packages, drive methods, systems, and end product. Lynk has created IP vertically in all these areas.”

New LED and SSL funding

We have had a bit of a rush of new funding announcements. Ledzworld, an LED manufacturer located in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, announced $5 million in new funding from its existing private shareholders. The company also announced the appointment of Ken Chakravarti as CEO.

“This new round of funding will enable us to meet the rapidly growing demand for our industry-leading products from an ever-expanding customer base across the globe and build up the necessary scale to remain competitive in this fast evolving market,” said Chakravarti. “With this latest capital commitment, our shareholders have signaled their readiness to support the company in reaching the next level and have given Ledzworld the means to determine its own strategic path towards that point. This path could include forging partnerships with industry players to even more firmly secure our leading position in the premium segment of the LED lighting market.”

EcoSense Lighting, an SSL manufacture based in New York, NY, announced a $15 million funding round led by Flagship Ventures and Bain Capital Ventures. “We are impressed with the contributions EcoSense is making to the evolving LED market,” said Ed Kania, managing partner and chairman of Flagship Ventures. “EcoSense has a strong leadership team and a compelling strategy. We are eager to support their aggressive growth efforts.”

Once Innovations announced a $5.3 million funding round led by New Fashion Pork, the Ag Ventures Alliance, and Lateral Capital. A couple of those names aren’t as well known in the high-tech financing world but speak to the broad applicability of LED lighting and the mission of Once. The Plymouth, Minnesota company specializes in lighting that can increase production in a scenario such as pig farming, enhancing the environment for the stock.

“The Once team is working on the frontiers of science, in areas never researched before,” said Zdenko Grajcar, CEO of Once. “We are working on new concepts and technologies which significantly depart from mainstream, orthodox theories. We are discovering new, essential roles animal-specific lighting plays in every animal’s life. We are discovering that lighting can not only impact, but it can actually direct animal growth and development. We are developing technologies which can help a growing world produce more food at lower costs.”

LED manufacturing

In closing we will move to the LED manufacturing space. Many LED manufacturers have moved to patterned sapphire substrates (PSS) in LED manufacturing because the patterning enhances light extraction. The largest LED manufacturers have developed their own substrate technology. But Rubicon is a commercial supplier of substrates and now will offer larger 6- and 8-in. PSS wafers to large and small LED makers.

“As LED-based general lighting gains worldwide adoption, large-diameter patterned sapphire substrates will become necessary to meet the demands of the rapidly growing lighting market,” said Raja Parvez, president and CEO of Rubicon Technology. “Rubicon has developed an unmatched technology platform that is vertically integrated from raw material through crystal growth, large-diameter polished wafers, and now custom PSS in 4-, 6-, and 8-in. diameters. Our vertical integration enables Rubicon to produce progressively larger sapphire products while providing customers with exceptional quality, cost control, reliability, and consistency.”

Thomas Research and Lynk Labs" Strategic partnership - New LED and SSL funding, LED manufacturing

China Mainland LED enterprises coming to Taiwan for talent hunting - Taiwan enterprises may face talent shortage

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The LED factory San’an of the mainland poached the employees of the leading LED factory Epistar in Taiwan three years ago. This serious event of brain drain is called the “108 Heroes” event in the LED industry. Mainland enterprises coming to Taiwan for talent hunting are continuously increasing. Taiwan is only a small part of the “Ten Thousand People Plan” made by the mainland for overseas talent hunting.

When mainland enterprises are enhancing their science and technology competitiveness relying on overseas talents, the Taiwan science and technology industry is confined by problems of expensing employee bonus, taxing stock bonus according to the market price, etc., which make many employees of this industry question how can bosses of Taiwan enterprises keep their employees and their wages?

The “108 Heroes” event of the Epistar is only an epitome of the competition threat that the Taiwan science and technology industry are facing. In the LED industry, brain drain not only exists in Epistar. In fact, mainland enterprises also poached employees of the upstream epitaxial factory, midstream packaging factory and downstream lighting module factory. Compared to the matter that foreign merchants established R&D center in Taiwan in the past, the mainland enterprise poaching storm arouses more concern, because the concept “If you do not go to the west now, the situation will be worse in the future” has already germinated in the Taiwan science and technology industry.

When the board of shareholders of Forepi became the first LED factory attracting mainland capital by agreeing to releasing some shares to their mainland competitor San’an, Jian Fengren, chairman of the board of Forepi, said “They have large amount of capital. To gain a chance of survival, we’d better cooperate with them instead of competing with them.” Lin Xiucheng, chairman of the board of San’an, also came to Taiwan and promised to the talents “I will make you happy.”

Taiwan enterprises are internationally developing, so are the talents. Policies can confine enterprises, but not the talents and wages. The tragedy of brain drain happened to the Taiwan science and technology enterprises originated from the so called science and technology start-ups which have become the targets of the hatred toward the rich created by ideology.

The development plan of emerging industry of the mainland listed the science and technology industry as the key plan of the Eleventh Five Year Plan and the Twelfth Five Year Plan, implemented the “thousand people plan” from year 2008 to year 2011, and encouraged mainland science and technology enterprises to hunt talents overseas, so as to enhance competitiveness of mainland-funded enterprises on the international stage.

Mainland enterprises spent large amount of money on borrowing overseas talents, including the mainland mobile phone factory Xiaomi, which has recently spent large amount of money on poaching Hugo Barra, vice director of Android product marketing of the American enterprise Google. It’s not strange that nowadays working in the mainland is no longer betrayal but a springboard to the international stage in the eyes of employees of Taiwan science and technology factories.

But Taiwan once viewed the science and technology start-ups as an unreasonable well paid group in a long time, and thus implemented measures such as expensing employee bonus, taxing stock bonus according to the market price. For international science and technology enterprises in great favor of keeping talents by bonus system, “low wage system” is the fatal factor for keeping talents.

The “Ten Thousand People Plan” of the mainland has been implemented for only a year. The concept “Go now, or the situation will be worse” is being hotly discussed in the science and technology industry. How many Taiwan science and technology enterprises will encounter brain drain after this spring festival? What else contribution can the policy “keep but not attack” of the Taiwan government make to enhancing international competitiveness of Taiwan enterprises?

China Mainland LED enterprises coming to Taiwan for talent hunting - Taiwan enterprises may face talent shortage

Taiwan IC vendors to count on smartphone, tablet and LED lighting segments in 2014

Taiwan-based IC design houses will target the smartphone, tablet and LED lighting sectors in order to ramp up their sales and earnings in 2014, according to industry observers.

Taiwan IC vendors to count on smartphone, tablet and LED lighting segments in 2014[/caption]

The performance of most IC vendors has been better than expected in the fourth quarter of 2013 so far, and the current wave of sales momentum is likely to continue in 2014 based on the industry’s previous experience, commented the observers.

Those IC design houses which have been cooperating with MediaTek are set to enjoy continued brisk sales in 2014 as MediaTek is expected to be able to continue boosting its share in the smartphone solution markets in China and other emerging markets in 2014, said the sources, adding that MediaTek has taken over 50% of these markets in 2013.

Taiwan-based IC design houses will also manage to ramp up shipments of their Wi-Fi chips, ambient light and proximity sensors, power management ICs, LCD driver ICs and touchscreen controller ICs to the white-box tablet sector in 2014, noted the sources, adding that tablet sales in China and other emerging markets combined are expected to reach 180-200 million units in the coming year, estimated the sources.

LED driver IC suppliers including On-Bright Electronics, Macroblock and Silergy, as well as analog IC vendors Richtek Technology, Global Mixed-mode Technology (GMT) and Leadtrend Technology will focus on boosting sales of their LED driver ICs to China, where the LED lighting industry will continue to grow robustly in 2014, commented the sources.

Taiwan IC vendors to count on smartphone, tablet and LED lighting segments in 2014

Leotek introduce its first color tunable LED bulb

Leotek-introduce-its-first-color-tunable-LED-bulb[/caption]

Leotek announced the debut of its first color tunable LED bulb and entry into the residential lighting market on Nov. 6. The tunable LED bulb comes with a special patent that allows it to be switched to warm white light within one second. (I think there is a build in color temperature control).

Leotek, a subsidiary of LiteOn Technology Corp., has officially announced the debut of its first color tunable LED bulb and entry into the residential lighting market on Nov. 6. The bulb comes with a special patent that allows it to be switched to warm white light within one second. Leotek has taken its past 20 year experience in making good quality foreign outdoor lighting products to the indoor lighting market, said Danny Liao, CEO of New Business Development at Leotek. The new color tunable bulbs have already been distributed in Taiwan, and are expected to enter the Chinese bulb market in early 2014. The company aims to grab a 10 percent market share in the Taiwan market in 2014, and aims to acquire 30 percent market share in Taiwan and China in the next three years.

Speaking about Leotek’s return to Taiwan and entry into the indoor lighting market, Liao pointed out the Taiwanese bulb market is quickly growing. Taiwan’s bulb market is estimated to reach 4 million by 2014, and Leotek aims to take a 10 percent share of the Taiwan bulb market. In early 2014, Leotek will also be entering China’s market. The company’s goal is to acquire 30 percent market share in Taiwan and China.

Leotek’s color tunable LED bulb uses a special heat dissipation channel design to ensure hot air will not accumulate. In addition, the bulb meets the two year lifespan guarantee, and meets IEC standards for 320 degree omnidirectional lighting. The most special feature of the bulb is its patented mechanical rotational structure that allows the bulb to switch to warm white light within one second. At the same time, the LED bulb received CNS 15436 LED bulb safety and IEC 62471 photobiological safety recognition.

The color tunable LED bulb comes in 10 and 13 watt specs, with 810 and 1055 lumens respectively. The white color LED has a Correlated Color Temperature (CCT) is 5000K, while warm light is 3000K. The LED chips used are 12 and 16 respectively with 3030 LED specs.

Compared to other companies color tunable LED bulbs, most bulbs sold on the market add in a control chip for color tuning. However, Leotek’s LED uses a mechanical rotation design, and coats phosphor on top of the light guide plate. The bulbs color can be changed manually by rotation.

Another less common design seen on the market adopted by Leotek has been the introduction of light guide plate materials into LED bulb design. The light guide plate can help the bulb achieve uniform lighting. To solve LED bulb heat dissipation issues, the Leotek bulb has added a special channel design that ensures hot air does not accumulate. Heat dissipation glue has also been injected into the light module to improve the overall LED bulb heat dissipation effect.

Leotek was founded in 1992 and has 20 years of business operation in the U.S. market. The company has managed commercial lighting market including streetlights, traffic signs, gas stations, refrigerators, display designs, and commercial signs. Leotek has even installed in Canada, the first road with streetlights in the world. The company currently has a 30 percent market share in North America street lights, and has a nearly 100% market share in the San Francisco traffic light market.

About Leotek

Leotek-logo[/caption]

Leotek Electronics USA Corp., located in California’s Silicon Valley since 1997, and celebrating over twenty years as an LED lighting manufacturer, is globally recognized as a pioneer in light-emitting diode technology. With millions of LED products installed worldwide, Leotek offers a substantial history of proven performance. The company manufactures innovative LED lighting products for applications encompassing traffic and transit; street and area; petroleum, convenience, grocery and retail stores.

Leotek introduce its first color tunable LED bulb

LED Display Industry"s Transforming Business Models in Turbulent Times

Allen Xu, LEDinside analyst in Shanghai, talks about Chinese LED display manufacturers shift into the media sector in this article. Xu gives insights about the pros and cons for manufacturers transiting into the media sector.

After a decade of development, the LED display industry is entering a phase of large scale restructure. In July 2013, Shenzhen Everlight Technology Co. became insolvent after reports revealed the company owed suppliers RMB millions. Another company Shenzhen Ten-Lighting Technology Co. also declared bankruptcy the following month after it maliciously defrauded suppliers RMB 80 million (US$ 13.13 million) and delayed salary payments to 220 employees for two months. By September Shenzhen Barck Technology Co. was mortgaged because of bad management. The industries restructure dates back to 2011, when Shenzhen Junduoli Industrial Co. and Shenzhen Bright Optoelectronics Science and Technology Co. announced insolvency and exited the market. By the end of 2012, ShenZhen Sinolight Optoelectronics Co., Topvision, HiboLED and Dongguan Jia Hao Optoelectronics Technology Co. all joined the wave of bankruptcy. This indicates the ongoing restructure of the LED display market.

Arrival of acquisition age amidst bankruptcy wave

From July-Sept., 2013, three merges occurred in the LED display industry including Jiangmen Keheng Industry Co. acquisition of 51 percent of Linkupper stock; Furi Electronics purchase of 93 percent of Shenzhen MR Photoelectricity Co. stocks (MR Photoelectricity); Hong Kong listed company Seamless Green China procurement of 51 percent of Shenzhen San Shen Gao Enterprises Co. stock. The bad market condition is causing the industry to enter over competition. Continual decline in industry profitability has led to the use of poor quality materials to guarantee profitability, which has in turn led to product quality issues. As a result, companies are unable to collect product revenue which has led to growing accounts receivable. The market demand is also lower than production capacity growth, which has led to rising company inventory. Cash flow risks mainly caused by lowered profitability, and increasing accounts receivable and inventory are contributing to a new wave of acquisitions.

Table 1: Lienteng Optoelectronic recent revenue situation

Source: Public information organized by LEDinside.

Lienteng Technology’s 2010 revenue reached RMB 45.48 million and operating profit was RMB 2.14 million. In 2011, the company’s revenue soared 129% compared to the previous year to RMB 104 million. However, operating profits was only up five percent to RMB 2.24 million, while gross profit declined 10 percent. By 2012, the company began to lose money with decreased net profit of RMB 16 million. The company losses continued throughout Jan.-May, 2013.

Table 2: MR Photoelectricity Co. financial performance in recent years (Unit: RMB 100 million)

Source: public information organized by LEDinside

In the first half of 2013, MR Photoelectricity’s revenue reached RMB 177 million, accounts receivable was about RMB 66 million and its inventory valued RMB 153 million. The high inventory levels took up most of the operating cash flow. In addition, as LED display features improve and prices fall, overtly high inventory levels contribute to higher depreciation risks. Rising accounts receivable is also aggravating the company’s cash flow tension situation.

Close observations of the 2011 LED bankruptcy wave reveal most companies shutdown due to disrupted capital flow. The cruel market condition has caused small-mid sized enterprises (SME) to use low pricing strategy to enter the market, or abnormally use goods on credit methods to expand product volume. All these factors will add onto the company’s operation risks.

Increasingly polarized developments, industry focuses on improvements

Although, 1H13 was marked by the wave of LED display SMEs bankruptcy and acquisitions, listed company financial performance continued to grow. Unilumin revenue from 1H13 grew nearly 30 percent, while Shenzhen AOTO net profit soared 54.8 percent. Large LED display component manufacturers targeting big manufacturers’ revenue continued to grow in 2013, such as Foshan Nationstar Optoelectronics Co. (Nationstar), Shenzhen Kinglight Optoelectronics Co. (Kinglight), and Shenzhen Lanke Electronics Co. (Lanke Electronics). Kinglight production capacity has reached 1,300 KK/month and has continued expanding its production.

In reality, on average upstream LED display chip suppliers’ sales performance dropped, such as HC Semitek Corp. and Hangzhou Silan Azuire Co. Although, the overall LED display market demands continued to grow, the total value has decreased due to lowered product prices. The industry/s current condition is either experiencing incremental growth or stagnant. Large manufacturers ability to maintain high profitability and sales growth under these market conditions proves the industry is becoming increasingly concentrated.

Table 3: Major LED display manufacturers profit situation in 1H13

Source: public information organized by LEDinside.

Post LED Display Era: Is media advertisment sector the next frontier?

In the face of faster LED display industry restructure, companies are starting to consider changing their LED supply chain business model to either horizontal or vertical integration to seek out new business opportunities. A classical horizontal supply chain transition example is Unilumin’s shift into LED lighting. In 1H13, the company’s LED lighting application revenue reached RMB 46.99 million. In addition, LED display manufacturers including Ledman Optoelectronics Co. and MR Photoelectricity have launched LED lighting products. However, LED lighting industry also faces intense competition, and huge investments are required during the initial phase to build company brand and distribution channels. LED display manufacturers do not have many competition advantages in the lighting field.

There are no advantages in horizontal integration developments. Vertical integration developments include media advertisement or new markets. In the media advertisement sector, companies with the large market shares include Phoenix Publishing and Media Inc., Tulip Media, Media AD Vision, and Focus Media Holding Inc. Although, the advertisement market is increasingly focused and entering a phase of gradual growth, the four large media companies do not have particularly large market shares. This provides potential opportunities for LED display manufacturers.

Moreover, prices have been forced down as media company expansions have led to tighter capital, and over competitiveness in the LED display industry. Many LED display manufacturers and media companies have no choice but to cooperate. LED manufacturers will usually invest in display production first, before using revenue from ads to compensate display costs or media companies will sell advertisement time to LED display manufacturers. These partnership models have transferred cost risks to LED display manufacturers. Therefore, LED display manufacturers might as well set up their own media company and manage their own media services. In fact, some Chinese LED display manufacturers have begun to take this path including Shenzhen Liantronics Co., Leyard, Elec-Tech International Co. (ETI), Ledman and Unilumin.

Table 4: Chinese LED display manufacturers that have already entered media sector

Source: Organized by LEDinside

LED outdoor display advertisement are very effective, but have limited coverage. Traditional media companies need to undergo industry integration, due to ad clients strong nationwide “simultaneous broadcast” demands. Conventional media have underwent industry integration including direct acquisition and agent models, but these require huge capital investments and are difficult to maintain in later phases. For instance, Focus Media Holding is trying to replicate the successful case of hallway advertisements, but due to finance pressure the progress of the whole plan has been average. While “DIY display models” display manufacturers can solve the above issues, and is a major advantage for LED display manufacturers entering the media market. In addition, media service profits are much higher than the display itself. LED display commercial broadcast prices are expected to increase at a rate of 5 to 10 percent per year, according to estimations by Guotai Junan Securities.

Liantronics transition into the media industry

The most typical case of LED display manufacturer turning to media industry has been Liantronics. The company announced in May 2012 that it will be using Shenzhen Liantronic Cultural Investment Co. (literal translation) as a platform to invest and establish Liantronic Cultural Inc. (literal translation). It appears that the company plans to use part of Liantronic advertisement and media clients to acquire 10 to 30 percent of LED display advertisement time in major Chinese cities to build a simultaneous outdoor LED display broadcasting network; and benefit from selling advertisement periods. One of Liantronic Cultural partners that have gained most attention has been Liang Qinjiang, the current China Advertisement Association Executive Director. Considering Liang’s position and influence, Liantronic might be able to try out the emerging LED display market.

Table 5: Liantronic and Phoenix Metropolis Media Display Distribution

Source: Liantronic website

Liantronic announced in mid 2013, that the company has already acquired the operation rights of 72 LED display locations, which is lower than the company’s original plan. However, the company has entered the top three spot for Chinese LED display advertisement operation. Currently there are two types of partnership models: the cooperating company buys display construction sites from Liantronic, and Liantronic Culture buys from the commercial client advertisement period at the cost price. Another model has been Liantronic Culture invests in the display, and the partner helps find a location. Liantronic Culture then takes a part of commercial time. In the two models, the partner covers electricity and venue rental costs, while Liantronic is responsible for the display’s maintenance and after sales services. The business is currently being managed by Liantronic’s chairman, and its sales team and sales strategy has gradually matured.

In addition, the company has proposed a “1,000 display cooperation plan”, which aims to establish 1,000 outdoor LED displays in 300 cities in China. This will become the company’s new business highlight and growth drive. However, there are still risks involved in the company’s expansion into the outdoor advertisement media. When cooperating with media companies, in general most media will not change advertisements in good locations, and are more inclined to swap commercial ads in remote areas. If these sites have low profitability than initial investments cannot be recovered. Liantronic’s advantages lies in it has been a leader in China’s LED display industry, and has through understanding of downstream advertisement media and management. By exploring second and third tier cities commercial ad markets and combining Liantronic Culture’s advantages, the company is likely to succeed in its transition into the field of outdoor LED display media.

In the face of intense industry competition, restructure of the LED display industry is inevitable and increasingly faster. In the short term, LED display industry still faces cutthroat market competition hence LED display manufacturers must search for new profit markets. The advertisement media field might be a new market for LED display manufacturers.

LED Display Industry"s Transforming Business Models in Turbulent Times

GTAT Optimistic About Drive in ASF Demands By Non-LED Applications

LED-Sapphire-Products

The imbalance in substrate supply and demand is being overcome by increased demands in LED lighting applications and strong demands for non-LED applications. GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) is optimistic about the rapid growth in smartphone demands for sapphire substrates. As a result, the company’s Advanced Sapphire Furnace (ASF) might grow and expand production capacity in the future.

Following the usage of sapphire substrate in smartphone applications by Apple and LG, sapphire substrate face supply shortages in high end application. According to sapphire substrate company Monocrystal, sapphire substrate for high-end applications is facing a supply shortage of 20 to 30 percent and the rise in use of sapphire substrate outside of LEDs provides price increase opportunities. GTAT is also optimistic about sapphire substrate demand growth in non-LED applications and estimates proportion of smartphone usage in sapphire substrate production capacity to slowly increase.

GTAT predicts that sapphire substrate will be one of the growing markets in 2014. ASF currently produces 115 kg of the world’s sapphire. In regards to demand for LED and optical application, production capacity is already enough but sapphire substrate in non-LED applications including smartphone camera lens caps and home button covers, as well as the possible usage in smartphone displays by the end of 2014, demand for sapphire substrate is expected to rapidly increase. The company plans to increase sapphire furnace production to 200 kg. GTAT emphasized equipment purchased by clients can be directly upgraded, and thus reduce costs for clients as they do not need to purchase new equipments.

About GTAT

GTAT-GT Advanced Technologies-logo

GT Advanced Technologies is a diversified technology company with innovative crystal growth equipment and solutions for the global solar, LED and electronics industries. Its market leadership is based on a history of delivering innovative products that provide sustained value to our customers by lowering the cost of manufacturing and improving operational efficiency.

GTAT Optimistic About Drive in ASF Demands By Non-LED Applications

Edison Opto Presents New High Voltage LEDs and Concept Modules at Hong Kong International Lighting Fair

The Taiwanese leading lighting manufacturer in LED market, Edison Opto, will participate in the attention-getting lighting event – Hong Kong International Lighting Fair and showcase their latest LED products which include PLCC 5630 HV Series, EdiPower II HM (COB) Series and multifunctional AR111 module.

Edison-new-high-voltage-LEDs-and-concept-modules

The Hong Kong International Lighting Fair (Autumn Edition) will gather more than two thousand exhibitors around the world to present the latest lighting products and industry updates. To answer this high profile lighting event, Edison Opto will introduce a series of new products. For example, PLCC 5630 high voltage (HV series) components, which attracted customers’ attention in 2013 Guangzhou International Lighting Exhibition, can decrease the complexity of circuit and mechanical design with 24V operating voltage. In addition, the compact sizes of PLCC 5630 HV series facilitate the optical and package design so that the volume and cost of luminaires can be dramatically reduced. At present, cool white and warm white are available, and the CRI of all series components are higher than 80. The PLCC 5630 HV series can be applied in LED light bulb and tube light as the light sources of residential lighting, commercial lighting and office lighting.

In addition, Edison Opto has been researching and developing COB products for seven years. Among Edison Opto’s COB products, EdiPower II HM series has extended from 5W to 40W for different applications. Furthermore, EdiPower II HM series is based on the mirror-like MCPCB which features excellent reflectivity (up to 98%). And that means the luminous efficacy of components can be increased by 10% to 30% compared with the conventional anodized versions. Under 1080mA, the HM series can reach 5190lm in cool white (equivalent to 130lm/W). Due to the substrate structure design, EdiPower II HM series can free from sulfuration and perform a better reliability in product usage. The CRI of HM series are higher than 80 (parts of the series have reach 90). The high performance HM series can be applied in many fields such as LEDs light bulb, down lights, track lights, residential lighting and commercial lighting fixtures.

In addition to the component development, Edison Opto also makes efforts in optical and module design. Recently, Edison Opto has introduced a multifunctional AR111 module, which using Edison Opto’s high uniformity collimated system and high efficacy COB LED (EdiPower HM). By integrating the advanced lens and reflector design, the AR111 module can provide superior light quality (with beam angle

Edison Opto will be exhibiting at 2013 Hong Kong International Lighting Fair from 27 October to 30 October, 2013, in Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. To answer this high profile lighting event, a brilliant stand dedicated to LED lighting technology and unique LDMS lighting design solution service will be constructed to exhibit an astonishing array of power LEDs and SSL (solid state lighting) applications. Please come to visit us at booth 5C-C02 in Hall 5, and experience the latest developments in LED lighting technologies.

About Edison Opto:

Edison-Opto_logo

Edison Opto Corporation (Traditional Chinese:艾笛森光電股份有限公司; pinyin:Ai Di Sen Guang Dian) is a Taipei, Taiwan based global leading high power LED manufacturer, established in October, 2001. Edison Opto Corporation is principally engaged in the research, manufacture and distribution of high power light emitting diodes (LEDs). Edison Opto’s major products include high power LED components and modules, applied to lighting equipment, such as portable products lighting, special lighting, building lighting, commercial lighting and outdoor lighting; Datalink, used as digital music and signal transmission interface for acoustic systems, mobile phones and personal computers (PC) mainboards, and opto sensors, applied for digital cameras and personal digital assistants (PDAs), among others. In 2011, Edison Opto created the LDMS service program, which integrates the four essential technologies in LED lighting applications (Thermal Management, Electrical Scheme, Mechanical Refinement and Optical Optimization).In aspect of quality policy, Edison Opto established a photometric testing laboratory which was certified by UL as a LM80 approved and product safety testing laboratory.

Edison Opto has established the headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan since 2001. Edison Opto is specialized in designing and producing High-power LEDs. In order to satisfy customers’ high standard requests for quality, Edison Opto established a LM80 approved laboratory which is certified by Underwriters Laboratories (UL). Edison Opto creates the LDMS service program which can provide customized professional design and production services. Edison Opto has established factories in Dongguan and Yangzhou. Besides, in order to expand the service domain, Edison Opto has established subsidiaries in USA and Germany. Edison Opto provides customers with complete product support and prompt delivery services.

More Information about the company and our products can be found at www.edison-opto.com

Edison Opto Presents New High Voltage LEDs and Concept Modules at Hong Kong International Lighting Fair

Seoul Semiconductor focus shift on 3030 LED

Seoul-Semiconductor-5630-LED-and-3030-LED

For the past three years, Seoul Semiconductor’s main product had been the mid-powered 5630. However, the company has recently turned its attention towards 3030 LED in 2013, to compete with Nichia’s better price/performance (P/P) 767 series on the market, said Scarphen Sun, Principal Engineer for Korean LED package manufacturer Seoul Semiconductor at the company’s LED Lighting Application Seminar on October 22nd.

For the first time ever, mid-powered LEDs have surpassed high-powered LEDs this year in total production value, showing wide usage of mid-powered LEDs. Though 3030 LED was well received from the market, Nichia’s 757 LED received a much higher evaluation. Seoul Semiconductor and Taiwan manufacturer Lextar therefore launched 3030 LED products in hope to counter the 757 series by Nichia.

Seoul Semiconductor is the first manufacturer to release the 5640 package LED, pointed out Sun. Three years has passed since then and the company is now turning towards 3030 package LED in 2013. The luminosity of the 3030 LED products is higher than that of the 5530 spec and production costs for the 3030 is also lower than the 5630.

Aside from high P/P, Seoul Semiconductor’s 3030 packaged LED also gives clients more room for design due to the reduced package size. Compared with Nichia’s 757 series, chip temperature in the 3030 is lower than the 757 series by three degrees when the driver reaches 1w showing better heat dissipation performance.

The 3030 package LEDs have already entered U.S. lighting manufacturer TCP’s supply chain, which is one of Nichia’s biggest clients for the 757 series.

About Seoul Semiconductor

Seoul-Semiconductor-logo

Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd is a Korean company manufacturing LED devices. The company is listed on KOSDAQ. The company is producing LED packages in two plants in Ansan, Korea. The total production capacity is 4 billion LED packages per month.[2]Seoul Semiconductor has invested over 10% of sales revenue in R&D as a global LED manufacturer focusing on technology. In particular, the company owns the world’s leading a wide range of LED technology and production capacity in areas, such “nPola”, “Acrich” and deep UV LEDs, the world’s first commercially-produced AC LED.

About Nichia

Nichia-logo

Nichia is a Japanese chemical engineering and manufacturing company, headquartered in Tokushima, Japan with global subsidiaries, that specializes in the manufacturing and distribution of phosphors, including light-emitting diodes (LEDs), laser diodes, battery materials, and calcium chloride. The Nichia Corporation comprises two divisions-Division 1, responsible for phosphors and other chemicals, and Division 2, responsible for LEDs. Headquartered in Tokushima, Japan, Nichia is the world’s largest supplier of LEDs. It designs, manufactures, and markets LEDs for display, LCD backlighting, automotive and general lighting applications with the broadest product portfolio across the entire visible spectrum. With 6,600 employees and multiple subsidiaries worldwide, Nichia achieved sales of approximately US$2.3 billion in 2007.

Seoul Semiconductor focus shift on 3030 LED

Philips Lumileds Boosts Efficiency and Lumen Density of Luxeon CoB Arrays

Philips-LumiLEDs-logo

Philips Lumileds CoB LED arrays reportedly increased their maximum efficacy from 118 lumens per watt to 130 lm/W. In warm white, the 9 mm array delivers 2200 lm at 100 lm/W and the cool white array delivers 2500 lm at 105 lm/W. The arrays have a light-emitting surface of 9mm square, 13 mm square or 15 mm square. The company contends that these options allow designers to use less expensive optical solutions for ultra-compact luminaires with high center beam candle power.

Philips Lumileds also asserts that the metal-core printed circuit board of the Luxeon CoB substrate provides 4X better heat transfer than competitive solutions. This reportedly translates to up to 40% smaller heat sinks or improved reliability of the lighting system when a larger heat sink is used.

“With the recent improvements in performance, Luxeon CoB is an even better option for a number of general lighting solutions including outdoor, industrial, retrofit lamps, and of course, spotlights and downlights,” said Senders. “Our 90 CRI versions have a typical CRI of 97, which makes them perfect for high Quality of Light applications. Lumen packages are available with CCTs of 2700 to 5700K and CRIs of 70, 80 or 90.”

Philips Lumileds Boosts Efficiency and Lumen Density of Luxeon CoB Arrays