Taiwan

Taiwan LED chipmaker Arima Opto stresses financial health

sarafan — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:35:43 +0000

It's reported Taiwan-based LED chipmaker Arima Optoelectronics has stressed that its finances and operations remain healthy despite heavy losses in 1Q.

The company saw its June sales drop 59% on year to NT$104 million, with a net loss of NT$82 million for the month. It posted net losses of NT$124 million for the first quarter of 2008. It attributed the poor results to the spinning off its laser diode business last August, and fierce pricing amid weak demand.

The company expects orders for July and August to stay flat compared to June, and growth for the third quarter will not be as strong as the growth it had during the high season in the past, through restructuring and personnel downsizing, it expects to put losses under control in the second half of the year.

Cree expects the production costs of LED lighting to drop fast

sarafan — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 08:28:43 +0000

Cree expects LED lighting production costs to drop fast, coming close to the levels of fluorescent lamps by 2012. XLamp MC-E has been widely adopted by clients for commercial lighting, flash lights, street lamps and others.Cree showcased its XLamp MC-E LED lighting solution at a demonstration it jointly arranged in Taipei with IC distributor WP Industrial (WPI), a subsidiary of WPG Holdings. WPI displayed driver ICs and related solutions for LED lighting. Cree mentioned, the XLamp MC-E LED is a lighting-class multi-chip LED that provides four times the flux as XLamp XR-E in the same footprint, without compromising thermal performance. XLamp MC-E reduces LED system cost by reducing system complexity and the number of components required.

High Power Lighting: LED lighting market boost in 2010

sarafan — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 05:45:26 +0000

According to High Power executive, Charles Wei, president of Taiwan-based High Power Lighting, LED lighting will see explosive growth in 2010 when production costs are expected to halve compared to present levels, which focuses on high power LED design, packaging and module manufacturing.

He said LED lighting, with its high production costs at US$20 per 1,000 lm/w, is currently much less competitive than incandescent of fluorescent lamps. Production costs are about US$0.3 per 1,000 lm/w for tungsten lamps and about US$0.6 per 1,000 lm/w for fluorescent lamps, he added. Although many countries are trying to set timeframes for imposing a ban on incandescent light bulbs, LEDs will not be the only lighting alternative. But with LED technology improving, production costs will fall to US$10 per 1,000 lm/w by 2010, making it more competitive and triggering an explosive growth in demand, he commented.

SemiTech announce 3 wires RGBW LED PWM driver IC「DJ5111」and constant current driver IC「DJ5091」

ivan — Fri, 09 May 2008 10:04:37 +0000

Semisilicon Technology Corp. announce two 3 wires full color LED driver IC, One is 3 wires RGBW LED PWM driver IC，Part number is「DJ5111」.The other is 3 wires RGB LED constant current driver IC，Part number is「DJ5091」.

Except resolution of each color and drive LED output form are different between these two parts. They are major used on series LED cluster string to control color changing. Best advantage is reducing the wires usage. Reduce one or two wires from traditional application to single wire. Not only reduce the cost as well as easy to connect. Storage color pattern and transmit data by simple MCU, easy programming and maintenance. Besides the data series transmission also we can cascade the power to operate to obtain power saving. These techniques get lots of patent in many countries also.

DJ5111 is PWM output suitable use on high voltage clusters application, like light string of sign, building outline string, light bar etc..

DJ5091 is constant current level output suitable use on single RGB LED application, like single RGB LED cluster light string, Christmas light string etc..

Intematix Introduces Complete Line of Patented Chip on Ceramic LEDs and LED Arrays

Emma — Fri, 09 May 2008 09:30:44 +0000

Intematix Corp., a leading innovator in materials, phosphors, LED lighting components and integration services, today announced a broad expansion of its product offerings with the introduction of a complete line of patented "chip on ceramic" LEDs and LED arrays.

Available through its subsidiary, Intematix Technology Center (ITC) of Yang Mei, Taiwan, the new line of solid state lighting components leverages Intematix' recognized expertise in phosphor and material development to offer solid state lighting manufacturers and integrators reliable, high-efficiency LED components across a full range of color temperatures. Typical performance from an 8000K cool white production device is 80 lumens/watt, while warm white 3300K devices are delivering 70 lumens/watt from the packaged 1 watt devices.

Acquired in June 2007 ITC initially provided marketing and integration support for Intematix phosphors and other key components, including chips and silicones from strategic partners in the greater China market. With direct access to critical components, the center has provided LED packagers with the full compliment of materials necessary for rapid prototyping and deployment of any phosphor-based solid state lighting solution. Since that time, ITC has rapidly expanded its full service integration and production capabilities, and is now in volume production with a range of chip-on-ceramic and integrated light engines/modules to support the needs of solid state lighting system providers.

"There are hundreds luminaire manufacturers, from Tier I down, that are looking for both single-chip LEDs and arrays that can be specifically tailored to their fixtures and applications," says Intematix' Director of Lighting Business Development, Ilkan Cokgor. "These new patent-backed product lines successfully leverage Intematix' knowledge of phosphors, packaging materials, optics, and thermal management to simplify those lighting manufacturer's designs and accelerate their time to market."

Solid state lighting (SSL) offers the promise of a high-quality light source combined with efficiency levels that will soon surpass fluorescent fixtures in terms of overall cost of ownership. All forms of efficient lighting are receiving increased attention as more nations make conservation policies a key priority. Solid state lighting provides additional benefits since LEDs are mercury-free, RoHS compliant and boast substantially increased lifetimes when properly designed and integrated.

The new ITC product lines designated Apus and Cetus, are available now in volume production quantities. The Apus line of single chip packages offers high efficiency in a compact point source that ranges from only 3mm to 5mm square in size. It typically delivers up to 80lm/W at 1W for 5500K cool white and 70lm/W at 1W for 3300K warm white. When making use of Intematix' new red phosphor technology, coloring rendering is typically greater than 90, even at these high efficiency levels. The chip-array-on-ceramic Cetus line is available in configurations from 4 to hundreds of chips in series or parallel, as well as series/parallel combinations.

"The Cetus employs a unique cavity design. Each cavity is connected through LTCC ceramic substrates, allowing ITC to create any desired array configuration and still deliver an illumination profile with a pleasant, smooth and natural looking light," said Mr. Harik Su, ITC’s Vice President of Engineering, and inventor of the unique packaging design. "These arrays really combine the features lighting companies are looking for which are ease of design, tight binning, robust thermal management and a simplified and scalable power and area design." The Cetus line can be directly driven at common DC and AC voltages.

New Ligitek facility to triple company's LED capacity and double its solar module capacity by 2009

Emma — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:37:10 +0000

LED packaging company Ligitek Electronics is building a new facility at Shulin Datong Technology Park with a total investment of over NT$1 billion (US$32.5 million), and the company expects the new facility to help increase its monthly capacity of SMD LEDs by three times, while doubling its solar module capacity.

Ligitek CEO Jackson Torng indicated that the company aims to increase its monthly SMD LED capacity from 20-30 million chips to 60-70 million chips by 2009, with production mainly targeting plat panel display applications and general lighting. The company has already started shipping small volumes of high-power LEDs to the China and Europe markets, Torng pointed out.

Ligitek's solar module production is done through its subsidiary, Ligitek Photovoltaic, in which Ligitiek recently increased its investment capital to NT$210 million. Ligitek is also hoping to bring in investment from Japan-based Marubeni, with the goal being that Marubeni take a 3-5% stake in Ligitek Photovoltaic.

Torng indicated that Ligitek Photovoltaic's annual capacity will expanded from 35MWp to 60~70 MWp by 2009.

The subsidiary will contribute more than NT$100 million to Ligitek's revenues in May, with the contribution even having a chance to surpass NT$200 million, amid strong current order visibility, Torng stated. Ligitek's total revenues for April were NT$151 million, up 60.7% from the same period last year, but down slightly from March 2008 revenues of NT$160 million. Torng indicated April revenues were affected by a shortage of material for its solar module business, though he added the company has secured sufficient supply for May.

LED market slow in 2Q08

Emma — Wed, 07 May 2008 05:18:46 +0000

The LED sector in Taiwan generally had weaker-than-expected sales in April despite players' optimism that orders would be picking up in the second quarter.

LED packagers Unity Opto Technology and Harvatek saw their April sales drop sequentially.

Unity said shipments of applications for LED backlighting dipped in April amid clients' inventory adjustments. The company's April revenues declined 4.6% sequentially to NT$292 million (US$9.58 million), which nevertheless represents a 24% on-year increase.

Unity said shipments to the LED backlighting segment will return to normal in May.

Harvatek's revenues for April dropped 6% sequentially to NT$282 million, with the company predicting limited revenue growth for the first half of 2008. With an order visibility of one to two months, Harvatek said the high season will not come until the third quarter.

While sales performance for the second quarter may not be weak, margins for the quarter will be able to stay at similar levels to those for the first quarter, the company said.

But LED chipmaker Formosa Epitaxy managed to see a 2.51% sequential growth in April revenues to NT$162 million, a company sales record. But the company pointed out that while the LED market saw better-than-expected demand in the first quarter, growth in the second quarter has been slow.

Epistar conservative about 2008 penetration rate of LED backlighting in notebook applications

Emma — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 06:39:06 +0000

Lei Yueh LED Belt Light attracts prestigious international iF awards

ivan — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:59:10 +0000

Taiwan LED Maker Lei Yueh'sLED Belt Light receives the prestigious 2008 iF Product Design Award. The international IF Awards, which are awarded to products on their design based on many criteria, highlights and recognizes the outstanding solution from Lei Yueh LED Belt Light, for 2008. The iF Product Design Award is given to select from total number of 2,771 product entries from 35 different countries this year.

The awarded LED Belt Light which is obtains a patent for its unique waterproof structure design. This unique structure can fully seal up the chinks between fixture and power cord and it provides a water-tight protection which enables the fixture to place at an underwater environment. It is made by flexible strip material to provide designer to curve the shape easily and achieve the design of roadway any other underwater indirect lighting.

CES: LCD Monitor with LED Backlight will be new star this year

ivan — Thu, 10 Jan 2008 04:47:41 +0000

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) show, a lot of product launched withLED backlight technology, which is energy saving and better color capacity.

LED backlight technology-based LCD screen will be will be new focus product this year, the future desktop computer screen will be lighter, thinner and more energy-efficient.

ViewSonic introduce 22-inch LCD screen VLED221wm at the CES, it offers consumers high-quality color reproduction to display 118 percent of the color gamut based on the National Television System Committee (NTSC) guidelines. In comparison, most CRT and LCD monitors on the market today only display 70 to 80 percent of the NTSC’s range of colors.

This allows graphic designers to more accurately match colors to printed materials, and gives photographers and video editors access to a broader color spectrum. The VLED221wm is ideal for high-end design applications such as CAD/CAM, desktop publishing and moving production, which must achieve the highest level of color performance.

The stylish, glossy black display supports a native 1680x1050 resolution, boasts a 5ms response time and features an industry-leading dynamic contrast ratio of 12000:1 (typ), making it the ultimate monitor for life-like high-definition content. The display is equipped with dual analog and digital inputs and integrated stereo speakers to connect seamlessly with other professional systems such as sound boards.

ViewSonic's VLED221wm listed in the United States, with the price will be slightly higher than Size 22-inch products.

Chi Mei also plans offer 22-inch or 24-inch widescreen LCD Panel with LED Backlight technology in 2008 Q3 ~ 2008 Q4.

Samsung has been using LED backlight technology on new LCD Monotir FL20.

LED backlight technology is mercury-free, and the LCD screen than the average lamp to 40% lower power environmental protection, Gamut performance than ordinary lamp technology to better screen performance, but also because of screen contrast used by the LED light source single operator control can be bright, black-and-white gray-scale performance capabilities than the existing lamp excellent screen technology.

However, the LED backlight panel prices are still higher than the traditional lamp backlight panel.

The future of environmental protection in the EU RoHS norms issued for 2010 after prohibiting the importation of mercury-containing electronic products to the EU market trend, the future is bound to lead LED LCD panel production, the panel prices will be lower.

On the other hand, LED screen in the application of computers still mainly laptops, including Asus, Fujitsu, Sony, Apple , Dell, and Hewlett-Packard have also launched Notebook with LED panel.