Management Commentary   "Our arrangement to supply sapphire materials to Apple is progressing well and we started to build out the facility in Arizona and staff the operation during the quarter," said Gutierrez. "We are pleased to have Apple as a sapphire customer and to be in a position to leverage our proprietary know-how to enable the supply of this versatile material. While our primary focus during the balance of the year is to continue to execute on our commitments in Arizona, our aim is to position GT not only as an exceptional sapphire supplier to ...

Shenzhen-based Deren Electronics latest 2013 financial results fell short of market expectations, according to a report by China International Capital Corporation Limited (CICC).

In the sapphire substrate industry, GT Advanced Technologies (GTAT) has reaped benefits from its multi-year partnership with Apple, but other sapphire substrate manufacturers have seen revenues drop. Veeco’s latest financial reports showed losses in 4Q13, reflecting a dire need to change business strategies, while Rubicon’s yearnings were below financial analyst estimations. With smartphone applications on the rise, manufacturers that enter the smartphone market early will be the biggest benefactors. 

GAAP Results ($M except per share data)             Q4 ‘13         Q4 ‘13         Revenues     $106.8    ...

Rubicon Technology, a leading provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, semiconductor, and optical industries, today reported financial results for its fourth quarter ended Dec. 31, 2013.

Philips, the global leader in lighting, continues to deliver on the company's commitment to making quality LED bulbs more affordable for consumers with its second generation 75-watt and 100-watt LED equivalent bulbs that are now ENERGY STAR certified. With utility rebates of up to US$ 10 per bulb, these latest additions to the industry's largest portfolio of ENERGY STAR certified products may be found on shelves for as little as US$ 9.97 and US$ 14.97 respectively. 

Chinese research institutes have been interviewing listed companies after the Chinese New Year to get a better picture of the 2014 “investment guide,” according to Chinese media Sina.com report. As the industry rebounds, investors are also following research institute’s lead of entering into specific manufacturing fields to explore opportunities and determine whether the industry will generate a new gold wave. 

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Ledtech revenue and preliminary profit for January was affected by the shorter Chinese New Year holidays. Consolidated revenue for January only reached NT $137 million (US $4.5 million), a monthly drop of 19.65 percent and YoY decrease of 7.48 percent. January preliminary pre-tax profit was NT $11.6 million, YoY decrease of 32.3 percent and EPS of NT $0.1 (before tax).

Global leading LED company, Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. has announced on February 13th that it has achieved the company’s greatest sales revenue, reaching 1.0321 trillion Korean won and an operating profit of 965 hundred million Korean won in 2013. In comparison to 2012, the company’s sales increased by 20% and the operating profit by 190%.

As countries kick off incandescent bulb phase out policies, soaring LED lighting demands has attracted market attention. Credit Suisse latest report is optimistic that the LED industry will enter another expansion phase in 2014. In addition, LED stocks will also be on the rise this year. 

Taiwanese LED secondary optic lens manufacturer LedLink has received orders from three major international lighting brands and from other regional LED luminaire manufacturers this year, according to a Chinese-language Economic Daily News report. The company hopes its market share will increase from 35 percent in 2013 to 40 to 50 percent in 2014.

The financial industry’s interest has obviously increased as the Taiwan LED industry recovers. Rising LED lighting market penetration rates will lead to improvements in Taiwan LED industry demand and supply situation resulting in overall industry growth. In turn, manufacturers’ better gross margin performances will also boost stockholders Return On Equity (ROE), 

Taiwanese LED manufacturers Jan. 2014 performances showed stellar results spurred by rising lighting and backlight demands. Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Everlight product growth momentum was evenly distributed in 1Q14, and there has been good backlight and lighting demands, said the company Chairman Robert Yeh. The company expects increased 1Q14 revenue growth compared to 4Q13.

Revolution Lighting Technologies (“Revolution Lighting”), a leader in advanced LED lighting technology, provided a business update prior to announcing financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2013 on March 13, 2014.

Epileds consolidated revenue in dropped by an incremental 1.82 percent in Jan. 2014 to NT$ 108 million (US$ 3.56 million) compared to the previous month. However, the company revenue increased incrementally on a YoY basis to 2.87 percent.

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Edison Opto consolidated revenue for last month increased 9.51 percent to NT$ 229 million (US$7.56 million) or YoY of 52.22 percent. 

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Unity Opto announced consolidated revenue for Jan. 2014 increased 23 percent to NT$ 560 million (US$ 18.49 million), compared to Dec. 2013 or 9 percent YoY. According to the company, as impact from 4Q13 low season is lifted, 1Q14 will reinitiate positive revenue growth cycle.

Vertically integrated LED manufacturer Lextar announced revenue for Jan. 2014 was up 11 percent to NT$ 1.22 billion (US$ 40 million) compared to the previous month, or 28 percent YoY.

“The fourth quarter of 2013 was another good quarter for Philips, despite the challenging economic environment and ongoing currency headwinds. In the quarter, Lighting and Consumer Lifestyle both delivered strong comparable sales growth of 8%. At Healthcare, comparable sales increased by 4%, while order intake declined 1% as a result of weak markets in US and Europe. The operational profitability of all sectors improved substantially, driven by good sales growth, gross margin expansion of 2 percentage points and the productivity gains, all coming from the Accelerate! program.

Cree’s has won over investor’s support as its recently published 2Q14 financial report reflected good financial performance. Cree’s stock prices were up 7.7 percent to US$ 67.33, and accumulated growth from the last 12 months was 65 percent. Due to the company’s soaring growth in the LED lighting field, the company’s income and profits have been maintained at higher levels, which in turn alleviated investors concerns of profit pressure.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc., announced a chief financial officer transition. CFO Richard Gaynor resigned, effective March 6, 2014, to accept a new position with a portfolio company of New Mountain Capital LLC, a private equity firm. The company also announced the appointment of Raja Bal as vice president, corporate controller and chief accounting officer. Bal will succeed Gaynor as CFO of GT on March 7.

Cree, a market leader in LED lighting, announced revenue of US$ 415.1 million for its second quarter of fiscal 2014, ended December 29, 2013. This represents a 20 percent increase compared to revenue of US$ 346.3 million reported for the second quarter of fiscal 2013, and a 6 percent increase compared to the first quarter of fiscal 2014. 

Chinese LED manufacturer Elec-Tech released a report on January 19th announcing the company’s various businesses’ preliminary estimated data for 2014. The company anticipates sales revenue in 2014 to increase by 50 percent compared to 2013, including sales revenue for their LED business which is estimated to increase 100 percent from 2013.

Refond Optoelectronics released their performance report for 2013 on January 14th. The company estimates that market listed company shareholder net profit will reach between RMB 56 million and RMB 63 million (US $9.3 million and US $ 10.4 million), growth of 20-34 percent YoY. Net profit in 2012 was RMB 46.86 million.

Kingsun released their 2013 revised earnings forecast on January 14th. In the company’s earlier 3Q13 report, they originally estimated net profit for market listed company shareholders in 2013 to reach RMB 105-136 million (US $17.4-22.5 million).

Leading chip manufacturers including San’an Optoelectronics (San’an Opto) and HC SemiTek Corp. (HC SemiTek) have been turning from 2 inch to 4 inch epitaxial wafers, which industry insiders anticipated to be the upcoming trend in 2014.

Changfang Lighting announced on Thursday, stockholder Lin Changchun, who has a 5 percent stake in the company, has sold out 2.85 million stocks during Jan. 7-8, 2013 in the ShenZhen Stock Exchange (SZSE). The stocks sold account for around 1.05 percent of the company’s share capital.

Taiwanese LED package manufacturer Edison Opto consolidated revenue for Dec. 2013 reached NT$ 209 million (US$ 6.95 million), a decrease of 2.09 percent compared to last month. However, the company’s Dec. 2013 revenue has soared 50.1 percent compared to the same period last year. Affected by the traditionally low season in 4Q13, consolidated revenue reached NT$ 641 million, despite a quarterly decrease of 22.54%, consolidated revenue increased 38.54 percent. The company’s consolidated revenue in 2013 reached NT$ 2.74 billion, a YoY increase of 20.91%.

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Epistar delivered a stellar performance during the traditional LED low season. The company announced its Dec. 2013 revenue reached NT$ 2.04 billion (US$ 70 million) marking a historical high for the last 10 quarters since 3Q11. Although, December revenues dropped 1.36 percent compared to the previous month, revenues soared 61.46 percent from Dec. 2013. In addition, consolidated revenue for 4Q13 increased 6.09 percent QoQ to NT$ 6.10 billion, or an annual increase of 37.28 percent. 

Taiwanese package manufacturer Unity Opto consolidated revenue for December was NT $455 million (US $15.1 million), a drop of 14.13 percent from November. Total revenue for 2013 reached NT $69.2 billion, a dip of 8.39 percent from 2012. Slack season and client stocktaking at the end of the year impacted December shipments. LED bulb order volumes doubled at the end of the year, due to new clients preordering mobile applications starting in 4Q13 and favoritism from European and U.S. markets.