Cree, Inc. announced that Chairman, President and CEO Chuck Swoboda will step down from his executive positions and as a member of the Board of Directors following a transition period.  Mr. Swoboda intends to stay on until a successor is appointed, and thereafter will remain available as a consultant to the Company to ensure a seamless transition of leadership responsibilities.

2017 marks an important year for Apple as it plans to release its new Apple Watch alongside the highly-anticipated next generation iPhone to celebrate its tenth anniversary. Although the tech giant has kept a low profile regarding the innovations it will bring to the market, there have been numerous rumors circulating around the devices already.

The global custom and state-of-the-art lighting market is seeing a uptick in activity in the market as a result of latest advancements in lighting technology and applications. The market is witnessing rapid advancements as well as uses for lighting technologies, while the LED lighting technologies dominated the market in terms of revenue contribution in 2016. Lighting solutions and advancements in the market of note this week include: AV1 Group, Inc., Cree Inc., Koninklijke Philips N.V, Amazon.com, Inc., General Electric.

Lumileds today announced that George Craford, Lumileds Solid State Lighting Fellow, was selected for the IEEE Edison Medal for “a lifetime of pioneering contributions to the development and commercialization of visible LED materials and devices.” Craford will be presented with the medal at the IEEE Honors Ceremony in San Francisco on May 25, 2017, during the IEEE Vision, Innovations, and Challenges (IEEE VIC) Summit.

The amount of measurement points will at least double in the Helsinki region as a new supplementary air quality network of Vaisala and Pegasor sensors will be installed during the next year. The new system will enable agile and economical way to gather new information about the air quality of the Finnish capital city region.

CREE, a leader in LED components and LED lighting products, is the sponsor of the first European Horticulture Lighting Conference to be held on 23 May 2017 at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.

At this year’s LIGHTFAIR International (LFI), the world's largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference, Samsung Electronics has underlined its dedication to bringing innovative LED lighting solutions to the market. In particular, Jacob Tarn’s (Executive Vice President, LED Lighting Business, Samsung Electronics) presentation in front of 15 media people showed how Samsung's LED business has evolved from mere LED component business to full-blown end-to-end solutions ranging from LED packages to LED engine & Smart Lighting platform.  

Philips Lighting continues to push the boundaries of LED lighting innovations at the LIGHTFAIR International Trade Show and Conference taking place May 9 through 11, 2017 in Philadelphia. The company is introducing new offerings designed to help reduce energy and operating costs, improve the comfort and utilization of a space, and deliver value that goes beyond illumination. These latest technology advancements combine the accumulative improvements in energy efficiency with enhanced quality and capabilities of connected LED lighting.

Cree, Inc. extends its industry-leading OSQ Series of area and flood LED luminaires, delivering better performance, expanding applications and offering dramatic savings with the new Cree OSQ High Output (HO) portfolio. The new luminaire more than doubles the top lumen output of the original OSQ Series with up to 65,000 lumens and can replace multiple metal halide (MH) 1000W fixtures. The result is more than 80 percent energy savings using one OSQ-HO luminaire. 

Nichia Corporation (“Nichia”) announces that the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has affirmed a district court decision holding that Everlight Electronics Co., Ltd. and Everlight Americas, Inc. (collectively, “Everlight”) have infringed three Nichia patents.

LIGHTFAIR International 2017, the world largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference, will be held during May 9th to 11th in Philadelphia, USA this year. FSP Group as the world's tenth largest category AC-DC power supply manufacturers will attend this important event in the field of LED and lighting. FSP is committed to the development of LED lighting power supply products for 10 years. All full series products from 6 Watts to 400 Watts can be used in customers’ lighting products and they are well received by the users’ recognition and support in the industry.

AIXTRON SE, a major provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced that OSRAM Opto Semiconductors has qualified the first of multiple AIX G5 C planetary systems for the manufacturing of GaN (gallium nitride) LEDs. As market demand for high-quality optoelectronic semiconductors is increasing due to the continually growing number of applications in the illumination, sensing and visualization sectors including automotive, communication, display, health and food, OSRAM Opto Semiconductors is expanding production capacities, e.g. at its Regensburg facility. In this context, the company makes also use of AIXTRON’s AIX G5 C planetary platform.

With an aim to reduce energy consumption, the Hawaii Department of Transportation (HDOT) has moved into the second phase of its Energy Savings Performance Contract with multinational conglomerate Johnson Controls to provide energy-efficient lighting at 11 Hawaii airports and solar PV systems at Honolulu International Airport.

Altech Chemicals Limited (Altech/the Company) is pleased to advise that following the recently announced $2 million share placement to existing cornerstone investor MAA Group Berhad (MAAG), the Company is now offering a Share Purchase Plan (SPP). 

The Dubai Municipality has recently signed a MOU with two major developers to boost the use of energy-efficient lighting.

Philips Lighting announced that it has completed the cancellation of 3.5 million its own shares. 

Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) has announced financial results for its first fiscal quarter ended March 31, 2017. Results are reported in accordance with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles ("GAAP") and are also reported adjusting for certain items ("Non-GAAP"). A reconciliation between GAAP and Non-GAAP operating results is provided at the end of this press release.

Infineon Technologies AG has reported results for Q2 2017 (period ended 31 March 2017) with revenue up 7% to €1,767 million quarter-on-quarter. Opera­ting profit excluding special items increased to 296 million Euros ($322 million) in the quarter, which slightly missed the average forecast for 299 million Euros, according to Reuters.

EVERLIGHT Electronics Co., Ltd. on April 25, 2017 filed its complaints with Tokyo District Court against Nichia Corporation, Citizen Electronics Co., Ltd. and Daiko Electronics Co., Ltd. for patent infringement.

People visiting this year’s Burning Man will be awed by an enormous installation project created by a group of artists from San Francisco: a lifelike tree decorated with 15,000 LED lights, motion sensors and sound detectors.

Epistar Corporation, a leading innovator and manufacturer of LED solid-state lighting technologies, filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Lowe’s Companies, Inc. and Lowe’s Home Centers, LLC (collectively “Lowe’s”) in the United States District Court for the Central District of California on April 28, 2017. The complaint asserts that Kichler Lighting’s LED filament bulbs and Utilitech’s LED bulbs sold by Lowe’s infringe several Epistar patents and seeks injunctive relief to halt further sale of the infringing products.

Smart lighting start-up Gooee, creator of the first ‘full stack’ cloud-based ecosystem that connects lighting manufacturers to the Internet of Things (IoT), has joined Philips Lighting’s SR (Sensor Ready) certified program.

DOE has published the results of a study of the expected contributions to sky glow from converting high-pressure sodium (HPS) street lighting to broader-spectrum (i.e., white light) sources, with specific focus on LEDs, and presents the contributions in a manner relative to HPS baseline conditions. These conditions represent typical conversions in the U.S. and include changes in spectral power distribution (SPD), percent uplight, and lumen output.

LIGHTFAIR International will open May 7 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in the 28th staging of the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference.  Tens of thousands of professionals from around the world will experience the products and knowledge transforming the future of light and technology in the Pre-Conference LIGHTFAIR Institute® (May 7 – 8) and Trade Show & Conference (May 9 – 11).

Due to a major asset restructuring, from July 18, 2016, shares trade of MLS, China’s leading LED packaging manufacturer, remained suspended until May 2, 2017. MLS announced it would spend up to RMB 4 billion (around US$580 million) to acquire the whole ownership of Guangdong Mingxin Optoelectronic, which holds a 100% stake in LEDVANCE. By doing so, MLS would gain full control of LEDVANCE, originally Osram’s lamps and lighting unit. This partnership is expected to create synergies in manufacturing, distribution, R&D, and branding, offering both sides important competitive advantages in the post LED lighting era.

LEDVANCE is unveiling new SYLVANIA lighting solutions for the commercial and residential market at Booth 1701 at LIGHTFAIR International (LFI), the world’s largest annual architectural and commercial lighting trade show and conference taking place at the Pennsylvania Convention Center May 7 — 11, 2017. In North America, LEDVANCE offers professional users and retail customers SYLVANIA advanced LED bulbs, standardized luminaires and smart lighting solutions, as well as traditional light sources.

In the second quarter of fiscal 2017, Osram saw a significant lift in its growth rate. On a comparable basis, i.e. adjusted for portfolio and currency effects, revenue generated in the period January to March rose by around 10 percent year on year to reach €1.05 billion. 

Dutch lighting giant Philips Lighting announced that its Saudi Arabia JSC has signed a strategic distribution agreement with major retailor Ahmed Abdulwahed Trading Company to sell its LED and home products, according to Arab News.

Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. announced consolidated first-quarter revenues of KRW 257.5 billion. The rise in consolidated revenue came from strong sales in general lighting and strength across all segments within the IT division. The rise in automotive lighting sales also proved highly profitable for the company.

Micro LED has become an obvious technology trend that even Samsung has started to eagerly tap into. According to international OLED publication OLED-info, Samsung is rumored to acquire Taiwan-based Micro LED manufacturer PlayNitride for up to US$150 million. Samsung would use the next generation display technology for VR applications and TVs in the future, the report said.