Elemental LED, a leading U.S. based engineering and technology company that manufactures LED lighting solutions announced today a partnership with Legacy Lighting that extends its Diode LED product brand into Austin, TX and the surrounding area. Elemental LED and its wholesale and manufacturing division, Diode LED, provides a wide variety of superior quality linear, task, and accent LED lighting solutions for both residential and commercial applications.

The Pakistan government has announced it will be including LED lights in its fiscal year 2016-2017 budget, the emerging market is expected to present high growth rates of CAGR 45% till 2020, but the source of the projections remains unclear.

Philips Lighting, a global leader in lighting, welcomed a group of 28 European Union (EU) Agriculture Ministers including EU Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development, Phil Hogan to the Philips Lighting GrowWise Center in Eindhoven, The Netherlands. The Center leads horticultural and vertical farming research where growth recipes are developed for food crops. The visit was part of the Informal Meeting of Ministers of Agriculture organized by the Dutch EU Presidency. The central theme of this two day visit to the Netherlands was 'Food of the future - the future of food'.

This article that covers the global companies and governments pledge to deploy 6 billion LED bulbs is written by Arianna Tozzi from The Climate Group.

Notice to readers that Hot Picks of the Week will be released one day later this week.

Taiwanese LED chip manufacturer Arima Optoelectronics Corporation (AOC) has released a statement on Thursday stating it is assessing whether Chinese competitor San’an Opto’s AlGaInP LED products had infringed its wafer bonding technology patents.

Leyard announced on June 2 that the company’s whole subsidy has participated in the investment of PV ML LLC, the investment entity that signed the stake transfer agreement with Legend Pictures for the acquisition of Magic Leap’s stake.

A UBS analyst projected Applied Materials is capable of sourcing 100 million Apple iPhone screen, as the Cupertino based company pushes for OLED devices.

Xiaomi’s unveiled its latest wearable device Xiaomi Mi Band 2 that will be released in China on June 7, 2016, reported Engadget.

Networked LED light fixtures with built-in sensors can create a digital nervous system for cities. If deployed on streets, in parking garages and in buildings, this ubiquitous infrastructure  will create a constant stream of useful data for government, business and citizens.

Caribbean LED Lighting (St Lucia) (CLL), the only regional LED manufacturer in the region launched their Bois D’Orange showroom and retail store recently. The sister company is based in Barbados, and manufactures all types of residential, commercial, landscape and streetlights and has established an ambitious growth strategy.

It appears MacBook Pro keyboards will come with OLED touch panels after all, Cult of Mac has leaked photos of the OLED panel enhanced notebooks, which it obtained from an Apple supplier.

MaxLite, a leading global manufacturer of LED lighting solutions, announces it has become one of the first companies in the lighting industry to join the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) as an Innovation Partner in its Zero Energy Ready Homes (ZERH) program.

Rubicon Technology, a leading provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, optical and semiconductor industries, today announced that it has appointed a new independent director, Timothy Brog, President of Locksmith Capital, to its Board of Directors, effective immediately. With the addition of Brog, the Board expands to six members, five of whom are independent.

Epistar, a leading Taiwanese LED chip maker, is to be the first manufacturer that raise the price of heavily-oversupplied InGaN LEDs. The company plans to raise up to 15% of the price in order to profit.

AIXTRON, a worldwide leading provider of deposition equipment to the semiconductor industry, announced today that Nanchang Kingsoon, a recently founded Chinese manufacturer of optoelectronic devices, has ordered multiple MOCVD cluster tools to expand manufacturing capacities in the area of gallium arsenide-based red, orange and yellow (ROY) LEDs and solar cells. All systems will be delivered in the course of the year.

The Town of Berlin, locates in Connecticut, U.S., recently kicks of a LED light conversion project, targeting at switching about 2,500 streetlights.

The Pakistani government might include financial incentives for LED lights and solar panels in its annual federal budget 2016-2017, as the government aims to slash energy consumption while turning to alternative energy sources, according to a report by local media Business Recorder.

Pacific Crest Securities has highlighted several companies that might benefit from Apple’s decision to use OLED displays in next year’s iPhones, according to a report from Investor Business Daily.

An almost incomparable depth of experience in terms of light, successful products with strong brands and a high-impact sales team – these are the strengths the company of Ledvance will be focusing on from 1st July 2016. This is the day on which the current Osram Lamps business division will become legally independent and will therefore become Ledvance GmbH.

A major investment in new, hi-tech LED street lighting across Renfrewshire has got underway in Paisley.

Chinese investors Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (GCI) is proposing to acquire Aixtron for EUR 6 per share, which would bring the acquisition value to about EUR 670 million. The investment will mostly be used for accelerating Axitron’s MOCVD R&D, and receiving the needed capital. Company management, structure, and patent portfolio will remain unchanged after the acquisition.

Samsung, the Korean display giant showcased a host of futuristic products, including OLED displays that can be rolled like a parchment, OLED displays for virtual reality gadgets and vehicles as well as hologram technology, reported Yahoo Tech.

Nashua is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The City officials approved a US $ 1.5 million project to upgrade high pressure sodium streetlights to LED streetlights, reported Union Leader.

India’s affordable LED lighting for all government initiative, Ujala Scheme, is now being rolled out in the country’s westernmost state Gujarat, according to a report from The Financial Express.

Forest Lighting, ranked as the top five global LED package manufacturer in the lighting application sector in LEDinside’s analysis, has been expanding its scale through acquisition ever since it became listed company back in February 2015.

Certain Taiwanese financial institutes are starting to tighten their credit policies on three industries that have been affected by intense market competition from China, including LED, solar energy and displays, reported UDN recently.

Chinese and Belgium government agencies signed a LED lighting partnership agreement in Hasselt, capital of Limburg province in east Belgium on Tuesday, reported Xinhua.

Earlier this month senior Samsung Electronics officials reported the company would not be making OLED TVs in the near future, and would be directing its focus on quantum dot-TVs (QLED TVs). Following this development, recent reports suggest the company’s long term strategy might skip OLED TV altogether, according to Korean media ETNews.

In a letter issued by Aixtron, it assured clients that it would remain a German company, protect its patents, and highlighted the benefits the potential acquisition deal with Fujian Grand Chip Investment Fund (FGC) would have on its future business strategy.