Taiwan’s major LED markers have all seen their March revenue surging beyond expectation, with Formosa Epitaxy Inc. taking the lead with a 68.5% rise from February. Epistar Corp. and Unity Opto Technology Co., Ltd also post robust revenue records.

After release of the energy efficient C8000 REGZA LCDs, Toshiba is ready for its higher end LED backlit ZX8000 (labeled SV670 in the U.S.) series. Featuring a 2,000,000:1 contrast ratio and local dimming technology, this series also pack the latest edition of Super Resolution+ upconverting, ClearScan 240Hz motion and fifth generation Pixel Pure image processing.

Hamamatsu Photonics has recently launched its new LC-L2 range of UV curing systems. Comparing with the established LC-L1 range, the LC-L2 systems feature higher power UV LEDs of high durability ensured by the company's heat dissipation technology.

Solid state lighting has been claimed by some to be more energy efficient and more environmental friendly than other forms of lighting technology. But is it ready to enter the mass market?

Litepanels, a Vitec Group company, has recently released its new 1 x 1 LED light fixture the 1 x 1 Bi-Focus, which is also the first LED light fixture capable of variable spot and flood focusing. Comparing with the inefficient Fresnel lights, the ultra-thin and portable 1 x 1 Bi-Focus offers a cool-to-the-touch, low energy draw solution that provides the flexibility of the width of light beam.

This April, the month of the 40th World Earth Day, Lemnis Lighting has released a new energy-efficient LED product, the Pharox LED bulb. The bulb developed using the most advanced lighting technology produces light equivalent to that of a 40Watt incandescent bulb, while with only 5W of energy. And the life-span of the bulb reaches up to 50,000 hours or approximately 35 years.

Cypress semiconductor has recently developed PowerPSoC which has been claimed by the company to be the first single chip device to control and drive high power LEDs. PowerPSoC features four integrated, independently operated 32V/1A mosfets based on Cypress' PSoC platform, with up to four programmable hysteretic controllers providing controlled current output. Floating load buck, floating load buck-boost, and boost converter topologies provide design flexibility. The device also supports 16bit dimming.

Ilumisys, Inc., a provider of solid state lighting technology and products, has recently claimed Patent No. 7,510,299, which has been issued by the United States Patent and Trademark Office for the replacement of fluorescent tubes with LEDs.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC) has released on Wednesday two new highly-efficient white LED drivers, TB62730WLG and TB62750FTG, both of which designed to drive white LEDs for backlight use in LCDs. The two LED drivers were among several products Toshiba launched yesterday for expanding its Mobile Strategic Initiative, a product and customer support program aimed to facilitate ease of design for new mobile phones and other portable devices.

Underwriters Laboratories Inc. (UL), a global leader in product safety testing and certification services, announced Wednesday to become a strategic partner of Luminaire Testing Laboratory, Inc. (LTL) . And it has also become the first Nationally Recognized Testing Laboratory to provide Energy Star testing of LED products.

A $65 million advertising plan has been rolled out by Samsung to promote its LED-back-lit LCD TVs, which will involve online advertising, extensive in-store merchandising displays, print advertising, national network and cable TV spots and mall showcases, lasting from end of March till end of June. And this is only a beginning, for Samsung has got a 2009 year-long national advertising campaign to leverage the company’s leadership position in LED-back-lit LCD TV technology, according to the company on Tuesday.

Taiwan LED makers say the LED industry may recover earlier than other industries, with the application range of LED expected to become wider this year and more and more LEDs being installed into notebooks, monitors, LCD TVs as well as lighting fields. Several factors have driven up the global LED industry, and for mainland China, the bright outlook mainly owes to the encouragement from the government, concluded the industry watchers.

Sharp Corp recently released 10 models of LED street lamps which are designed with lenses for widening the illumination area, with one of the models equipped with solar battery.

In spite of the global economic downturn, demand for LED lighting will continue growing in the next year, forecasted Cree CEO Chuck Swoboda in a Tuesday interview with Reuters.

Avnet Electronics Marketing, an operating group of the global technology distributor, Avnet, Inc., and the Hong Kong Productivity Council (HKPC) have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate in the promotion of the energy-saving LED lighting industry.

Kulicke & Soffa Industries, Inc. yesterday launched its new ConnX-VLEDPSTM automatic ball bonder. Before this official announcement, ConnX-VLED had made its first appearance during March 17-19 at SEMICON China 2009 in Shanghai. As an extension of the company’s leading ConnXPSTM ball bonder, ConnX-VLED also comes with high brightness and high-power LED lamps generally featured by devices specifically designed for vertical LED applications, offering a best solution for diverse LED applications.

Broit Light, a company based in Wayzata, Minnesota, USA has last week launched its initial production of LED bulbs at its production facility in Long Lake. The start-up company has claimed to have come up with a line of more energy-efficient and adaptable light bulbs.

Infineon Technologies AG has recently released a low-cost LED driver IC which offers thermal protection and high output current accuracy for high-power LEDs in general lighting applications.

Chi Mei Optoelectronics, a component provider in Taiwan, has decided to manufacture new LCD screens for notebooks with LED backlights in 2009. The first to come will be a 13.4-inch display with LED backlight which offers a 500:1 contrast ratio, suitable to be used in thinner notebook models. Another display product will be 15.6-inch in size, featuring a brightness of 250-nit, a 8ms response time and a 1,600 x 900 resolution.

Arrow Electronics and Fraen have recently signed an agreement which will enable Arrow to extend its LED lighting range in the UK and Northern Europe. As a leading optic provider, Fraen is specialized in engineering and designing optical components for individual LEDs. The leading-edge products provided by Fraen include: high-efficiency TIR and reflector solutions; software-optimized aspheric profile; multiple beam angles; optimized lens holders; and a complete range of lenses and reflectors.

A new LED light bulb which is claimed as “the best light bulb in the world” has been released on Friday by the Fortuna-based C. Crane Company in Humboldt County, California.

Dominant Semiconductors recently added new high intensity white (DSW-NSG) and warm white (DSF-NSG) which feature longer life and higher light intensity to its Right Angle DomiLED series, replacing the existing DSW-USD device.

Future Lighting Solutions and Khatod Optoelectronic has announced yesterday a distribution agreement that would make a broad line of Khatod’s secondary optics for power LEDs available in all major markets all over the world, with the portfolio of products including 190 single, double, triple and quad optics as well as color-mixing optical systems with multiple beam angles and configurations, featuring the industry’s largest selection of optics for LUXEON Rebel LEDs.

Sarnoff Corp. has launched a new company to focus on the thriving LED lighting market. Lightscape Materials Inc., which is the name of the new venture, has received $3 million in Series A funding from Wisepower Co. Ltd. and Foosung HDS Co. Ltd with the two companies joining Itochu Corp. which is an early stage investor and distributor in Asia for Lightscape Materials.

Diodes Incorporated, a leading global provider of semiconductor products, has recently released a family of LED driver ICs which require the support of only four components and operate at switching frequencies up to 600kHZ, which makes possible the use of fewer and smaller external components to be required by driver circuits.

Everlight signed a non-exclusive cross-license agreement with OSRAM GmbH (“OSRAM”), providing the companies (including wholly-owned affiliates) with access in certain areas to each other’s patented LED technology.

A new LED lighting system targeted for commercial facilities has recently been developed by Daiwa House Industry Co. Ltd. in collaboration with Nabesho Co. Ltd. and Kyocera Corp.

Seoul Semiconductor Co. will be a supplier of 300 thousand pieces of LED for “LED Farming Demonstration Project” which is organized by Ministry of Economy, Trade & Industry of Japan with the purpose to demonstrate the application of LED in farming lighting.

Samsung Electronics Co. has launched today its first LED TV products in global markets. The new line of LED flat panel TVs include Series 8000, 7000 and 6000, coming from 32-inch to 55-inch in sizes. With LEDs as the primary light source, the new TVs feature ultra-high contrast ratios compared to the traditional TVs using Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps. And the motion blur and image judder problems typically affecting LCD TVs have also been substantially reduced in the new LED TVs, said the company.

As major cities worldwide has initiated green lighting by replacing local street lights with LED light source for the benefit of energy-saving, Edison Opto has introduced 27W and 100W modules tailored for street lighting application. The 27W street lighting module consists of 24 high power Edixeon LEDs, each equipped with a proprietary elliptical secondary lens, achieving a luminous efficacy up to 83lm/W. The LEDs are mounted on a metal core PCB (121x135mm) for easy assembly.