Recently, Taiwan Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) began its fourth-time review of restrictions on Island’s Investments by Mainland Chinese as the basis of whether or not to allow mainland Chinese investors to hold more stakes in the island’s high-tech firms. The ministry is assessing the feasibility of conditionally allowing mainland Chinese investors to hold more stakes in the island’s three strategic hi-tech industries, including semiconductor, LCD panel and LED manufacturing. Date back to 2008, the island has eased the restrictions, in thr...

Lately, a research team from Taiwan's National Defense University has been utilizing nanocarbon materials to develop lightbulbs and tubes that are more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly than currently available products. Unlike LED lighting products, the team's invention boasts nanocarbon materials that can be used to develop a light source in a mercury-free manufacturing process, according to Ger Ming-der, a professor at the university's Department of Chemical and Material Engineering at Chung Cheng Institute of Technology. The technology also ...

Lately, Taiwan's lighting industry is in the process of making five new smart lighting standards, expecting to spur the creation of a highly integrated supply chain and improve its competitiveness in the fast growing LED sector. To maintain technological edge and overall value Approved by Taiwan's six major lighting associations and two state-funded institutes, the Institute for Information Industry (III) and the Industrial Technology Research Institute, the five intelligent lighting system standards cover the areas of system functions, wide area networks, field...

Looking at Taiwan LED makers’ operation results, it turns out that the debt crisis will impact them to different degrees in the second half. Unity Opto Technology, had revenue of NT$785 million (US$26.2 million) in July, a 10% month-on-month (MoM) increase and a record monthly high. The company attributed the record monthly high to many positive factors including additional orders from customers for new products, increasing demand from LED backlighting modules, increasing shipments of LCD TVs and tablet PCs from Taiwan-based EMS (electronics manufact...

Lextar Electronics Corp. (“Lextar” or the “Company) (TAIEX: 3698) announced its results for the second quarter of 2012. The Company reported consolidated revenue of NT$ 2,611 million, up 19% from the previous quarter and near 10% of YoY increase.  Gross profit was NT$ 650 million with the gross margin of 15.1%, a 3.2 percentage point QoQ growth.  Lextar’s consolidated net profit for the second quarter of 2012 was NT$ 126 million, EPS NT$ 0.3. For the first half of 2012 Lextar’s consolidated revenue reported NT$ 4,805 million with an EPS of NT$ 0.3.

Taiwan Epistar’s board of directors has agreed with a proposal to acquire Huga Optotech Inc. as its wholly owned subsidiary by all-stock swap at ratio of one Epistar share for 4.85 Huga shares. Baseline date for the swap is tentatively set at Dec. 28 in 2012. Both companies will bring the deal to an irregular shareholders meeting on Sept. 28 for vote. Industry executives said the deal, estimated at NT$4 billion (US$133 million at US$1:NT$30), is conducive to minimizing the disorder of the upstream sector of Taiwan’s LED industry. Epistar executiv...

According to Taiwan state-funded institute, the government is paving the way to announce newly established national standards for the smart lighting industry on Aug. 14, to expand demand and worldwide business opportunities. The Institute for Information Industry (III) pointed out that these standards are expected to improve the efficiency of lighting management, improve safety during nighttime activities, create energy-saving and a smart lighting environment, and explore high value-added business opportunities worldwide. The institute said that the five sets of standards fo...

As the industry- leading brand of high Power COB LED manufacturer in Taiwan, Lustrous Technology Ltd., (4997TW) recently announced their Zhaga series products were accredited certification from UL in June, marks as the pilot of LED lighting industry in Asia Pacific region.   Considering Zhaga light engine is the future mainstream in LED lighting industry, In July 2010, Lustrous was registered as the first Taiwan regular member of Zhaga Consortium, investing great efforts and resources in developing Zhaga light engine products. This June, they proud...

The LED lighting revolution has expanded to Jakarta, Indonesia. The LED illumination’s vast ambient and security benefits led to the installation of more than 3,000 area lights, featuring CreeXLamp XP-G LEDs, along a newly developed shopping and commercial area. Beginning in summer 2011, Lian-Fa replaced 200-watt high pressure sodium lamps with the LED-based luminaires for brighter and broader illumination, enabling shoppers and visitors to feel safer and more comfortable while visiting the area at night. The range of 105-watt, 133-watt and 200-watt lumi...

Taiwan major LED companies Everlight, Lextar, Unity Opto Technology Co have released mixed results for July. Everlight’s revenue fall 4.83% Everlight’s filing with the Taiwan Stock Exchange has shown that its revenue fall 4.83 percent to NT$1.42 billion (US$47.4 million) last month from June. The company attributed the decline to shorter working days, as employees went on annual leave. On an annual basis, last month’s sales grew 5.6 percent from NT$1.34 billion a year earlier. Accumulated revenue for the first seven months of the year totale...

Delta Electronics has kicked off the cooperation with President Chain Store Corp., which runs 4,822 7-Eleven shops throughout Taiwan, to sell its brand-name LED light bulbs, paving the way for becoming Taiwan’s No.1 LED bulb brand. The company has built up a stock of 300,000 8W LED light bulbs at 7-Eleven stores and is preparing another 300,000 bulbs for next round of promotions at the chain store system. According to the company, the bulbs sold at stores feature omni-directional 270-degree beam angle, 100,000 times of on-off, two-year warranty, and Nichia...

There is an increasing demand for LED light bulbs in Taiwan in 2012. Industry sources has estimated that the LED light bulb demand is expected to exceed 1,500,000 units in Taiwan for 2012 and the penetration rate into the local light bulb market is expected to exceed 30% in 2014, with an additional increase to 50% in 2015. The Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) expects that by the end of 2012, there will be 46 brands of LED light bulbs and 154 models in Taiwan. However, some manufacturers’ labels can differ by 20 percent from their actual output, po...

Taiwan Lustrous Technology has received Asia’s first Underwriters Laboratories-Certified Zhaga-compliant light engine certification. The company’s chairman, J.C. Liu, pointed out that Zhaga standards are very important to LED light engines and the company’s products conform to Zhaga Book3 standard, which regulates light engine’s mechanism and light uniformity. In addition, the company much stresses Zhaga compliance of its products and hopes to offer lighting-fixture manufacturers optimal solutions and services with Zhaga-complaint engines. U...

Luminus Devices has set up an office in Taoyuan County, Taiwan to cater for demands in the Asian market. The new officer is managed by Robin Hung, sales director for the Asia Region, and will provide sales support, customer service, field application engineering, and operational engineering to Luminus' key customers, suppliers and contract manufacturing partners in Asia. Hung and his staff will be responsible for managing Luminus' current relationships and future business opportunities in display, entertainment and specialty lighting vertical markets across Asia...

Delta Electronics Foundation has led a donation of 150 LED lighting kits to community centers and an elementary school in Chiang Mai and centers in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand to help solve lighting problems there. The donation, a joint effort by Delta and Taida, has helped improve the learning environment for children and alleviate the problem of inadequate lighting in that part of the country. And according to Hsu Wei-min, vice president at Taida Electronics Co., a subsidiary of Delta Electronics Inc., a Taiwan-based power management system supplier , the donat...

President Chain Store Corp, the operator of Taiwan’s largest convenience store chain, 7-Eleven, has planned to cooperate with Delta Electronics Inc to sell LED light bulbs to meet the increasing demand for energy-efficient lighting products. Previously, President Chain has partnered with Everlight to sell 8-watt LED bulbs under the Everlight brand, however, this time it would market co-branded 8-watt LED bulbs with Delta Electronics Inc. According to President Chain public relations official Irene Chuang, the new LED light bulbs would hit the sto...

In order to improve the quality of LED lighting subsidies’ beneficiaries, China’s National Development and Reform Commission plans to restart the bidding for the SSL Lighting Product Subsidy. On July 25-26, the commission will accept withdraws from companies that have entered the bidding in February, which is good news for Taiwanese upstream and midstream LED firms. According to LEDinside survey, the new bidding forbids companies to jointly bid, which is good for large-scale companies and will help keep the bidding price and the quality close, and ther...

MOCVD orders are placed just to maintain capacity, not add, and high utilization rates are only at the top LED makers including Epistar, ForEpi, and Genesis Photonics , according to Maxim Group LLC. Based on analyzing MOCVD utilization and revenues at LED makers in Taiwan, Maxim pointed out that, the next uptick in MOCVD spending is likely to “fall far short” of the peak seen in 2010-2011. The analysts expect H2 2012 MOCVD orders at about 130 tools. Higher MOCVD utilization rates are not the norm across all LED makers, but r...

Taiwan Genesis Photonics has scheduled to pour US$35 million in 2012 in China to build Kunshan plant in southern China. The new plant is a joint venture between Genesis and the Kunshan municipal government. Construction began in September 2010 with a total investment of around US$200 million. Under the construction, the municipal government will provide 51% of the funds and Genesis 49%. And Genesis has invested US$35.88 million for the first phase. The plant is expected to be completed in the Q3. And it will procure 2-inch MOCVD equipment and expects to have...

Everlight has received downgrade from “twA-” to “twBBB+” estimated by Taiwan Ratings Corp, which reflecting concerns about the balance sheet of the country’s biggest LED chip packager over the next one to two years amid negative market conditions. Taiwan Ratings said in a statement that, “The downgrade reflects our view of the heightened industry risk in the global LED sector and our belief that Everlight’s profitability is unlikely to recover to the previous high over the next one to two years, due to prolonged oversupply from w...

Veeco recently has held its MOCVD User Meeting in Tainan, Taiwan. Representatives from most of Taiwan’s top LED manufacturers such as Epistar Corporation, FOREPI, Genesis Photonics Inc. (GPI), Huga Optotech Inc., Tekcore Co. Ltd., Epileds Co. Ltd., and Arima Optoelectronics Corp. attended. Invited speaker Charles Li, Ph.D., GPI’s Vice President of R&D, commented, “Veeco’s User Meeting was a great event. I appreciate the opportunity to collaborate with Veeco’s technology experts and interact with ot...

Sunovia Energy Technologies Inc. has completed a $20 million investment agreement with Taiwan-based Leader Electronics to start global production of Sunovia's LED lighting products. The agreement with Leader Electronics includes a direct $1 million capital investment into Sunovia at $0.08 per share. In turn, Sunovia granted Leader the exclusive license to manufacture and distribute the Aimed Optics product lines into China, Taiwan and other strategic markets within Asia. The agreement positions Leader Electronics as Sunovia's primary fixture manufactu...

LT Lighting (Taiwan) Corp., has received a good feedback from overseas markets for its 200W LED high bay lights and 500W LED flood lights. According to the company’s directors, the company makes full use of its unique heat sink and optoelectronic integration technologies to work out these high-power LED lights particularly for use in special working environments. And its 200W LED high bay lights have been widely adopted by mining companies in Africa and Australia to replace 500W mercury-vapor lights, while the 500W LED flood lights, featuring high bright...

Nexgen Mediatech Inc., a member of the CHIMEI Group has launched its E1 series LED desk lamp, aiming for sales of over 40,000 such lamps to maintain the No.1 place in the island market with a 30% market share. The E1 series LED desk lamp is designed for pink-collar office ladies, and it is inspired by children’s floral graffiti with concise style and lively colors. M.L. Yu, senior director of CHIMEI Business Unit pointed out that Nexgen has successfully tapped the Japanese market by cooperating with large retail channels such as local outlet Big ...

According to Yancey Hai, chairman of Delta Electronics Inc, prices for LED lighting products will drop by at least 20 percent in 2012.   Hai pointed out that a sign of the general decline was South Korea's launch of a low-price strategy to gain market share, followed by the adjustment downward of prices by distributors in the United States in June. and after a price reduction of 40 percent globally in 2011, LED product prices will fall another 20-30 percent in 2012....

Taiwan Glacial Tech Inc. has supplied its LED brand “GlacialLight” to Sheraton Kampala Hotel of Uganda and shopping malls in Germany. Developed by Glacial Tech, ”GlacialLight,” are eco-friendly, featuring energy efficiency, zero ultraviolet (UV) and infrared rays, no mercury, longer life than traditional lamps. According to its brand manager Y.R. Qiu, brightness, thermal dissipation and material cost are prioritized concerns in developing LED lighting, while Glacial Tech has combined skills in thermal-dissipation, power supply, and ...

SemiLEDs has announced its financial results for Q3 of fiscal year 2012, ended May 31, 2012. Revenue for Q3 of fiscal 2012 was $9.2 million, a 64% increase compared to $5.6 million in the same time of fiscal 2011. GAAP net loss attributable to SemiLEDs stockholders for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 was $10.0 million, or a net loss of $0.36 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net loss attributable to SemiLEDs stockholders of $5.1 million, or a net loss of $0.19 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2011. On a non-GAAP basis, net loss attributabl...

Unity Opto’s global sales revenue in June have set up new record with a two-year monthly high of NT$7.1 billion (US$236.67 million), which mainly benefited from  the growing demand for LED TV and new production orders from its clients. The company is full confidence of its sales outlook for Q3, as its order visibility can last through the end of September for the moment. Its revenue is expected to grow strongly along with the steady increase in orders for direct-type LED TVs and tablet products, the surge in sales of LED lighting products in the domestic...

As Guangdong government has come out the policy to make LED transition within three years in public place, Taiwan LED manufacturers including Epistar, Unity Opto Technology have received increasing LED lighting orders from mainland China. Meanwhile, Taiwan companies such as Everlight and AcBel Polytech Inc. are actively building marketing channel in Guangdong. According to the policy issued by Guangdong government in May, the city will forced to promote new LED lighting installation in public place within three years. It’s considered to be the stronge...

According to Epistar’s chairman B.J Lee, the company will invest NT$ 5 billion (US$ 166.7 Million) in expanding production, making it become one of the top two LED epitaxy manufacturers in the world, next only to Nichia. At the company’s recent shareholders meeting, Lee said although the company’s production lines are fully booked, 20~30% of orders have yet to be filled up. If the company fails to carry out the plant expansion project, other competitors in the market will have the opportunity to grow, and therefore it has decided to launch large expansio...