Lighting Fair 2009 hold a seminar titled "LED and organic EL pave the road to the future of illumination". The panel discussion was participated by Shuji Nakamura, a professor of the University of California at Santa Barbara, a developer of blue LED and a leader in the research of GaN-based light-emitting element and Junji Kido, who leads the research of the organic EL as a professor of Yamagata University Graduate School of Science and Engineering.

South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. is reportedly setting up a 50-50 joint venture with its affiliate Samsung Electro-Mechanics to jointly produce LEDs. It’s disclosed the veture is tentatively named Samsung LED. LEDs are known to have many advantages to traditional light sources, such as low energy consumption, longer lifetime, which are increasingly used in products from mobile phones to flat-screen televisions.

Recently, AIXTRON AG announced an order received in the second quarter 2008 for an MOCVD system from a new customer, Yangzhou Zhongke Semiconductor Lighting Center Co. Ltd. The Close Coupled Showerhead CRIUS system with 31x2" wafer configuration was delivered to Yangzhou Zhongke’s state of the art facility in the Yangzhou High-Tech Venture Services Center, PR China in the fourth quarter 2008. Its application will be for the development and volume production of UHB blue/green LEDs.

Veeco Instruments has to restructure its MOCVD systems business, as the downturn continues to take its toll on the wider semiconductor industry. At Veeco Q4 earnings call, John Peeler, CEO of the company, has announced its MOCVD systems operation in New Jersey would be hit by the latest move. He said their MOCVD systems business would go to a fully outsourced model by the end of the year. He also outlined a number of wider measures to cut costs, including a 26% reduction in workforce. Veeco will employ less than 1000 employees by the end of 2009.

Taiwan Opto Tech has unveiled its new Smart Street Lights using Nichia LEDs. The company says the new LED street lights have four main functions which include a modulized design, a unique cooling technology, a new optical design, and an excellent power module. The fixture is streamlined and ultra-thin, with a depth of only 80mm and will be expected to meet the global market demand. The company currently plans to mass-produce 55W and 105W street lights that can be used with either solar or AC power.

Citizen Electronics of Japan appoints Supreme Components International (SCI) of Singapore as their official distributor for High Brightness LED for ASIAN market. Citizen electronics has been producing LEDs since 1983 and is a major player for mobile phone LED in the world with significant market share. Citizen LEDs have high reliability and high CRI.

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed and demonstrated a new polarization-matched LED. The new type of LED, developed in collaboration with Samsung Electro-Mechanics, exhibits an 18% increase in light output and a 22% increase in wall-plug efficiency, which essentially measures the amount of electricity the LED converts into light.

Taiwan LED maker Epistar Corp. announced that it has won contract orders from Korea’s Samsung for LEDs used in LED-backlit LCD TVs.

Two rival LED makers, Seoul Semiconductor Co., Ltd. and Nichia Corporation announced that they have settled all litigations on patent and other issues as well as other legal disputes currently pending between them in the United States, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom, and Korea. The settlement includes a cross license agreement covering LED and laser diode technologies, which will permit the companies to access all of each other's patented technologies.

Gallium Nitride (GaN), a man-made semiconductor used to make LEDs, emits brilliant light but uses very little electricity. New GaN LED lighting has the potential to make LEDs a household fixture, but high production costs have made GaN lighting too expensive for wide spread use in homes and offices. However the Cambridge University based Centre for Gallium Nitride has developed a new way of making GaN which could produce LEDs for a tenth of current prices.

LED market is expected to be a rare bright spot—no pun intended—in what is forecast to be an otherwise dismal year for the semiconductor industry in 2009, according to a recent report. The reported noted that aided by rising demand from LCD TV makers, revenue from LEDs is expected to increase by 2.9% in 2009, following 10.8% growth in 2008. In contrast, the overall semiconductor market is set to decline by 9.4% in 2009.

Opto Tech Corp. and Nichia Corp. will go further on LED cooperation, with Nichia pledging to increase supply of LED chips to its partner in return for Opto Tech’s commitment to making its chips on a contract basis and selling more of Nichia-branded chips to packagers.

Over the past few years, Taiwan LED manufacturers, from chipmakers and packagers to lighting-module and lamp makers, are beginning to see a payoff from energy efficient products. Taiwan has ranked No. 2 in the global LED supplier, with 2008 revenue estimated to reach around US$1.9 billion, or 26% of world’s total.

The incandescent bulb is about to become obsolete is lost on the vast majority of the public. The phase-out begins in three years as part of the energy bill signed in 2007. They will be edged out by LEDs. So light bulb makers have to revamp some plants, shutter others, and invest enormous sums of money in preparation for a technological shift.

With recent significant advancements made in LEDs, some insiders claim may be the next wave in green lighting. LEDs are currently some of the most energy-efficient lighting, even exceeding compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs).

At CES 2009 some TV makers showed off their LED LCD TVs including Samsung, LG, Toshiba and so on. LED will be the next light source for flat panel displays in future. For many reasons such as LED light sources allow for lower power consumption; LED is solid state technology and improves ruggedness; LED allows for improved front-screen performance; LED allows for ultra-thin LCD modules, etc. Lower power consumption

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) have developed and demonstrated a new type of LED with significantly improved lighting performance and energy efficiency. The researchers worked in collaboration with Samsung Electro-Mechanics to develop the new polarization-matched LED that they say exhibits an 18 percent increase in light output and a 22 percent increase in wall-plug efficiency, which essentially measures the amount of electricity the LED converts into light.

Luna Road Ltd, specialized in the design, manufacture, supply, and installation of the new high-tech "cat's eyes," now known as Luna Road Lights, is working to unveil their new Eco-Friendly Luna Road Light technology to countries all around the globe.

Incandescent light bulbs could soon become a thing of the past. The Ministry of Knowledge Economy is pushing a "15-30" move aiming to replace 30%of lights in the country with more energy-efficient LEDs by the year 2015. The European Union and Australia have announced plans to ban sales of ordinary light bulbs and halogen lighting within the next four years.

Everlight announces that it will re-organize its Business Group structure to better position themselves to more aggressively pursue and support the requirements of the fast growing, global LED environment. The company will be divided into two divisions – a Production Business Group and Sales and Marketing Business Group.

Philips will showcase its latest solid-state lighting systems at ARC 2009. The lighting solutions featured combine the many advantages of LEDs with proprietary technologies to generate millions of colors, high-quality white light, and customizable lighting effects without the cost and complexities of some traditional lighting methods.

Nexxus Lighting, Inc. announced that Gary Langford has been appointed as the Company’s new Chief Financial Officer effective January 5, 2009. Mr. Langford will replace John Oakley, who has resigned to pursue an opportunity as CFO and Senior VP of Operations at another publicly traded company outside of the lighting industry.

Cree, Inc. reported that Robert Ingram, vice chairman Pharmaceuticals of GlaxoSmithKline, was elected to the Company’s Board of Directors and to the Board’s Compensation and Governance and Nominations Committee beginning December 29, 2008. Robert Ingram does not have the electrical engineering background of some of the board members, but he has gained some notoriety for his role at the pharmaceutical giant.

Taiwan LED chips and products maker Opto Tech has decided to delay its factory construction in Ningbo, China. Opto Tech indicated the delay is for an unspecified period, and construction will begin when the business environment becomes favorable.

Everything else in the economy may be shrinking, but there's one thing that's getting bigger: the ball that drops on New Year's Eve, according to a recent report.

During the economic downturn, many manufacturers are setting to reduce the output and dismiss workers at manufacturing lines. But, small and mid-size LED makers are busy running manufacturing lines.

Cree Inc. has announced that it and Boston University have reached agreement with Bridgelux Inc. to settle the parties’ patent infringement litigation and to dismiss all claims and counterclaims in the suits. As part of the settlement, Bridgelux, a privately held company based in Sunnyvale, Calif., will pay royalties and license fees to settle litigation over patents held by Cree and Boston University.

As we know, light is so important to plant health, the purchase of grow lights requires a bit of thought and consideration. Fluorescent grow lights are very efficient and cool compared with incandescent bulbs, which are not a particularly good choice because of the heat generated.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s Lighting Research Center (LRC) has enhanced its outreach education by taking the LED Lighting Institute “on the road.” In addition to the traditional three-day seminar held each spring and fall at the LRC, a two-day LED Lighting Institute program option has been added, which will be hosted at a program sponsor site each year.

One of America’s largest holiday light shows, the Winter Festival of Lights at Oglebay in Wheeling, West Virginia, started converting to LEDs this year. The energy-saving LED lights will be used in all new displays including the Mountaineer Christmas Display, added to the show this year. The conversion of all existing displays to LED lights begins in 2008 and the entire show should be LED by 2012.