Historically, the World Exposition has always been a superb stage for inventors to show off their latest lighting technology. The 1878 event in Pairs highlighted incandescent bulbs invented by Tomas Edison, and the 1939 fair in New York featured fluorescent technology. The present Shanghai Expo, which is running six months beginning on May 1, is focusing on light emitting diode (LED) technology. ...

The revenues generated by the global light emitting diode (LED) lighting market is projected to grow to US$5.2 billion by 2012 from 2007’s US$330 million, according to the Taiwan government-backed Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). In light of such promising forecast, a forum was held recently in Taipei, attended by insiders from industry and research institutes, to discuss how mak...

He has held the No. 1 position in the world’s incandescent-bulb decorative lighting market for 10 years, and the press in mainland China refers to him as the “Emperor of Global Lighting.” Now the Taiwan-born Ben Fan, chairman and chief executive officer of the Neo-Neon Holding Corp., which was founded in 1981 and today has annual revenues of US$200 million, is drawing up a strategy for the develo...

Taiwan’s acceptance as a full member of the International Commission on Illumination, better know by its French name of Commission Internationale de l’Eclairage (CIE), gives the island’s lighting industry an unprecedented chance to participate in the development of standards for the global illumination community. The CIE’s general assembly (the organization is headquartered in Vienna) ...

The spring edition of the Hong Kong International Lighting Fair 2010, held April 13-16 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, attracted 300 exhibitors form nine countries, with light emitting diode (LED) lights being widely shown. This year the focus was on LED lighting, due to its proven energy efficiency, durability, dimmability, versatile color and flexible design; while bu...

The LED making sector in Taiwan has recently been given a heavyweight confirmation, with leading chip foundry TSMC having broken ground on March 25 to set up its first LED-manufacturing complex composed of a factory and LED-lighting R&D center. TSMC’s CEO and chairman Morris Chang countered often reported news, saying he would never invest in a low-margin business flooded with excessive newcomers...

Taiwan’s light emitting diode (LED) industry has developed many appreciable technologies to offset its shortage of patents on key LED technologies as white-LED ingredient and phosphor formula. Taiwan leads the global LED supply by volume but far lags Japan in value, suggesting Taiwan’s production of low-end LEDs. So developing patented technologies will undoubtedly help make up for such ...

Attractive government incentives and vast market potential has LED chipmaker Tyntek Corp. thinking seriously about setting up an epitaxy wafer plant in mainland China. If this happens, reports the company’s chairman, Bosco Foo, the new plant will have over 100 metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) chambers. “The mainland’s authorities offer a subsidy of RMB10 million [US$1.4 million...

The mainland Chinese government subsidized the purchase of 62 million compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) as energy-saving replacements for incandescent bulbs in 2008, and another 150 million in 2009. This year, sales of yet another 150 million CFLs will be subsidized there. An estimated total of around 1.4 billion incandescent bulbs are being replaced throughout China because of energy-saving a...

Adding practical substance to the first Taiwan International Lighting Show, held Mar. 12-15 at the Taipei World Trade Center, people from government agencies, local lighting manufacturers, and academic bodies met late last year to advise the government on its lighting industry policy. During that meeting, Director General M.S. Yen of the Exhibition Department of the government-supported T...