Cree Inc., a maker of light-emitting diode, or LED, products, said Tuesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income fell 49% because of higher expenses, but revenue grew and adjusted earnings topped Wall Street's expectations.

In the presence of high-ranking representatives of the Jiangsu province, OSRAM AG laid the foundation of its new plant in the Chinese city of Wuxi.

Once again, it's not shaping up to be a great year for television makers, says market researcher NPD DisplaySearch, but not all is gloomy. While the overall television market will be cooling slightly for 2012, growth is still expected in key areas such as LED-backlit sets, 3D televisions, and displays larger than 50 inches.

Seoul Metropolitan Government has announced plans to replace lighting in all public areas including subway stations, streets and city government offices with LED lighting by 2018.

Universal Display Corporation /quotes/zigman/59127/quotes/nls/panl PANL -10.43% , the leading OLED patent licensor and supplier of materials and technologies for energy-efficient OLED displays and lighting, and Plextronics, Inc., a leader in the development and manufacture of printed electronics technologies, announced today they have entered into a strategic alliance to accelerate the development and commercialization of solution-based OLED material systems.

China's largest rare-earth producer plans to launch a trading platform, according to a company newsletter, in the nation's latest attempt to exert more control over the pricing of the strategically important minerals.

The LED lighting industry of Guangdong province, which accounts for 70% of the national output, may suffer more than CNY4 billion(US$628.6 million) in losses with the higher technical standards set by the European Union, the United States, Chile and Uganda.

Cree has rolled out the new XLamp XP-G2 LED family, which is directly compatible with the prior XP-G components, including optics designed for those components, and which is based on the company's third-generation manufacturing-technology platform.

Philips Lumileds announced the Luxeon Z series of LEDs with models across the color space from 670-440 nm, and in phosphor-converted 4000K white.

A Japanese firm is now firming up talks with a local company for a possible partnership involving the establishment of a US$200-million LED (light-emitting diode) factory in the country.

Light Emitting Diode (LED) lights will come into use by 2014 in the country, enabling the Government to save RM300 million every year on energy expenses for streetlights.

The pro-bailout New Democracy party came in first Sunday in Greece's national election and could gather enough support to form a pro-bailout coalition to keep the country in the eurozone.

In an attempt to save electricity and help avoid power shortages this summer, the Japanese government is expected to ask major electronics retailers and home appliance makers to voluntarily put an end to both the sales and production of traditional incandescent light bulbs.

China's lighting suppliers producing light-emitting diodes (LED) and energy-saving products are expected to receive a huge subsidy, which experts said yesterday will speed up the industry's consolidation.

Improving lighting efficiency is an investment in the future. Yet costs have been prohibiting many people from becoming early adaptors of energy efficient commercial lighting such as LED lighting.