Light bulbs haven't been sexy tech since Thomas Edison's day, but innovation has come to an industry that has seen relatively little of it for a century. Today, the lighting industry is in a remarkable state of flux, and much of it has been driven by government action.

The Bosch Group has inaugurated its new EUR530 million photovoltaics competence center in Arnstadt, Germany. The facility includes the company's solar energy division headquarters as well as R&D, PV cell and module production, and a training center under one roof. Together with an adjacent ingot and wafer manufacturing plant, Bosch covers all the steps in the crystalline-silicon value chain at this location.

As Japan rethinks its dependence on nuclear energy in the wake of the Fukushima nuclear accident, Sharp Corp. is out front in the discussion over what's next.

Smartphone manufacturer HTC is considering switching to Samsung's mobile application processors, industry sources said. HTC currently uses Qualcomm processors.

Citing the "deterioration in the overall industry climate as well as delays in the recognition of sales and earnings for projects currently under way," Roth & Rau has cut expectations for the second half of 2011 and withdrawn its forecast guidance for the year. "Given the reduction in demand for solar modules," the company stated, "some customers have reviewed their investment projects intended to expand their production capacities and postponed the agreed delivery dates."

Osram Opto Semiconductors says its new infrared III-V CHIPLEDs are ideal for small and medium size touch displays.

LG Display Co., the world's second-largest maker of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels, reported Thursday a third straight quarterly operating loss for the second quarter as consumers held back TV purchases on an uncertain economic outlook.

This particular poker game had a twist - the ante went up every hand and you had to play every hand. If you left the table, you were out of the game. Does the analogy hold true today?

BP Solar is closing its U.S. manufacturing facility and will refocus is business on developing solar power projects rather than making panels for them, a company spokesman said on Thursday.

Citing strong global smartphone adoption and the "expanded opportunities" afforded by its completed acquisition of Wi-Fi chipmaker Atheros, Qualcomm also raised its revenue and (non-GAAP) earnings guidance for the rest of the year.

According to a report soon to be published in Solar Energy, the official journal of the International Solar Energy Society, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels on roofs are also doing a surprisingly good, if unexpected, job of keeping houses and buildings cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

Solar energy is gaining fans in homeowners who aren't just tree huggers - they're penny pinchers.

A $1.2 billion write-down by solar equipment maker REC on Tuesday highlighted the pain being inflicted by aggressive Chinese competition and may herald wider consolidation in the sector and flattening of prices.

"Demand growth is likely to be weaker than usual in the third quarter, as customers are delaying purchases due to slow global economic growth," Hynix said.

The company's revenue outlook for the current quarter was also higher than what Wall Street anticipated.

Prices of LED lamps and luminaires have almost halved in the past 6-9 months, thanks to a fall in global prices of their chips and local production by Philips.

General Electric Co. has provided capital, alongside other investors, to Nuventix, the creator of an LED cooling technology for energy-efficient lighting.

Solar panels on building roofs don't just provide clean energy they also cool the building, according to researchers at the University of California San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering.

Suppliers of photovoltaic modules have suffered from gross margins falling by more than 25 percent this year. That's according to IMS Research, which said there's a tough price war in the industry with supplier not able to cut costs as much as prices, so eroding the margins.

The European Photovoltaic Industry Association (EPIA) will, for the first time, bring together industry leaders and the financial community for a Photovoltaic Investors Day on September 6.

Renewable Energy Corporation, one of the world's biggest makers of solar power equipment, said the worst was over for the solar industry after a sharp drop in prices this year resulted in heavy second-quarter losses for the Norwegian group.

At the Semicon West trade show, ESI announced an ascribing system that maximizes LED light output, a packaging system that utilizes a laser to drill vias in the die, and a tester than can handle 48,000 LEDs per hour.

China-based solar equipment maker LDK Solar Co Ltd said on Monday the chairman of its audit committee had resigned, and its shares fell to their lowest level in a year.

Silicon Valley is one of the world's cleantech big-idea centers but so far it's been Chinese manufacturers -- not valley entrepreneurs -- who are dominating the global solar industry. The Chinese are winning by driving down production costs through incremental innovation, said Zhengrong Shi, founder and CEO of China-based Suntech Power, the world's largest producer of solar panels.

The Italian utility network authority has published a list of the photovoltaic installations that qualify for governmental solar subsidies this year. However, the prerequisite is that they are connected to the grid in time.

Samsung LED Co Ltd said it had filed a complaint with the US fair trade commission to ban imports of LED products from Siemens' light bulb unit Osram and affiliates Osram Opto Semiconductors and Osram Sylvania Inc.

While estimates of how many jobs are being created in "green industries" are never easy, a report by nonprofit research institution Brookings has found that 2.7 million workers are now employed in industries that also benefit the environment, such as photovoltaics.

Chinese manufactures of photovoltaic crystalline silicon cells and modules, China Sunergy, has opened its U.S. headquarters in San Francisco.

TSMC has begun trial manufacturing of next generation chips for Apple's mobile devices, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

David Wang has resigned as CEO of Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp. (SMIC), according to the China-based foundry, which named Wenyi Zhang chairman of the board of directors and acting CEO.

In an effort to increase its competitiveness in the North American consumer market, Toshiba Corp. (Tokyo: 6502) is selling its Chihuahua, Mexico-based LCD production facilities to PC manufacturer Compal Electronics Inc. The announcement, made in a press release today, comes on the heels of market reports that LCD TV demand in North America is "alarmingly" weak, despite increasing prices for LCD panels worldwide.

On July 13, 2011, Solar Frontier K.K. (Tokyo, Japan) announced that it has begun shipping 150 watt copper indium selenium (CIS) solar photovoltaic (PV) modules from its Kunitomi Plant in Japan.