Around the web
28 Jul 201127 Jul 201126 Jul 201125 Jul 2011
Solar panels integrated on LED area-light poles feed power onto the grid during daytime peak electrical usage to compound the energy savings of SSL technology.
LEDs Magazine
New SSL street-light projects in Boston, MA and Weston, FL utilize Philips Hadco and Roadway luminaires, and Philips SpeedStar luminaires serve in a UK pilot.
LEDs Magazine
3M Co. said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit grew 3.4 percent. That's not bad, but it would have risen more if not for the earthquake in Japan and a big slowdown in its business making coatings for LCD television screens.
Bloomberg (via Businessweek)
Expectations for global TV shipments have been cut by three percent as demand for LCD screens in developed nations drops.
Tech Eye.net
Corning Inc lowered its global forecast for the glass market and warned that manufacturers including Sony Corp and Samsung are cutting their TV sales forecasts as fewer consumers are expected to buy their sets this holiday, sending shares down nearly 7%.
Reuters
LG Electronics Inc. said Wednesday its second-quarter net profit fell 87% from a year earlier due to sharply lower investment gains from its flat-panel making unit and squeezed operating margins at its home appliance and air-conditioning businesses.
Wall Street Journal
LED lighting technology pioneer Dialight hoisted first half revenues by 12% - then predicted it can exceed expectations for the full year.
Business weekly
Q-Cells SE, once the world's largest solar cell maker, said it's spending 17 million euros ($25 million) to expand output of higher-priced modules as a way to diversify away from its main products.
Bloomberg
In what may come as a surprise to some, BP Solar has revealed its intention to apply the brakes to its distribution network and module expertise in order to concentrate on project development. In a statement sent to its partners, the company explained that it had made the strategic decision in order to profitably grow over the long term.
Solar Power Portal
LDK Solar Co., Ltd., a vertically integrated manufacturer of photovoltaic (PV) products, today announced that its PV Module Lab located in Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, China, has officially taken part in Intertek Group's Satellite Program.
Solar Novus
Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ) said its second-quarter shipments will beat its earlier expectations, but gross margins are expected at the lower end of its guidance.
Wall Street Journal
The prices of solar panels are falling fast, and that's putting enormous pressure on manufacturers to cut costs and improve the amount of power solar cells can convert from sunlight.
Reuters
STMicroelectronics fell the most in a decade in Paris trading after CEO Carlo Bozotti said there will be a "correction" in sales and gross margin in the third quarter because of difficulties at customer Nokia.
Bloomberg
Patent licensing company Rambus made a net loss of US$10.6 million on revenues of US$66.2 million in the second quarter of 2011. However, the company guided that it would be profitable in the third quarter on rising revenues.
EE Times
Samsung Electronics CEO Choi Gee-sung said on July 26 that the firm has no plans to revise down its capex for the second half and that its bread-and-butter memory chip business would get additional investment this year.
Reuters
DuPont announced on Monday that it has bought Innovalight, a Silicon Valley startup that makes silicon ink that solar-cell makers can use to improve the amount of electricity that the cells can squeeze out of sunlight. DuPont declined to disclose the purchase price.
Reuters
The next generation of solar cells may be printed on ordinary paper.
Bloomberg
Samsung Electronics, maker of the Galaxy mobile phone, may have surpassed Nokia and Apple in smartphone sales for the first time on demand for devices that run on Android software, a research company said.
Bloomberg
Texas Instruments sounded a warning for the holiday season as it reported lacklustre activity from manufacturers in computing and consumer electronics, including TVs and gaming machines.
The Financial Times
"Skyworks exceeded all key metrics last quarter and we see a steep growth trajectory heading into the second half of calendar 2011," said David J. Aldrich, president and CEO of Skyworks.
Company release
Korea Exchange Bank said in a statement that STX and SK Telecom, which both submitted their initial interest in a combined 15% stake, began six weeks of due diligence from Monday.
Reuters
GE Lighting announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Lightech, a privately held, advanced lighting technology leader based near Tel Aviv, Israel, with commercial teams in Europe, the U.S. and Asia.
LEDs Magazine
Korean-based LG Innotek, a vertically-integrated manufacturer of LEDs for displays and lighting, claims it has built the single-largest LED production complex in the world in Paju, Korea. The manufacturing facility performs all aspects of LED production, from epitaxial wafer growth to LED module production.
LEDs Magazine
Samsung Electronics has retained its unrivaled leadership in 3D TV both in North America and Europe where TV makers compete fiercely.
Al Bawaba
First Solar Inc. has announced the sale of its 9.9 megawatt solar plant near Zamora, Spain to European Solar Power Fund, a renewable energy-focused fund for institutional investors managed by KGAL.
PV Magazine
Ten years to the day that Q-Cells manufactured its first solar cell, the company has revealed that it is independently launching production of its Q.Peak high-performance module at its Solar Valley Thalheim headquarters.
PV-Tech
Horace Luke has resigned as HTC's chief innovation officer.
BGR
SunPower has updated its expected fiscal second-quarter financial results, joining a growing number of PV manufacturers adjusting to weaker-than-expected demand in the second quarter of 2011.
PV-Tech
Research in Motion is to slash its workforce by over 10% as it kicks off a company-wide cost-cutting drive.
The Independent
Bizjournals.com
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.
Ars Technica
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