Toshiba plans to exit packaged LED business as part of semiconductor business restructuring

Toshiba Corporation has announced a major restructuring of its semiconductor operation including both the LSI (digital IC) and discrete component sectors. The discrete sector includes the white packaged LED business and Toshiba said it would exit the LED business by the end of 2015. The announcement made no mention of any sale or transfer of Toshiba's gallium-nitride-on-silicon (GaN-on-Si) packaged LED technology developments that have been approaching the performance of sapphire-based LEDs and that presumably could have delivered packaged LED cost reductions.