With many national governments actively promoting the development and implementation of LED lighting, LED components and engines have become a major area of growth for the electronics industry with an expected market compound annual growth rate 20% over the next five years.

This growth is fueled by government-supported incentive programs encouraging the change from incandescent bulb technology to LED lamps. Additionally, technical improvements in lumens/W performance, brightness and warm and cool color ranges make more applications viable for LED solutions.

Finally, rising energy costs are driving interest in LEDs’ low-energy consumption, long life, and low maintenance requirements. LED technology is now suited for a growing number of applications – especially in the area of (smaller) signs and displays.





























Rock band U2’s latest world tour has a 360° shape LED screen that can change shape in all
directions during the concert. FCI was asked to replace an expensive custom interconnect with
a more typical (and economical) pin-on-socket solution for the application.

Today there are application-specific interconnects for every LED level, including connecting LEDs to printed circuit boards to form a string and small, direct-board-attach solutions. But the connector design, as such, is fairly limited; $1 in development costs for the LED requires up to $8 in costs for its total design package, which is mainly for power management, color controls, software and ICs. The connector content is typically less than 4% or $0.32, so while there are dedicated connector solutions created specifically for LED applications, many LED fixture designers tend to use more standard, off-the-shelf solutions or slightly modified ones.