What is "lumileds"

Lumileds Lighting was formed in November 1999 as a joint venture between Philips Lighting and Agilent Technologies. It develops and markets LEDs. Upon Philips' acquisition, Lumileds has become a business unit within Philips Lighting and is known as Philips Lumileds Lighting Company.

In March 2015, Lumileds’ parent company Philips agreed to sell an 80.1 percent stake in the business to the investment fund, Go Scale. In October 2015, Financial Times reported that the CFIUS regulatory body may block the $2.9B deal owing to fears of Chinese subversion of the US high-tech sector.

The deal was cancelled in January, 2016, due to the CFIUS concerns. Philips plans to pursue other buyers.

CFIUS concerns were based on transfer of Gallium Nitride semiconductor technology, which is used in LEDs as well as defense applications.