5 Things to Know: July 19

On July 15, Acuity announced its third price increase of 2025, citing newly implemented global tariffs and continued market volatility. The adjustment, affecting luminaires and electronics, takes effect August 11. This follows a series of earlier increases: the first was implemented in late March, and just one week later after more tariff news hit, a second hike was formalized via an April 3 memo — giving distributors only a few business days' notice before the new pricing took hold on April 7.

This week’s July 15 notice offered a more standard lead time, with customers able to place orders at current prices through August 8. However, orders shipping after August 11 may be reviewed and subject to updated pricing, even if entered earlier. While pricing shifts tied to tariffs have become more common, the compressed timelines and cumulative impact of repeated mid-year increases from North America’s largest lighting manufacturer continue to be closely tracked across the channel.

Tijuana Economic Development Corporation (Tijuana EDC) recently spotlighted Signify’s relocation of its Bodine emergency lighting manufacturing operations from Collierville, Tennessee, to Tijuana, Mexico, in a blog post highlighting regional manufacturing advantages. Although the move was completed in April 2021, the post recaps the transition as a successful example of reconfiguring North American production strategy — particularly relevant as manufacturers continue reassessing supply chain resilience in 2025.

Signify reports that the shift helped streamline logistics, improve supply chain responsiveness, and enhance working capital efficiency. While production was consolidated in Mexico, the company retained marketing, R&D, and customer service in Tennessee. It also noted Tijuana’s availability of technically skilled labor capable of supporting the production of advanced emergency lighting products — including LED emergency drivers, retrofit kits, inverters, and fluorescent ballasts — as a key factor in the decision.

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As artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT and DeepSeek become more deeply embedded in creative industries, Chinese lighting designers are envisioning bold new roles for AI that extend far beyond productivity hacks. In a recent feature published by Chinese trade publication, A Lighting, leading designers from design firms including Liard Smart Technology and Xinda Dentsu shared numerous transformative ways they expect AI to shape the future of their profession.  Here are five of them:

1. Full-Spectrum AI Design Workflow
   Designers anticipate AI platforms that manage the entire lighting design process — from concept generation and lighting simulations to documentation and presentation. Instead of juggling multiple software programs, AI could streamline project workflows into a single, intelligent interface.
2. Real-Time Contextual Lighting Simulation
   AI is expected to simulate dynamic lighting environments that respond in real time to variables such as time of day, weather, and pedestrian traffic. This would elevate design accuracy and enable truly adaptive lighting schemes for urban and architectural spaces.
3. Prompt-to-Production Execution
   Future AI could generate fully formatted design deliverables — renderings, technical drawings, and presentation materials—from simple prompts or rough creative briefs. This capability would allow designers to move from concept to client-ready outputs with unprecedented speed.
4. AI-Driven Custom Manufacturing
   Designers see AI not only guiding design, but also seamlessly feeding specifications into manufacturing systems for custom or non-standard lighting solutions. This would enable precise, made-to-order production tailored to each project’s unique requirements.
5. Personalized Design Intelligence
   Rather than relying on generic AI outputs, designers envision tools that learn their individual style, preferences, and past work — effectively creating custom-trained AI assistants that evolve alongside the designer’s own creative growth.

As A Lighting reports, China’s lighting professionals are pushing AI integration beyond surface-level enhancements, imagining a future where AI is a deeply embedded collaborator — from initial sketches to final installation.

For months, Donna Woods walked her 89-year-old mother through the pitch-black stillness of Victoria Parc Estates, the one broken streetlight near her home casting an absence more than a shadow. With her mother concerned about safety and alligator attacks, Woods called Florida Power & Light. She followed up. She waited. Nothing.

Then, in a moment of quiet escalation, she turned to the media. WPTV Channel 5 News ran the story. Hours later, the light was fixed. The absurdity of the outcome — months of silence, then near-instant resolution once the cameras arrived — lands with a sort of bureaucratic finality. Donna is relieved. She’s also a little irritated. It shouldn’t take a news truck to restore a streetlight. But maybe it was just a slow news day.

Not a lighting story, but a lighting legacy:  Wolfspeed — the North Carolina-based silicon carbide technology company that originated as Cree Inc. in the 1990s — has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of a prepackaged restructuring plan backed by the majority of its creditors. The move, announced June 30, is designed to eliminate $4.6 billion in debt and cut annual interest payments by 60%, allowing the company to stabilize financially and accelerate its long-term growth strategy. Wolfspeed says it will continue normal operations, fulfilling orders and paying vendors as usual, with plans to exit bankruptcy by the end of Q3 2025.

While Wolfspeed no longer operates in the general lighting sector — Cree Lighting and Cree LED were spun off years ago — its roots in the industry remain relevant. The strategy here isn’t about distress, but about control: much like Lumileds’ fast-track bankruptcy in 2022, this filing reflects a company executing a financial reset with a clear plan in place. For those in the lighting space who remember Cree’s evolution, Wolfspeed’s move offers a reminder that restructuring doesn't always mean retreat — it can also signal a recalibrated advance.

In May 2019, when Cree, Inc. sold Cree Lighting to Ideal Industries, its stock traded above $65 per share. Yesterday, the stock of that same company — now known as Wolfspeed — closed the trading day at $1.53 per share.