Seoul Viosys, a developer of UV LED technology and a subsidiary of Seoul Semiconductor, announced this week that customer inquiries for its violeds UV LED products, which can be used for sterilizing bacteria, increased more than five times over the previous month, fueled by concerns over the continuing global spread of the virus causing COVID-19. With growing concerns over the spread of the virus, several Chinese automotive companies are actively reviewing adoption of Seoul’s violeds UV LED technology in sterilization systems for vehicle interiors. Violeds UV LED technology has also been used by NASA aboard the International Space Station to provide a germ-free environment for astronauts. Seoul’s violeds UV LED technology has been adopted by Maltani, the largest Korean lighting company, for sterilization lighting applications, and by RGF Environmental Group, an in-duct air treatment supplier in the U.S. known for its Halo-LED indoor air quality system. Seoul Viosys said that until recently many companies had been conservative in their adoption of UV LED technology due to conventional UV LEDs having a typically short lifetime (10,000 hours) and high cost. The company said it has improved the lifetime of its violeds UV LED to more than 50,000 hours, comparable to visible LEDs used for general lighting applications, and also increased production capacity to achieve cost competitiveness. The company states that 60 seconds of UV-C (100-280 nm) LED light exposure can sterilize 90% of coronavirus viruses and 97% of influenza-type viruses. “Seoul Viosys is committed to developing technology that protects human health and creates a cleaner world, and we have long been involved in developing UV LEDs for innovative biomedical and agricultural applications,” said Chung Hoon Lee, CEO of Seoul Semiconductor. “We hope that Seoul’s violeds UV LED technology will help protect human health and create a cleaner world in the face of the current health situation.”