Despite the faltering economy, Cree Inc’s CEO Chuck Swoboda told Reuters that he expects demand for LED lighting to grow in the next year. Although he described the company’s third quarter as a "quiet period," he remained optimistic about the future, saying

"When you look at energy efficiency there aren’t many things that can have as big an opportunity in the near term as switching to more efficient lighting," Swoboda said.

He also advised that even though many companies are scaling back on larger projects, smaller projects "are continuing on at a relatively reasonable rate."

"We know our customers are working, but in terms of how fast any of those turn into specific projects where the bidding has gone out and they’ve selected the winner, unfortunately I just don’t think we know yet," Swoboda said, adding that LED adoption would pick up in the next year with or without help from the economic stimulus.