Micro-LED Production

In 2021, Visionox's Vistar announced that its full-process pilot microLED production line is now capable of producing displays, from driver backplane, through transfer process to full module production. The LED chips themselves are produced by a third party.

Today we understand that Vistar's Chenxian Optoelectronics (its JV that is in charge of the microLED line) has held a ceremony as it has moved in equipment to its mass production line. It is reported that the company will install more than 200 pieces of equipment in the next 2 weeks. It could be that Vistar is scaling up its line, or maybe it is also adding capabilities.

The microLED display technology is highly promising, as these displays offer increased brightness, efficiency and lifetime over the current LCD and OLED displays. However adoption of microLED displays in the major display markets is still years away. One display segment that could see adoption of microLED display sooner, is the transparent display sector.

Transparent displays are very interesting and have been researched for many years - and we have seen commercial adoption of transparent LCD, LED and OLED displays. These never achieved meaningful market success, but microLED developers hope that once microLED transparent displays are available this could change, thanks to the higher transparency and brightness offered by microLEDs compared to OLEDs and LCDs.

In recent years, we have seen many companies demonstrating transparent microLED prototypes, and even deploying some solution commercially. We will detail some of these recent advances below.

During the company's recent conference call, AUO said that the company is undergoing a strategic transformation, focusing on mobility solutions, vertical solutions, and the display segment. The company gave several interesting statements regarding its microLED project and investments.

First of all, the company says that microLED is a priority for the company, and it plans to allocate more resources into its microLED projects. AUO says that its microLED technology is 'gaining traction', and that it is producing microLED displays commercially, but it did not detail more. The company believes it is the leader in microLED development.

In June 2022, Tianma Microelectronics announced plans to establish a 1.1 billion Yuan ($164 million USD) full-process microLED pilot line, in Xiamen. A few days ago, Tianma announced that its production line has commenced trial production. The new production line is co-located with a 8.6-Gen LCD fan at the Tongxiang High-Tech New Town in Xiamen.

Tianma also detailed the first microLED display is produced at the new plant, a 7.5" module aimed towards tiled displays, that offers a brightness of 600 nits and a low 5% reflectance. This is the first time we hear of a tiled microLED display from Tianma, and hopefully Tianma will soon show a large-area TV based on these modules.

MicroLED display developer VueReal announced a strategic partnership with PMOLED producer RiTDisplay display, that will enable device makers to access VueReal's microLED display technologies.

VueReal and RiTDisplay have been collaborating for several years, co-developing automotive displays and lighting solutions. The two companies will now target the consumer market with high-performance and cost-effective displays. The displays will be based on RiT's passive-matrix backplane and VueReal's microLED frontplane solutions.

MicroLED display developer VueReal announced that it plans to double its microLED manufacturing space. VueReal says that its upgraded and expanded facilities serve as both a production center for its customers and also as a blueprint for its partners to build their own fabs.

VueReal is currently offering microLED display production for the automotive market, and it is now also entering the consumer market, targeting wearable devices, TVs, IT applications, and AR products with its MicroSolid Printing platform. 

During AUO's recent investor conference call, the company updated on its microLED project and made some interesting comments. First of all, AUO says that it has started to ship wearable microLED display panels at the end of 2024 (that's in line with AUO's previous announcement).

As far as we know, AUO is working with a Swiss luxury watch producer (like Tag Hauer) that will announce its microLED smartwatch soon. AUO says that it expects to expand its wearable microLED production soon.

US-based signage leader STRATACACHE announced that it has signed a strategic research and IP licensing agreement with US-based Lumiode that will enable STRATACACHE to integrate Lumiode's technology in its upcoming E4 microLED production line in Eugene, Oregon.

Lumiode's technology enables the deposition of an active matrix backplane directly on the LED structure. Lumiode's technology enables the production of both large-area displays and small microdisplays, and it is likely that STRATACACHE is interested in the former.