In August 2023, China-based BOE HC Semitek started building its $700 million microLED epiwafer production line in Jinwan District, Zhuhai, China. In October 2024, the company announced that it started producing sample wafers.
A few days ago the company held a ceremony as it is starting to mass produce 6-inch microLED wafers, as the project enters its commercial stage. BOE now has a full microLED industry chain, from epiwafers to modules and applications.
BOE says that its microLED 6" wafer product achieves 99.99% ultra-high yield (it's not clear what this refers to exactly), and by the end of 2025 it will achieve a monthly capacity of 1,000 sets of RGB wafers (i.e. 3,000 wafers in total), enough to make 250 billion pixels. BOE's total potential production capacity at the Jinwan fab can reach 30,000 monthly wafers.
BOE is currently focused on two microLED chip types: 15x30 micron (its 1530 chips), 220x225 micron (MPD 0202). Note that these larger chips should actually be referred to as miniLEDs.
The company also disclosed that it is working on three applications: 0.12" AR microdisplays (that offer up to 1 million nits of brightness, with 3.75 micron pixel pitch), 162-inch 4K TVs (tiled display, 0.3 mm pitch) and automotive HUDs (431 PPI, with a brightness of 150,000 nits)
In February 2022 Aixtron announced that HC Semitek is using Aixtron's Planetary AIX 2800G4-TM and AIX G5+ C MOCVD systems to produce microLEDs. All of these systems, shipped in Q4 2021, feature a configuration of 8x6 inches. Following a $285 million investment in 2023, BOE holds a controlling stake of HC Semitek.
