Ennostar

Ennostar Inc, that recently announced a restructure to merge Epistar and Lextar into a single company, says that it has recently achieved several significant breakthroughs in its microLED technology. 

First of all, Ennostar said that it has managed to improve the blue and green microLED light efficiency by 10% to 15%, and dramatically improve its red light efficiency by 90%. 

Ennostar Inc, established in 2021 as a joint venture between Epistar and Lextar, announced that it has decided to restructure and merge Epistar and Lextar into a single company that will be called Ennostar Corp. The merger will formally happen in October 2025.

Ennostar hopes that this move will help to accelerate the company's growth in the high-value-added optoelectronics market, which includes microLED displays, as the company wishes to increase its product range beyond LED devices into high level systems and solutions.

We're happy to interview Yenrich, as part of our series of interviews with MicroLED Industry Association members. Yenrich, spun-off from Epistar and now part of the Ennostar group, develops mini-LED and micro-LED packaging. The company is focused on direct-view displays, both miniLED based and microLED based.

Hello! Can you introduce your company and technology?

Yenrich, a member of Ennostar, focuses on the development of Mini/Micro LED technology and products for fine pitch displays and provides customers with integrated solutions of front-end chips and back-end system applications.

Q: Can you say why you joined the microLED association and what it is you hope to achieve?
1.    Learn the latest Mini/Micro LED technology and information from the MIA and get more correct product roadmap in this field
2.    Understand the needs of Micro LED for AR/VR and automotive applications and technology

Hon Hai Precision Industry (Foxconn) has announced that it has developed a new microLED microdisplay, in collaboration with Ennostar and Unikorn Semiconductor (a part of Ennostar). The company is showcasing the display at Touch Taiwan 2023 - a monochrome blue 0.12" 6500 PPI 200,000 nits display.

Foxconn says that the companies have optimized the structure of the microLED chips in a join project, and developed a new thin film protection technology tat reduces surface defects, improves external quantum efficiency, and increases product reliability. Foxconn has also developed its own quantum dots based color conversion technology that enables it to convert the display to full-color (that achieved a PPI of 3,600).

AU Optronics released some very interesting information as the company gets ready to showcase its latest microLED displays and technologies at Touch Taiwan 2023.

So first of all, AUO announced that it has finalized the development of its wearable microLED display, and the company is now launching the 1.39" round smartwatch display commercially. AUO demonstrated the wearable microLED display back in 2021 - a 1.39-inch 472x472 full-circle panel, that was developed together with PlayNitride. It's not clear when AUO actually plans to start selling this display to its customers, and what will be its production capacity.

Digitimes reports that PlayNitride is starting to sample microLED panels for 5 or 6 potential automotive customers. The customers are interested in flexible and transparent panels, and they have engaged PlayNitride in custom R&D projects to develop the required displays.

PlayNitride's CEO, Charles Li, noted that the company expects its customers to launch several concept car models in early 2024, equipped with the new microLED displays.

PlayNitride debuted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, and the company, now public, trades on the Taiwan Innovation Board - this is the first company on the new board. The ticker for PlayNitride is 6854.

PlayNitride revealed that in 2021 it posted a net loss of around $40 million USD. In the first seven months of 2022, its revenues reached around $7.3 million USD, up 255% from the same period in 2021. The Company also revealed that it currently produces between 1,500 to 2,000 6-inch microLED wafers each month. PlayNitride expects to turn a profit in 2023.

According to Ennostar, the company intends to invest around $122 million USD in its Epistar subsidiary, with an aim to setup a production capacity of 150mm microLED epitaxial wafers. The investment will be performed in several stages.

Ennostar also updates that Epistar has completed its mini LED chip production capacity, but the demand for such chips is lower than expected, and so the company's mini LED production utilization is not at 100%.

The MicroLED Industry Association (MIA) successfully concluded its kickoff meeting on August 2^nd. The work plan for the coming quarter was announced, and the association members were updated on work processes, collaboration activities and plans for the future.

The MIA is happy to announce that there are already over 15 members in the microLED association. In addition to its pre-launch founding members, the MIA welcomes the new members that joined since the official announcement on July 13. These companies include 3D Micromac, ASM Pacific Technology group, ClassOne Technology, Radiant Vision Systems and the Ennostar group (Epistar, Lextar, Yenrich and Unikorn).

Last week we reported that Ennostar Incorporation (formed by a merger of Taiwan's Epistar and Lextar in 2020) demonstrated a 10.6" transparent microLED display at Touch Taiwan 2021. We now have more information on Lextar's new display prototype.