Taiwan-based Micro-LED developer Mikro Mesa's chariman, Chen Li-yi, estimates that it will be difficult for micro-LEDs to compete with OLED displays in the small/medium display market - but the opportunity for large area displays is more promising.
According to Chen, 55" micro-LED panels will be competitive in cost with LCDs, and if companies manage to achieve yields of over 80%, a 55-inch micro-LED will be cheaper by around 30% from an equivalent high-end LCD.
Mikro Mesa has managed to cut the transfer time of a 55" micro-LED panel from 7 hours to 7.5 minutes. According to Chen, a production line that will be able to produce 17 55" panels per minute will cost around $510 million, lower than the price of an equivalent LCD fab. There are of course still technical issues to overcome, including mass transfer, residual fine particles, AOI (automated optical inspection) and electrical characterization