AUO

AU Optronics revealed that the company plans to start mass producing microLED displays for wearable applications by the end of 2023. The company developed its own mass transfer technology that it says makes it possible to produce displays commercially. The company also plans to use microLED display technology to produce automotive displays, and TVs, later on.

AUO demonstrated a wearable microLED display back in 2021 - a a 1.39-inch 472x472 (338 PPI) full-circle panel, that was developed together with PlayNitride.

AUO, together with ITRI, developed a new 17.3" transparent microLED display, and deployed a few of these displays in a ferry operated by the Taiwan Kaohsiung Shipping Company. The Snoopy-featured Yawan Smart Ferry, will set sail for the first time on December 24, connecting Zhanerku, Cijin, and Gushan. The gesture-controlled AI smart window screen navigation system combines AR and eye tracking to show tourists information based on what they are looking at. 

The LTPS microLED displays offer a 1820x720 resolution and a 120Hz refresh rate. The transmittance is 55% and the peak brightness is 3,000 nits

PlayNitride is planning for an IPO, and if all goes according to plan, the company will issue new shares and will start trading at the newly launched Taiwan Stock Exchange Innovation Board in Q3 2022.

PlayNitride's CEO recently participated in an investor conference, during which he said that the company aims to be break-even (on a monthly basis) by the end of 2023, and to turn a profit in 2024.

AU Optronics have been showing new microLED display prototypes, and the following video from Insight Media shows the company's booth and new displays at SID Displayweek 2022.

You can see AUO's stretchable 141 PPI display (a very interesting demo, developed together with PlayNitride), the rollable 14.6" 2K (202 PPI) LTPS microLED display, AUO's 1.4" circular 454x454 (326 PPI) microLED another stretchable microLED, this one 6.45" in size with a 900x450 resolution (163 PPI), and finally AUO's 17.3" 2000-nits 1280x720 transparent (60% transparency) microLED prototype.

AU Optronics announced that it will showcase new MicroLED display prototypes next week at Touch Taiwan 2022.

AUO will show a rollable 14.6" microLED display, that offers a 2K resolution (202 PPI) with a 40 mm rolling radius. The company will also show a 17.3" 2000-nits 1280x720 transparent (60% transparency) microLED prototype. In 2021 the company demonstrated a smaller transparent display, which was even brighter at 3,000 nits.

According to reports from Korea, Samsung Display recently approached AU Optronics with a request to develop a 12.7" microLED LTPS TFT backplane to be used in Samsung's MicroLED TVs.

These new backplanes will be used in Samsung's 2022 microLED TVs. This will be a change from Samsung's current microLED TVs that use printed circuit boards (PCBs), and will allow Samsung to release TVs with higher pixel densities, and thus enable smaller 4K TVs. According to the report, Samsung's plan is to launch 89-inch, 101-inch and 114-inch LTPS-based microLED TVs in 2022.

Towards the end of 2020, Samsung announced it's first "consumer" 110-inch 4K MicroLED TV, and then in early 2021 it said it will release smaller microLED TVs, including 77" and 88" models.

According to a new report from Korea, Samsung Electronics canceled its plans to release these smaller microLED TVs, as the company could not reduce prices enough and the asking price for a 77" microLED would not be attractive to customers.

AUO Optronics is showing its latest microLED ALED display prototypes at SID DisplayWeek 2021. Most of these aren't new display (AUO already demonstrated these last month) but it's the first time we got these on video:

You can see the 1.39" 472x472 (338 PPI) full-circle microLED display, developed together with PlayNitride. You can also see AUO's 12.1-inch 169PPI microLED display it first demonstrated in SID 2020, and the 9.4-inch 228 PPI flexible microLED prototype it also developed together with PlayNitride.

AUO Optronics will demonstrate several new MicroLED display prototypes at Touch Taiwan 2021. AUO now brands its microLED displays as ALED displays.

The first display, which you see above, is a 1.39-inch 472x472 (338 PPI) full-circle microLED display. AUO says that this is the highest-density MicroLED display ever developed. AUO did not disclose more about this display (which was developed together with PlayNitride) but the company says that it offers ultra-wide viewing angles and high brightness.

Yole Developpement updated its MicroLED industry IP landscape report, and the company presented some interesting findings.

The number of MicroLED patents is now over 8,900, filed by almost 480 organizations. 40% of the patent families have been published in 2020.