BOE

China-based BOE HC Semitek says that it is expanding its microLED business, from focusing on microLED epiwafer production to also developing microdisplays and optical I/O solutions.

The company says it has developed a monochrome microLED microdisplay, and is now working to improve the performance and the production yields. It is already shipping samples to potential customers, and is slated to begin low-volume commercial production soon. 

BOE has unveiled a new microLED-powered automotive heads-up display, that achieves an ultra-high brightness of 300,000 nits. BOE says that the new Panoramic HUD (PHUD) device utilizes AI for intelligent voice and gesture control, achieving a complex command recognition rate of up to 98%.

BOE also demonstrated a touch enabled transparent microLED display on a wood grain substrate, as you can see above, for automotive applications.

Researchers from BOE reported on a new microLED package design, that improves light output from microLED displays. 

The new design combines a high-refractive-index transparent adhesive, a high-reflectivity white adhesive and a microlens array. This new design increases light output, and uses the sidewall emission to significantly improve the optical efficiency of microLED displays. In addition to the adhesives and MLA, the researchers adopted a patterned design of the black matrix (BM) cover plate to further reduce light loss and improves the contrast. The result is a highly efficient display with an improved image quality. 

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.

In August 2023, China-based BOE HC Semitek started building its $700 million microLED epiwafer production line in Jinwan District, Zhuhai, China.

The company now held a ceremony marking the beginning of sample wafer production at the new line. This is the first phase of this project, and total investment to date is $275 million. It is likely that ramping up will take some time and full scale production of the first phase will take place later in 2025. When the fab is complete, with all three phases, it will have a yearly capacity of 58,000 6-inch microLED wafers. 

BOE had a large demonstrating at SID Displayweek 2024, showing several of its latest displays and prototypes - including many flexible and foldable OLED displays, automotive AMOLEDs, new OLED technology demonstrators and two OLED microdisplays.

BOE also showed a microLED display demonstrator, which it called the MicroLED Transformer Display, that included two panels that can connect in an almost seamless way (but not completely). The displays are flexible (curved) with a 0.3 mm pitch display (P0.3). Other specifications include a brightness of up to 2,000 nits (peak), and a refresh rate of 90Hz. 

China-based HC Semitek is embarking on a 5 billion Yuan project (almost $700 million USD) to produce microLED wafers in Jinwan District, Zhuhai, China. The project will have three phases, with the first one (estimated at $275 million) has officially started last month.

HC Semitek hopes to light up the new production line in September 2024, and to start production by December 2024. When all three phases are complete, the new production line will have a yearly capacity of 58,000 microLED wafers (we do not the wafer size at this project, but we estimate these are 8-inch wafers). It is not clear from the reports, but this production line may also produce mini LEDs, not just microLEDs.

BOE announced that it has developed a new high-transparency mini-LED directview display, that offers a transparency of 65% and a brightness of over 1,000 nits.

BOE says that it achieved this high performance by optimizing the pixel circuit and designing a new pixel structure. BOE also used a new innovative design for the transparent area (it achieved a transparency of 95% in the transparent areas) and an optimized wiring structure.