France-based microLED developer Aledia has closed a new financing round, raising €120 million from existing investors. The company also appointed Pierre Laboisse as its CEO (Giorgio Anania, the previous CEO, remains on the company’s board of directors).

Aledia's investors include CEA Investissement, Supernova Invest, and the SPI and Ecotechnologies funds. In 2020 Aledia announced that it plans to establish a 140 million euros LED production fab in Champagnier, near Grenoble in France. The company already raised 110 million Euros towards that goal, and now it has raised another significant amount of money. In total, the company raised over €360 million to date.

Researchers from Korea's ETRI institute developed a new chip packaging material, that is said to reduce the power consumption of the process by 95%, and reduce the number of required stages from 8 to 3. This could make semiconductors production much more efficient and lower in cost. 

The technology is applicable to all high-end semiconductor production - including microLED production. Indeed the team reports that they have reached out to several microLED developers to evaluate the technology, and the initial testing has been very positive. The material could be commercialized in three years.

Taiwan-based MicroLED developer PlayNitride that it is increasing its production volume, and by the end of the year it will produce 10,000 6" wafers per month (that's up from about 2,000 wafers per month last year). 

PlayNitride is developing a wide range of displays: tiled large-area displays (PixeLED Matrix), wearable panels, microdisplays, transparent displays, and more.

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 58,800 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.

Apple has been developing microLED displays for wearable devices for many years, but the company and its production partners are not yet ready to initiate mass production. It was reported before that the company planned to launch the first microLED-powered watch in 2023, but this was delayed several times.

According to a new report by TrendForce, Apple delayed its microLED plans again, now hoping to introduce the first device in 2026. The main problem, as always, is the high production costs.

According to reports from Japan, AUO is thinking about closing down its 4.5-Gen AMOLED production line in Singapore, as the company is shifting its focus on microLED display technologies.

AUO's first target it to start producing wearable microLED displays. It has reportedly signed a deal with Tag Heuer to supply it with smartwatch displays. In April 2023 AUO 'launched' its wearable microLED display, and it seems it is ready to begin small scale production. It will take time for AUO to expand production, as the path towards low-cost and mass-production of microLED displays (even for applications such as smartwatches) it not clear yet. 

In June 2022 it was reported that JBD is building a $92 million USD display production line in Hefei. JBD now says that its production line has commenced operation, and is producing microLED microdisplays.

According to reports, the production line will have an annual capacity of around 120 million panels (likely JBD's 0.13" monochrome variant).

MicroLED developer VueReal says that it achieved a breakthrough in its MicroSolid Printing Platform, enabling it to go below 7um LED pitch (on the wafer) for full color microLED deposition. The company reports that its newest (and smallest) microLEDs show minimal impact on EQE, and this enables high-efficiency display production.

VueReal says that its new technology could soon compete on price with OLED displays while offering higher performance, and could be viable for many display segments - from wearables through smartphones to automotive and more. According to its current tests, its microLED displays will offer a brightness of 3,000 nits (and higher), while consuming around half the power compared to the latest AMOLED displays. In addition, its printing process is highly scalable and should not have a problem handling the demands of even the smartphone industry with hundreds of millions of displays per year.

Taiwan's Innolux says that it is working with customers to jointly develop microLED displays. The company does not yet announce any commercialization plans, but it is considering converting one of its 5.5-Gen LCD fabs to microLED panel production.

A year ago Innolux demonstrated a 12.3" microLED tiled seamless display module prototype, based on an LTPS backplane. The display achieves a brightness of 700 nits and a resolution of 480x180 (40 PPI).