AUO reiterates its plans to mass produce microLED smartwatch displays by the end of 2023, to expand microLEDs to TVs and Automotives
During the company's latest conference call, AU Optronics made some interesting remarks on its microLED project. First of all, the company intends to continue investing in micro-LED technologies going forward. That's not a surprise. Second, the company re-iterated its plans to mass produce microLED smartwatch displays by the end of 2023.
AUO also says it plans to apply microLED displays to an "increasing number of high end TV and automotive display products". AUO will increase its microLED display range and make it commercially available to more products and applications. As far as we know, this is the first time that AUO discusses microLED TVs.
ams Osram signs a $420 million sale-and-lease agreement for its Kulim microLED production site
ams Osram is progressing with its microLED production fab project in Kulim, Malaysia, and the company has now signed a sale-and-lease agreement with three local Malaysian funds, with a total sum of 2 billion RM (or about $420 million USD).
ams Osram will sell its Kulim facility (The building itself) to Permodalan Nasional Bhd (PNB), the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) and Retirement Fund (KWAP), and will lease it back for at least 10 years. The deal is expected to be formally signed by December 2023.
Aledia raises €120 million from existing investors as it starts to mass produce microLEDs
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.
ETRI researchers develop a highly efficient semiconductor chip packaging technology, applicable for microLED production
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.
PlayNitride to expand its production volume to 10,000 6-inch wafers per month by the end of 2023
Taiwan-based MicroLED developer PlayNitride says 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.
JBD starts shipping full-color RGB microLED microdisplay samples
China-based MicroLED microdisplay developer Jade Bird Display have started shipping engineering samples of single-panel RGB microLED microdisplays. The company brands these new microdisplays as the Phoenix series, while its monochrome panels are now branded as Hummingbird. The Phoenix series is designed to be used with 50+ degree FOV waveguides.
JBD's first Phoenix samples are 0.22" panels, with a 2K resolution (2.5 um pixel pitch). The three LEDs (RGB) are all AlInGaN emitters, and are vertically stacked. JBD says that its plans for a standard product include a 0.3-inch panel with 4K resolution (2 um sub-pixel pitch. The company expects to begin full mass production in 2025.
HC Semitek starts building a $700 million microLED production line in Zhuhai, China
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.
TrendForce: Apple delays the launch of its microLED smartwatch further to 2026
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.
AU Optronics may close down its OLED fab as it focuses on microLED display technologies
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.
JBD says its new microLED fab in Hefei is now starting display production
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).
