Mini-LEDs

TCL CSOT announced that it has acquired 80% of Fujian Zhaoyuan Optoelectronics, for 490 million Yuan (around $70 million USD). TCL hopes that this acquisition will strengthen its in-house miniLED and microLED capabilities and technologies.

Fujian ZhaoYuan Optoelectronics (also known as Fujian Prima Optoelectronics) develops and produces LED epitaxial wafers and LED chips. It operates a mass LED production facility, and focuses on miniLED direct-view displays, automotive lighting and LCD backlighting units.

As we reported last week, China-based display and device maker HKC announced that next year it will ship the world's first RGB mini-LED backlit monitor, the M10 Ultra. This will be a 31.4-inch 4K panel, that will have 4,788 dimming zones (so a total of 14364 miniLED chips).

HKC says that the M10 Ultra will offer a 165 Hz refresh rate (or 330Hz at FHD resolution) and a wide color gamut, 100% BT.2020, sRGB, DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB. The company did not release the expected price of its new monitor, or any exact shipping dates.

Chinese display maker HKC announced that it is set to launch a new LCD monitor panel, that is backlit by RGB mini-LEDs. The company promises that this new monitor will offer superior on-screen color reproduction, compared to white-backlighted LCDs, or blue-QD LCDs.

In the past few months, we have seen Samsung announce the first RGB MicroLED TV, and we expect Sony and LG Electronics to follow suit. HKC is looking at a different market segment, and is utilizing mini-LEDs. Samsung's solution (and likely LG's and Sony's too) is extremely expensive, it will be interesting to see how HKC prices its RGB mini-LED LCD monitor.

India-based Titan Intech announced plans to build a display facility in Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, India. The company did not share any details on the facility type - but it did say that it signed an MoU with the local government, and it has also signed up a South-Korean OEM partner that will support with technology transfer and assistance. The total investment in the project is around $28 million USD, and it will employ 200 people directly.

Titan further said that in the future it plans to expand into new display areas, including miniLEDs and microLEDs. Titan Intech, established in 1984, is involved in many fields, including software development and telecommunication - and is also a designer of LED video screens and LED luminaires. 

Last year, we posted that adhesive developer and MicroLED Association member DELO has conducted in-house feasibility studies, that shows that their directional conductive adhesives can be used to replace soldering in miniLED, and microLED displays. The bonding was found to be reliable with high yields.

DELO has continued its miniLED project, and has now announced that it has examined their durability over extended test periods. The company says that it has shown that directional conductive adhesives are not only technically feasible for miniLEDs but also reliable in long-term conditions that realistically reflect industrial environments. The company believes that adhesives could play a role in microLED display production as well.

During CES 2025, Samsung Electronics demonstrated a 98-inch 8K microLED-backlit LCD TV, branding it as RGB MicroLED TV. This is not a true microLED TV, as it is not emissive, but unlike other LED- and miniLED- backlit LCDs, this one uses smaller red, green and blue microLEDs.

Samsung now says that it plans to launch this new TV, at a size of 115-inch, later in 2025. This will be Samsung's most premium LCD TV. One of the main advantages over its current miniLED-backlit LCDs, is the use of red, green, and blue microLEDs, rather than blue miniLEDs and color-conversion (QD and phophors) technology to create white-emitting LEDs. This should enable a larger image gamut. The microLEDs may also contribute to a higher contrast compared to the bigger miniLEDs, as there will be better dimming zone control.

Sony has announced that it has developed a new next-generation display technology, which it refers to as RGB LED backlighting, which basically uses red, green and blue mini-LEDs to drive LCD displays.

Current mini-LED backlighting units use blue LEDs, color converted into white color, to form the backlighting of LCD displays. In its new technology, Sony uses three different miniLEDs in each dimming zone, which removes the need to color convert. Sony says that its new technology can enable brighter (up to 4,000 nits) displays with an increase color gamut and wider viewing angles. The company demonstrated a 75-inch RGB LED LCD display that uses 96,000 LEDs to create 32,000 dimming zones.

Adhesive developer and MicroLED Association member DELO has conducted in-house feasibility studies, that shows that their directional conductive adhesives can be used to replace soldering in miniLED, and microLED displays. The bonding was found to be reliable with high yields.

DELO says that current microLED displays use solder materials to interconnect the LEDs to the display backplane. But as chip size gets smaller, isotopic conductive materials (like solder) is not reliable as it is difficult to avoid short circuits, and so production yields suffer.

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.

We're happy to interview Yenrich, as part of our series of interviews with MicroLED Industry Association members. Yenrich, spun-off from Epistar and now part of the Ennostar group, develops mini-LED and micro-LED packaging. The company is focused on direct-view displays, both miniLED based and microLED based.

Hello! Can you introduce your company and technology?

Yenrich, a member of Ennostar, focuses on the development of Mini/Micro LED technology and products for fine pitch displays and provides customers with integrated solutions of front-end chips and back-end system applications.

Q: Can you say why you joined the microLED association and what it is you hope to achieve?
1.    Learn the latest Mini/Micro LED technology and information from the MIA and get more correct product roadmap in this field
2.    Understand the needs of Micro LED for AR/VR and automotive applications and technology