Market research firm Yole Développement has been following the Micro-LED market for some years with some very interesting insights and forecasts.
Yole's technology & market analyst Zine Bouhamri was kind enough to discuss Yole's Micro-LED views with us. Mr. Zine is is a member of the Photonics, Sensing & Display division at Yole and he's deeply involved in the business development of the Displays unit activities.
US-based Rohinni announced a new joint venture with China-based display maker BOE. The new JV (which will be based in China and controlled by BOE) will develop LCD mini-LED and micro-LED backlighting units.
The JV will adopt Rohinni's proprietary high-speed MicroLED placement technology that is capable of placing 50 die-per-second (dps) with 10 micron accuracy at 99.999% die yields. BOE and Rohinni will initially focus on large panel applications (32-inch and up) for consumer electronic products in addition to all display sizes for industrial, automotive and other markets
In September 2018 we reported that China-based San'an Optoelectronics is gearing up to setup its first micro-LED epitaxial wafer and chip production line in Q1 2019.
According to Digitimes, San'an now plans to start sampling Micro LED chips as early as January 2019. San'an says that micro-LEDs are not mature yet, but early trial adoption will begin in the second half of 2019 - for movie theaters, TVs and automotive displays.
According to Digitimes, China-based Sa'nan Optoelectronics is gearing up to setup its first micro-LED epitaxial wafer and chip production line in Q1 2019. San'an developed 20-micron micro-LEDs, and the company is now aiming to develop 4-micron LEDs and 10-micro LED flip-chips.
According to the report, San'an aims to start small-volume micro-LED production to be used for wearables, automotive taillights and large-area displays. The company's green and blue micro-LEDs are ready for commercialization, but its red chips still require development.
At the Touch Taiwan 2018 trade show, LED developer Lextar Electronics introduced its first micro-LED chips. The company unveiled two technologies - RGB chips and color conversaion chips - with both chips meeting the requirements of mass transfer processes.
Lextar micro-LEDs can be scaled down to 20 um - and feature a luminous efficiency of over 30%.
US-based Rohinni announced a new joint-venture with Magna Electronics to develop flexible mini-LED and micro-LED based lighting devices for the automotive market.
The new JV, controlled by Magna Electronics will be called Magna Rohinni Automotive Electronics and will be based in Holly, Michagan, US. In addition to the JV, Magna also made a minority equity investment in Rohinni.
n-tech Research says that the Micro-LED market will emerge in 2019, with sales reaching $2.7 billion. The market will grow very quickly to reach over $70 billion in 2027.
n-Tech says that the immediate markets for Micro-LED displays will be near-eye displays (AR/VR), automotive HUDs and projectors - as these will benefit mostly from the small size, low weight, high brightness and high resolution of Micro-LED displays. Wearables (smartwatches) is another lucrative market (n-Tech sees $1.6 billion in smartwatch Micro-LED display sales in 2022).
AUO demonstrated a micro-LED display, which it says is the world's highest resolution full-color TFT micro-LED.
The 8" panel features a resolution of 1280x480 (169 PPI). The micro-LEDs use blue LED chips with color conversion, on an LTPS backplane. AUO did not disclose any roadmap to commercialize this technology.
Digitimes Research says that China-based smartphone makers (including Huawei, Oppo and Xiaomi) are planning to adopt mini LED backlit LCD panels in future smartphones as an alternative for AMOLED displays.
The Chinese phone makers have reached out to Taiwan-based LED makers to start making mini-LED backlighting units by June 2018. Currently the OLED market is in an over-demand situation which means that securing enough AMOLED capacity is not easy - and it also drives prices up. According to IHS, the situation will reverse in 2018, though.
Taiwan's Innolux demonstrated a new prototype mini-LED display. The 10.1" panel features a resolution of 1540x720 (168 PPI) and it seems to be a monochrome white display. Innolux hopes to commercialize such displays by 2020.
Innolux says that this type is very suitable for automotive applications - as it has an almost infinite contrast (similar to OLED displays) and it can also work in the demanding temperatures required by the automotive industry. Innolux hopes that such mini-LED displays can find a market and be a bridge before the company can develop micro-LED displays with higher densities and increased brightness.