VR / AR - Page 3

LED developer Seoul Semiconductor has entered in a government-approved restructuring plan, as its traditional LED package market is suffering from reduced prices and profitability.

Seoul Semiconductor has decided to direct 250 billion Won ($180 million USD) investment in the next 5 years, mostly into the R&D and manufacturing of microLED microdisplay modules, for AR applications. The company will base the new microdisplays on its own WICOP (Wafer Integrated Chip on PCB) technology. 

Korea-based microLED backplane developer Sapien Semiconductors announced that it has received $1.56 million purchase order from a major US-based tech company, for the supply  of microLED display driver ICs. 

These microLED drivers will be used in AR smart glasses - and has been developed by Sapien for this specific company.

Saphlux has successfully completed its Series C funding round, raising 300 million Yuan (around $43.5 million USD)., from several Chinese investment funds and VCs. 

Saphlux says that it will utilize the funds to accelerate its R&D and achieve mass production of full-color AR microdisplays.

China-based Innovision, developer of microLED microdisplays based on the company's vertically-stacked pixel (VSP) technology, announced a new 0.06" microLED microdisplay, the world's smallest microdisplay in production.

The Xinmou (also known as Chimo) M06 microdisplay offers a resolution of 540x280 (2.5 micron pixel pitch, 10,000 PPI) and ultra-low power consumption. 

We’re pleased to feature Plessey Semiconductors, a UK-based leader in advanced photonics and microLED technology, as part of our series highlighting members of the MicroLED Industry Association.

Based in Plymouth, Plessey operates one of the few fully integrated microLED manufacturing facilities globally, bringing together design, epitaxy, wafer processing and device production on a single site. With over 70 years of engineering heritage and a growing commercial base across AR displays and optical interconnects, the company is focused on enabling the next generation of computing through photonic technologies.

We spoke with Phil Greenhalgh, Chief Technology Officer at Plessey, about the company’s technology, progress, and vision for the industry.

China-based microLED display developer Sitan Technology has successfully closed its B3 funding round, raising almost 100 million Yuan ($14.5 million USD). Several investors participated in the round, including Xiamen Advanced Manufacturing No. 1 Fund, Xiamen Science City Mother Fund, Industrial Capital, and Longhua Capital.

This latest B3 funding round brings Sitan's total funding in its Series B rounds to over $30 million USD. The company will use the funds to accelerate its R&D and scale-up commercial production of microLED microdisplays for AR and automotive projection applications. The company currently operates a small-scale pilot line in Longhua, Shenzhen.

Pyramidical GaN microLED developer Polar Light Technologies has been awarded an EU Eurostars grant to develop a dual-color microLED microdisplay prototype deposited using the company's bottom-up mask-based deposition process.

The project, called 2ndGenMicroLED, will run for 18-month project, and has a total budget of 1.1 million Euro.

We are happy to announce that our popular OLED Marketplace website is now offering microLED microdisplays. 

The first microLED that is on offer is a 0.12" VGA ultra-high-brightness monochrome display. It is available as either a display panel, or a complete display engine with optics (see image above). Hopefully we will add more panels and modules in the near future.

A few months ago, we reported that Meta is in designing a new AR glasses product, that will be based on microLED panels, replacing the currently-used LCoS displays in the first-generation Meta Ray-Ban Display. Meta is said to aim to launch these microLED AR glasses towards the end of 2027.

Meta's First-Gen Ray Ban Display, LCoS based

Meta will not produce its own microLED, but the company is highly involved in the microLED display development. There's a new job opening at Meta (at Sunnyvale, CA), for an advanced manufacturing engineer to drive the ramp-up of RGB microLED chips at the company's key external partner. 

Omdia says that microLED display panel revenues will double in 2026, reaching $105.4 million, up from $52.4 million in 2025. The market is still very small and limit, Omdia says that rapidly maturing manufacturing capabilities and new product adoption are expected to drive significant shipment and revenue growth in the near term.

Most of the growth in the near future will be driven by AR microdisplays and large-area signage displays (which Omdia refers to as public displays). Omdia, like most other analysts, expect microLEDs to grow first in specialized application markets where competing technologies cannot meet performance requirements. - and these include ultra-large tiled displays and ultra-small ultra-high-brightness microdisplay.