Four Questions about Mini-Micro LED Technology, Application and Market

AR: Does Micro LED have to be used?

Despite the advantages of high brightness and high contrast, Micro LED is still in the early stages of development. So, which product will become the fastest application field of Micro LED technology?

TCL Ji Honglei said that from the perspective of application, the chip size of Micro LED is very small. When choosing an application field, enterprises need to consider how big the demand for this chip size is in this field. "I feel that it may be a rigid demand in the AR field, but in the field of large screens, there are now multiple technical routes competing with each other. Whether Micro LED has such a necessity is worth thinking about."
Yiwen Technology Ye Guoguang also agrees with this point of view, but he also pointed out that there are currently multiple solutions for AR design, among which there are Micro OLED, Mini LED backlight, Micro LED, etc. in the choice of display technology, and Micro LED It has not yet been mass-produced, and it can only achieve monochrome at present. It is popular in the market. "I think we should find a way to break through. I am more optimistic about the quantum dot route."

Sai Fulusi Shenchen also believes that Micro LED technology has great room for development in the AR display market, but he also pointed out that the application of Micro LED to the AR market still faces many difficulties. As far as Sapphire itself is concerned, on the one hand, the company focuses on quantum dot Micro LED chip technology and needs to overcome various process bottlenecks; on the other hand, Saflux also needs to make progress together with its partners.

Hongli Display currently mainly focuses on Mini LED, while developing the next-generation display technology Micro LED. Hongli Display Sang Jian pointed out that in the long run, Micro LED is still several years away from industrialization, so the solution of Mini LED backlight with LCD is more suitable for AR/VR products at present.

According to Sang Jian’s analysis, Mini LED backlight technology combined with LCD has the advantages of high resolution and high brightness, while silicon-based OLEDs have insufficient brightness performance, and Micro LED still has technical bottlenecks such as mass transfer. Therefore, when Micro LED technology matures At present, the Mini LED backlight solution still has great advantages in the field of AR/VR. It is reported that at present, Hongli Display's Mini LED VR products have achieved mass production.

Big Screen: Who Will Be the Leader?

In addition to AR, for Micro LED, the large-screen market is also not to be missed, but in actual promotion, the large-screen market is also full of difficulties.

Liard Sun Xuechao said that the current Micro LED product forms and technical routes are very rich. Leyard will break through the cost, efficiency and yield bottlenecks of Micro LED in 2022, and successfully apply Micro LED technology to conventional direct display large screens. He introduced that Leyard adopts MIP technology. On the one hand, this technology can rapidly increase the production capacity of Micro LED. On the other hand, in the field of large size, the yield rate of MIP technology can also meet market requirements.

In terms of specific applications, currently Leyard's Micro LED products can be used not only in TVs, but also in commercial fields, including monitoring screens, conference all-in-one machines, etc. However, Xuechao Sun also pointed out that there is still a long way to go for the popularization of Micro LED in the field of conference all-in-one machines and home TVs.

Among them, in the civilian market, Sun Xuechao also expressed his views on the cost of terminal products. He pointed out that the cost not only needs to be gradually reduced through large-scale applications, but also requires the cooperation of the industrial chain. From the perspective of the cost structure of LEDs, the chip is the most costly link. For example, in products with a pitch below P1.0, the cost of the chip accounts for about 30% to 50%; in addition, the cost of the packaging link is also relatively high. Once the cost of chips and packaging is reduced, and the yield rate and product display effect are continuously improved, the speed at which Mini/Micro LEDs enter the civilian market will be accelerated.

But Peng Xinhan is very confident in the cost reduction of Micro LED. He pointed out that the prices of LCD and OLED technologies were high in the early stages of launch, but when the technologies matured and the yield, production capacity, and market popularity were all improved, the prices dropped rapidly. "Micro LED also follows this rule. I personally think that its cycle may be a little shorter than that of OLED. This is mainly because the investment required for OLED production lines is much higher than that of Micro LED production lines. Therefore, the equipment for Micro LED production lines The depreciation rate will be faster, the price reduction rate will be faster, and Micro LED technology will be popularized soon."

He also said that OLED and Micro LED technologies will coexist in the future, and the two sides will have a division of labor in the application field. Among them, OLED can be applied in mobile phones, consumer electronics or small household screens, while the application market of Micro LED is ultra-large and ultra-small screens.

Quotes: When will the demand and the market "go both ways"?

In 2022, the domestic LED display market demand, including LED event display, will decline significantly, and the performance of the LED display industry will not be as good as expected. However, coming to 2023, the market has a new trend of change.

Hongli Display Sang Jian pointed out that there will be no obvious changes in demand in the first quarter of 2023, but it can be felt that the degree of market interest is gradually increasing. However, the crisis still exists, among which the slow recovery of overseas economies and the conflict between Russia and Ukraine are all uncertain factors in the development of LED display technology. Despite this, Sang Jian is still optimistic about the development of Mini/Micro LED. He believes that this field will develop better this year, and the third quarter is expected to become an inflection point for changes in the Mini/Micro LED market.

Leyard Sun Xuechao is full of confidence in the future development of the industry. He pointed out that at present, opportunities and challenges coexist, and the opportunities far outweigh the challenges. "The development of the LED industry for so many years has not been smooth sailing, nor has it continued to grow. The industry sometimes peaks and sometimes troughs, especially in the troughs, it is necessary to treat technology and the market carefully."

In terms of market conditions, Sun Xuechao said that in the first quarter of 2023, the LED industry as a whole will be relatively sluggish, and most of the company's performance will be unsatisfactory. However, he said that many new projects are currently in the communication stage, and the market is expected to improve in the second half of the year.

He also pointed out that different technical routes and different products will have different performances in the market. "In terms of products, such as all-in-one machines, vp/XR, etc., and business models such as ToB and ToC, there may be better performance. .The LED industry has been groping forward according to market conditions.”

He also pointed out that enterprises should continue to innovate and break through, and open up room for growth by developing new application fields and increasing product added value.

Sai Fulusi Shenchen explained from a financial point of view that in the short term, governments around the world are working hard to develop the economy, and investment has become an important means. As the infrastructure of the digital economy, it can be predicted that this year will have a bright future; in the long run , Display is a part of informatization and a carrier of information interaction. No matter how the technological field develops, people's demand for new displays will always exist.

TCL released the world's first Mini LED TV in 2019, and has launched new Mini LED TV products every year. Regarding the market situation, TCL Ji Honglei said that the TV market is currently shrinking, and may even be shrinking in the past two or three years. However, with the development of Metaverse and artificial intelligence, traditional TVs may develop more new application scenarios to provide users with new experiences, which in turn will drive the recovery of the TV market.

Epilogue

Although the road is long, it will come soon; although it is difficult, it will be done if it is done - the same is true for Mini/Micro LED.

At present, there are still many controversies in terms of Mini/Micro LED technology, but it is also these controversies that urge companies to keep exploring, keep moving forward, and find better solutions.

In terms of the market, despite the current gloom, there is hope ahead. In the long run, TrendForce continues to be optimistic about the development of the LED display market. Driven by small-pitch and Mini LED display products, it is expected that the market size will grow to US$13 billion in 2026. At that time, the relevant enterprises, including China LED display supplier, will be rewarded for their hard work today.