Smart display industry and LED industry are increasingly integrated in the Mini/Micro LED field.

Shenzhen Kangjia (000016.SZ) announced on The evening of March 29, 2021 annual report revealed that last year, its Micro LED chips and Mini LED chips have completed small and medium batch trial production; Recently, Hisense Video (600060.SH) became the largest shareholder of Hanzhao Opto-Electronics (300102.SZ); Skyworth (00751.SZ) is building a Mini LED industrial park in Wuhan; TCL Technology (000100.SZ) and SAN 'an Optoelectronics (600703.SH) cooperated to develop Micro LED; Xiaomi shares in Star Technology... Up to now, most of the major domestic color TV and display panel companies have been involved in the Mini/Micro LED field.

Jibang Consulting research deputy general manager Wang Fei told CBN reporters that LED chip industry expanded access to the sea, the wisdom of the display industry to find a new breakthrough space.

Mini/Micro LED new players gathering

LCD is the current mainstream display technology, OLED as a new generation of display technology is expanding its territory, and Mini/Micro LED is regarded as the next generation of new display technology, its advantages of high clarity, low power consumption, flexible to attract new players to cross over.

According to LEDinside, a subsidiary of cimb consulting, 210 million TVS will be shipped globally in 2021, among which 2.1 million Mini LED backlit TVS will be shipped. It is expected that the shipment of Mini LED backlit TVS will challenge 4.5 million units in 2022, which will double the growth.

LED Inside believes that Mini LED will be the application with the most growth momentum in LED segments in the next few years. In 2021, the demand for Mini LED backlight and Mini LED direct display will increase significantly. Driven by Apple and Samsung, more and more manufacturers will launch Mini LEd-related products. Micro LED may take a longer time to achieve mass production, but it is still the most important development direction of the LED industry in the future, and has great potential in the market of large display, wearable devices and head wear devices.

From the released color TV listed company annual report, affected by the LCD TV panel price last year, the main color TV listed companies in 2021 gross margins have declined. In addition, the global color TV market sales are expected to decline this year, to promote innovative products with high added value and expand the application scenarios of smart screens has become a countermeasure, and the layout of Mini/Micro LED is the general trend.

On the one hand, color TV manufacturers are pushing Mini LED-backlit TVS this year, while they are also pushing new products such as AR\VR. At CES 2022, Mini/Micro LED has been applied to TVS, laptops, tablets, AR\VR and more. However, most of the products equipped with Mini LED technology are still expensive and are usually only seen on high-end products.

Micro LED has attracted much attention because it can bring a more immersive experience to AR\VR wearable devices at the entrance of the meta-universe. In terms of AR glasses, Xiaomi, TCL Thunderbird, OPPO and other manufacturers have introduced Micro LED microdisplay technology and optical waveguide technology into their AR products. At present, Xiaomi, TCL Thunderbird smart glasses and AR glasses are prototype products.

In order to meet the booming demand, in 2021, LED enterprises have expanded Mini/Micro LED capacity; Entering 2022, Mini/Micro LED expansion heat continues. According to LED Inside statistics, as of March 2022, there have been 3 Mini/Micro LED new projects signed and approved above 1 billion yuan in China.

Among them, on January 7, Hucan Photoelectric signed a contract and settled in Zhangjiagang for the new full-color Mini/Micro LED high-performance epitaxy and chip r&d and production project with a total investment of 1.5 billion yuan. The planned construction period is four years. On February 21, Vogel Optoelectronics announced that it will build a glass-based Mini/Micro LED substrate production project in Xinyu, Jiangxi province, with a total investment of 1.65 billion yuan. March 17, Mega Chi shares announced investment in the construction of Mini LED chip and RGB small spacing LED display module project in Nanchang, with a total investment of 5 billion yuan.

In the Mini/Micro LED investment boom continues to heat up in the background, Wang Fei reminded, "for the new entry of display enterprises, because the Mini/Micro LED market is still technology-oriented competition, enterprises still need to research and development and technology to lead the market, create the market, do not pile up production capacity, Avoid the risk of technology iterating too quickly and homogenizing competition."

New display and LED upgrade call match

Mini/Micro LED display industry chain covers chips, modules, panels, terminal products and other links. The display industry, including color TV enterprises and panel enterprises, should compete and cooperate with the LED industry to achieve cost reduction and efficiency increase of Mini/Micro LED as soon as possible.

Jin Zhangyu, chairman of Ganzhao Optoelectronics, said in his speech at the end of last year that the three applications of Mini LED -- Mini LED backlit TV, Mini LED backlit tablet computer and Mini LED direct display products, will accelerate growth in 2022. Mini LED backlight can prolong the life of LCD TV industry, which is unanimously optimistic about the terminal factory. In 2022, Mini LED backlight TV will become the flagship model. OLED TV has its application scope and will coexist with Mini LED for a long time.

From the supply chain, Mini LED chips are ripe for mass production. Mr. Jin said the cost of a Mini LED backlight has increased by about 1,000 yuan, and the price of a Mini LED backlight LCD TV can increase by several thousand yuan compared to a traditional LCD TV. In Mini LED backlight module, Mini LED backlight LCD panel and other links there is still room for cost reduction.

In the field of Mini LED direct display, dry light photoelectric has cooperated with LED module sealing factories such as Mulinsen and China Starlight Electric. LED module packaging factory is expanding the capacity of Mini LED direct display module. Boe, a panel manufacturer, has proposed a new technical route for glass substrate, which is different from that of traditional PCB board. Jin zhangyu expects that Mini LED direct display products will make great progress in 2022. And it is worth noting that BOE and Hisense video together are one of the strategic investors in this round of fixed increase of Dry photoelectricity.

"Micro LED has good indicators in all aspects, but the price is expensive, and the technology route is not mature, so it will be first applied in scenarios with low cost requirements." For car screens, for example, Micro leds have a longer life span than OLeds, Mr. Jin said. For example, AR/VR products entering the metasverse require high refresh speed, and Micro LED screens are more suitable. "We have our own technology with JINCo, SAN 'an and 錼, so it will take some time for mass production." Ganzhao optoelectronics hopes to have Micro LED production capacity in small quantities by 2022.

Gaogong LED expects that China's general lighting market will only grow by 1.67% in 2022, and the new display will bring new great opportunities for the LED industry. How to reduce cost and speed up application landing? Jin Zhangyu suggested that terminal manufacturers, including TV manufacturers, apply Mini LED and Micro LED to mainstream models as soon as possible. Without volume, the cost will not come down."