Chinese firms shining bright in display tech

As a newly developed technology, micro LED uses microscopic LEDs as individual pixels in the display and is regarded as the benchmark in next-generation display technology. Compared with LCD and OLED, micro LED technology has a very fast response time, high brightness, wide viewing angles and a long lifespan.

Data from LEDinside, a division of technology research firm Trend-Force, showed that global revenue of micro LED products is expected to reach $694 million in 2022 and further swell to $2.9 billion in 2025.

Chinese television manufacturer Konka Group Co Ltd is ramping up efforts to expand into the semiconductor sector and increase research and development investment in micro LED display technology.

"We are focusing on building up a comprehensive system across the entire industrial chain, covering materials and equipment, chip design and wafer fabrication to packaging, testing and downstream applications," said Zhou Bin, president of Konka.

Last year, Konka and Chongqing Bishan District Investment Platform jointly established the Chongqing Kangxin Semiconductor Industry Equity Investment Fund. With 2 billion yuan, the fund will focus on investments in semiconductor-related new materials and equipment, chips, integrated circuit designs, packaging and testing.

It also announced plans to invest 1.5 billion yuan to establish a micro LED research institute with Chongqing Liangshan Industrial Investment Co Ltd for the R&D, production and sales of micro LEDs in September 2019.

Li Hongtao, vice-president of Konka, said micro LED technology can be applied to a variety of scenarios from micro displays to large commercial displays and will certainly bring about enormous business opportunities, with its market scale expected to surpass $1 trillion in the future.

Furthermore, China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd, a subsidiary of home appliance giant TCL Technology Group Corp, has beefed up investment in mini LED displays and technological innovation. Mini LEDs are considered LEDs in the millimeter range, while micro LEDs are in the micrometer range.

TCL was the first company to use mini LEDs in its backlights when it introduced its 8 series 4K TV in 2019. So far, it has launched a wide range of mid-range to high-end mini LED TV products.

Mini LED will become a crucial display solution for TVs, the company said, adding that demand for mini LEDs has constantly expanded, which is conducive to reducing supply chain costs.

"We believe that mini LED technology will continue to shape the TV industry," said Kevin Wang, CEO of TCL Industrial Holdings and TCL Electronics.

TCL said it will continue to develop innovative optical solutions with smaller backlights and thinner lens designs to provide imagery with the best clarity and industry-leading color performance with mini LED, 8K and quantum dot display technology.

Rong Chaoping, senior research manager at AVC Revo, a unit of market consultancy firm AVC, said panel manufacturers are pouring more capital into the research and development of new display technologies, while TV or smartphone manufacturers are ramping up efforts to launch related products.

After years of development, LCD technology has become very mature, but it faces some bottlenecks and could not meet the diversified needs of consumers for display products, Rong said. "The new display technologies will usher in speedy growth, along with the maturity of such technologies and continuous decline of costs."

Roger Chu, research director at LEDinside, said micro LED itself has a lot of potential and could one day shine in lots of applications including VR devices, AR projection, optical sensors and fingerprint recognition, but LCD and OLED technology still dominate 100-inch and smaller display products.

The biggest challenge is to find ways to reach mass production in order to decrease manufacturing costs, Chu said, adding that mass production requires efforts across different industries, including LED, semiconductor devices and the entire display supply chain.