Alibaba invests in the Micro LED track, and Apple and Google have already laid out their plans

The concept of MR is popular, and the "water sellers" in the industry chain are also becoming popular in the primary and secondary markets.

Recently, Micro LED microdisplay manufacturer Shanghai Jade Bird Display (hereinafter referred to as "JBD") announced the completion of hundreds of millions of yuan in A3+ and A4 rounds of strategic financing. Among them, the A3+ round of financing was jointly led by BYD, the intellectual property fund of Shanghai Science and Technology Group, and GF Qianhe; the A4 round was led by Alibaba, Geely, and Xingyuan Capital, a subsidiary of Xingji Times. Old shareholders in both rounds of financing continued to increase their investment. Financing funds will be used for Micro LED core technology research and development investment, product mass production, high-end talent introduction and market development.

As a core component in AR, MR, micro projectors and other equipment, Mini/Micro LED microdisplays have continued to raise high amounts of money in recent years and have received a lot of capital attention. As the foreseeable MR future arrives, which companies have already caught the wave?

Technical experts spell out the patent layout

JBD was established in 2015. Except for the amount of angel round financing that has not been announced, it has won 5 rounds of financing in a row in the past two years, with the financing amount exceeding 100 million.

From the perspective of investors, well-known institutions such as Tongwei Venture Capital and Lightspeed Photosynthesis, as well as state-owned LPs such as Shanghai Intellectual Property Fund, have invested many times, and industry parties are also very fond of it. In 2021, Samsung participated in JBD's Pre-A round of financing; in August 2022, BYD entered the game; recently, Alibaba and Geely also joined in a large way.

Capital has invested heavily in JBD, which is inseparable from its strong technical strength. Its founder Li Qiming is a senior technical expert in the global LED field.

During his Ph.D. period, Li Qiming studied under Liu Jimei of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The world’s first full-color Micro LED projector without backlighting was produced by Liu Jimei’s team.

It is understood that Li Qiming once worked at Sandia National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, and served as CTO of Yingrui Optoelectronics after returning to China. During his tenure at Yingrui Optoelectronics, he led the company from total annual sales of 10 million to monthly sales of 20 million, successfully turning losses into profits.

Under the leadership of the founder, JBD has indeed made many breakthroughs in technology patents. It is the world's first company to mass-produce Micro LED microdisplay chips and independently develops and manufactures ultra-micro display panels. According to Yole Report, of the 10 AR glasses equipped with Micro LED display technology that have been launched, 9 displays are from JBD.

Domestic financing of 100 million yuan is frequent, and industrial funds have entered the market

From the perspective of investment quantity, in recent years, the Mini/Micro LED field has continued to increase financing in the primary market. Data from Cailianshe Venture Capital shows that there will be a total of 9 cases in 2021 and a total of 10 cases in 2022. Since the beginning of this year, in addition to JBD, nearly 10 companies including Maiyu Display, Guanhai Micro, and Yiyin Optoelectronics have completed financing.

Judging from the amount of investment, Mini/Micro LED companies have a strong ability to attract money. Among the investment projects with disclosed amounts in the past three years, financing of more than 100 million yuan has been frequent.

For example, Leiyu Semiconductor has won two rounds of tens of millions of dollars of investment in 2021 and 2022, Yuanxu Semiconductor has received hundreds of millions of yuan in financing in 2022, Huayinxin has received 130 million yuan in financing in 2021, and Shengyin Optoelectronics has also received over 100 million yuan in financing this year.

It is worth noting that in the primary market, many industrial funds have noticed the Mini/Micro LED track. For example, Shandong's Zhilu Haihe Industrial Fund, Huawei New Kinetic Technology Industry Fund, and Shandong Gaochuang Investment Group have deployed Yuanxu Semiconductor, Xiaomi Yangtze River Industrial Fund has invested in Stan Technology, and Green Lemon Venture Capital Fund has invested in Huayinxin.

Wang Jing, investment manager of Tongchuang Weiye, once said that the AR track has entered the investment window period, and hardware projects will enjoy the first wave of dividends in the industry. Micro LED is recognized as the ultimate solution in the industry and can be compared to the heart of AR glasses and the core of lightweight interactive products.

A Shanghai investor who has been close to JBD told a reporter from Venture Capital Daily that the Mini/Micro LED field is still in the early stages of development in China and has huge potential. However, high-quality projects are highly competitive and difficult to invest in.

Apple and Google are also investing in MicroLED micro displays

Alibaba is not the only one who is optimistic about Mini/Micro LED. Looking internationally, the world's "prominent" technology manufacturers are all intensively deploying the Mini/Micro LED field.

In January this year, Bloomberg reported that Apple is actively promoting the implementation of Micro LED technology. If it goes well, it will use its self-developed Micro LED screen on the APPLE Watch Ultra released in 2025. Recently, Taiwan media Business Times reported that Apple has expanded its factory in Longtan, Taoyuan, Taiwan. The new factory is a building complex with 3 floors underground and 5 floors above ground. It is rumored that Apple has restarted its Micro LED R&D center in Taiwan.

In terms of investment, Apple acquired Micro LED startup LuxVue as early as 2014; two years later, meta subsidiary Oculus acquired InfiniLED, and Google invested in Micro LED manufacturer Glo the following year, and invested in Mojo Vision in 2019.

In a research report, TrendForce analyzed that if Apple can successfully apply Micro LED in 2025, the application scope of Micro LED technology will have the opportunity to expand to AR glasses, mobile phones, automotive displays and other devices from 2026 to 2030. The overall Micro LED market size is expected to grow from approximately US$14 million in 2022 to approximately US$32 million; wearable devices will become the driving force behind the growth of the Micro LED market output value after mass production begins in 2024.

This article comes from: Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily