"Micro LED technology is slowly brewing a huge market in the future." said Qiu Yubin, senior deputy general manager of research at TrendForce Technology.
He told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter that it is expected that by 2029, with cost reduction, design optimization, and application development, the industry chip market can reach an output value of more than 461 million US dollars.
Since the second half of the year, the Micro LED industry chain has been frequently dynamic in terms of technology research and development, product promotion, production capacity planning and capital injection, and continues to attract market attention.
In September, meta officially launched the first consumer-grade AR glasses equipped with a display, meta Ray-Ban Display, triggering a rush of buying globally and in the domestic market.The market price even reached a sky-high price of 16,000 yuan.
The AR track in the Micro LED field has become the focus of capital investment, with multiple rounds of financing worth hundreds of millions of dollars one after another. In terms of production capacity, many projects such as Rokid, Shenzhen Tianma, Thunderbird Innovation, and Safulus have also made new progress.
Industry insiders said that although Micro LED still faces severe market challenges in cost control, yield improvement and large-scale transfer, its business path is gradually becoming clearer.
Capital is rushing to enter Micro LED
Micro LED micro-display technology is recognized as the next generation of new display technology.
The industry believes that it has high pixel density, ultra-high brightness, low response time, low power consumption, long life, high color saturation, and high reliability.With the advantages of reliability and small size, it can be widely used in near-eye display, micro-projection, vehicle display, optical communication and other fields. Unlike OLED, which has taken over the field of flexible displays due to its bendable and foldable characteristics, Micro LED technology is penetrating into small-size scenarios such as AR/VR and smart watches due to its advantages in brightness and power consumption.
The Fenix 8 Pro smart watch released by Garmin this year introduces Micro LED technology and is used in the Sony Honda Afeela 30-inch automotive display, which is expected to be released at the end of the year, marking the beginning of Micro LED coverage in various major fields. The technology is currently showing market adaptability in a wider range of fields such as smart glasses, smart watches, vehicle displays and optical communications.
"For Micro LED, it is no longer just focusing on display applications in the past, but has begun to branch out." Qiu Yubin said that Micro LED is currently widely used in the fields of adaptive headlights and optical communications, including Volkswagen, Porsche, Audi, NIO, SAIC and other manufacturers have installed Micro LED adaptive headlights in mass-produced cars.
TrendForce's research report pointed out that the launch of these iconic products will gradually promote the Micro LED chip market output value, which is expected to increase to US$461 million in 2029.
The capital market's enthusiasm for Micro LED technology continues to rise, and many companies have received large amounts of financing. In October this year, Shanghai Jianyao Display (JBD) announced that it had completed a B2 round of financing of over one billion yuan. The funds were mainly used to accelerate the innovation and product iteration of Micro LED technology. This amount set a new single financing record in the global Micro LED microdisplay field.
On the end product side, Thunderbird Innovation, which focuses on Micro LED AR glasses, completed a C++ round of financing in August, Yingmu Technology completed a 150 million yuan B2 round of financing in July, and Rokid completed a C+ round of financing in September last year.
In addition, from the perspective of production capacity layout, panel companies including BOE, TCL Huaxing, Visionox, Shenzhen Tianma, AU Optronics, and Innolux have launched layouts in the Micro LED field, and some have entered the product delivery stage. In December last year, Chenxian Optoelectronics, invested by Visionox, officially lit up the first TFT-based Micro LED mass production line in mainland China and entered the mass production and shipment stage; in March this year, BOE Huacan Optoelectronics 6-inch Micro The LED mass production line has achieved product delivery in Zhuhai.
However, the industrialization process of Micro LED technology is not smooth, and its large-scale mass production still faces core challenges such as yield and cost.
Qiu Yubin said that although Micro LED LED micro-displays have made great progress, but the process cost of similar sizes is still several times higher than that of OLED, and the cost of chips accounts for more than 80%. Therefore, for the supply of Micro LED terminal equipment, cost reduction is still a top priority. In addition, the high brightness of Micro LED is based on high power consumption, and there is still a lot of room for improvement in power consumption in the future.D ">
How to improve the production efficiency and reduce production costs of Micro LED?
"Larger size means lower cost and better CMOS process compatibility, and the Micro LED industry will develop in the direction of larger size. "Guo Xiao, an expert in GaN epitaxy technology on silicon substrate of Jingneng Optoelectronics, said that large-size silicon substrate GaN is the mainstream route for Micro LED. At present, the company has taken the lead in breaking through the 12-inch silicon substrate GaN-based RGB three-color Micro LED epitaxy, and large-size ultraviolet, blue and green light have been mass-produced.
Guo Xiao believes that with the silicon substrate GaN-based Micro LED As LED technology evolves to 8-inch and 12-inch, as well as the development of various full-color technologies based on silicon substrate Micro LED, Micro LED will usher in large-scale industrial opportunities
Qiu Yubin also said that Micro LED will usher in large-scale industrial opportunities. LED is expected to have a longer service life after improvement, reducing the need for subsequent maintenance and replacement in commercial spaces, which is beneficial to the overall cost, especially in addition to general consumer large displays, niche markets such as transparent displays are ushering in moreGood shipping results.
Chinese manufacturers accelerate AR glasses supply chain integration
In the use scenario of Micro LED, AR glasses are considered to be the main position for technology iteration and product implementation.
"AR glasses are mainly composed of optical display modules, processors, sensors, memory and batteries, among which the cost of optical display modules accounts for more than 40%." Guo Xiao said that Micro LED has more advantages than OLED and LCD in various indicators such as brightness and lifespan. Micro LED combined with optical waveguide micro-display modules is an ideal light engine for realizing lightweight AR devices.
Currently, in the Micro LED AR track, upstream and downstream companies in the industry chain are competing for high brightness, full color, high pixel density and miniaturization technology. Shanghai Display (JBD) released “Roadrunner” Micro LED micro-display technology in Octoberplatform, achieving an ultra-small pixel pitch of 2.5μm; using a single-layer etched optical waveguide with a high-brightness Micro LED light engine, which was first used on the AR glasses Thunderbird X3 Pro; BOE began researching new packaging solutions in October to improve the light efficiency of Micro LED.
Technological progress has promoted the end product market. In the second half of this year, a number of new AR and AI glasses equipped with Micro LED will be released intensively.
In October, Waterfall Glasses, the AI glasses released by Waterfall Artificial Intelligence, is equipped with a full-color Micro LED light engine. INMO GO3 of Yingmu Technology uses a binocular single green Micro LED light engine and diffraction light waveguide. In September, Lipro Vision, Weiguang Technology, Qiushui Semiconductor, Leyard and other companies also launched new AR glasses products for athletes, industrial or consumer markets.
Inmo Technology co-founder and operator SVP Yin Chuanxue said that Yingmu has released 5 to 6 AR and AI smart glasses, and the sales of the entire series of products have exceeded 100,000 units. The recently released INMO Go3 adoptsUsing Micro LED + diffraction light waveguide binocular display, the brightness into the eyes can reach 1500nits, while also meeting user needs such as fashion, thinness and lightness.
The maturity of products also drives large-scale production capacity construction. Since the second half of this year, multiple production capacity projects have made progress. Guozhao Optoelectronics announced the completion of the first phase of its OLED microdisplay device expansion project, which includes an 8-inch silicon-based Micro LED mass production line with an investment of 1 billion yuan. After completion, it will form an annual production capacity of 12-inch wafers and 8-inch wafers, and the annual display output will reach 4 million units.
Xingkey Semiconductor’s Micro LED production line in Wuhan Optics Valley was officially put online, becoming the country’s first 8-inch gallium nitride on silicon Micro LED chip pilot line. The project can achieve a production capacity of 12,000 8-inch silicon-based gallium nitride wafers per year. At the same time, the production line is highly compatible with the 8-inch CMOS semiconductor chip process, and the products can be applied to AR/MR glasses.
Consumer terminal market companies are also accelerating "self-built factories." In June, Thunderbird’s innovative Micro LED light machine intelligent manufacturing factory was officially put into production, realizing the core componentsautonomous and controllable. In September, Micro LED AR glasses company Rokid signed a contract to settle in Zhuhai to build its own production base, focusing on the Southeast Asian market.
Qiu Yubin said that China has become the core force in the development of the global AR glasses industry. Represented by brands such as Thunderbird, Yingmu, and Rokid, domestic AR glasses products are rapidly iterating, which fully demonstrates that China is not only supporting the entire industry's AR glasses manufacturing and design, but also supply chain integration, with China as the core radiation.
"At present, the domestic AR glasses supply chain is turbulent. There are many companies in the field from light sources to light engines, optical components and systems. Next, we will gradually see horizontal cooperation or vertical integration, and many resources will be integrated into parts, allowing each manufacturer to have more concentrated resources to develop AR glasses products, make the design more refined, and reduce the cost." Qiu Yubin said.
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