As the third quarterly report comes to an end, compared to the first half of the year, the overall LED screen display industry did not improve in the third quarter.
Among them, the LED screen leader Abby in the third quarterSen’s revenue fell 2.73% year-on-year. The company's profits fell faster, with net profit for the current period only 28.9453 million yuan, down 66.21% year-on-year; Leyard's revenue fell 8.56%, and net profit attributable to the parent company fell 56.61%.
The LED screen display industry urgently needs to find new market growth points, and going overseas is considered to be expected to obtain higher premiums. The LED screen display industry has entered the second stage of overseas expansion. The European and American markets are growing steadily. Countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America are increasing their volumes. Manufacturers covering more small and medium-sized customers are expected to gain incremental growth. It is just right to transplant the mature domestic application market experience to the local area.
"Some domestic LED screen display manufacturers have laid out channels at the county level, and the growth space is not as large as in overseas emerging regions." A senior industry chain person told the 21st Century Business Herald reporter.
In addition, the LED screen display market also relies on Micro/Mini The development of LED display technology and the increase in penetration rate of emerging application markets.
Overseas markets enter the second stage
From the third quarterly report, it is not difficult to see that companies with a relatively high share of the domestic market have experienced declines in revenue and profits due to price wars, and the decline in profits has been significantly higher than revenue.
"The product quotations of domestic manufacturers are falling every quarter. The quotation of a small-pitch LED display developed by a certain manufacturer in 2012 was 190,000 yuan/square meter, and now it only costs a few thousand yuan. In the short term, the industry will not clear up.Most likely, there is too much capital entering. "Some people in the industry chain told reporters.
The international market share almost determines the company's revenue trend. According to the 21st Century Business Herald reporter, Unilumin Technology (300232.SZ)'s overseas market gross profit margin exceeds 40%, and due to its focus on overseas large customers, its net profit this year is better than its peers.
At the 20th anniversary celebration of Unilumin Technology, Lin Mingfeng, chairman of Unilumin Technology, said that global brands must build a comprehensiveIn order to achieve a global service ecology, we must also solve the problem of global supply. Unilumin has begun to build factories in the United States.
TrendForce predicts that the global LED display market will reach US$7.516 billion in 2024, a year-on-year growth of 2.8%, and is expected to increase to US$10.2 billion by 2028, with a compound growth rate of 7% from 2023 to 2028.
Yu Bin, TrendForce Consulting Research Manager, is acceptingA reporter from 21st Century Business Herald said in an interview that the European and American LED display markets have performed well in the past two years, but this year the situation is average, and some emerging applications have stagnated slightly.
Today, the LED screen display market has entered the second stage. The regions with better sales performance are concentrated in the Asia-Pacific region. Market demand in Southeast Asia and the Middle East has grown significantly, and cost reduction has also promoted the application of LED screen displays in non-developed economies.
He, General Manager of Unilumin Group R&D CenterKunpeng also said in an interview with reporters that in addition to profit considerations, mid- to high-end overseas customers can put forward more professional and accurate demands when developing overseas customers. At present, Europe and the United States are the main battlefields for Zhouming's overseas expansion, but in recent years, Asia, Africa and Latin America have experienced rapid growth.
Yu Bin suggested that domestic demand in the LED screen display market accounted for 42% of the world in 2020, and has reduced to 32% by 2024. Price sensitivity in overseas markets is relatively low. Domestic manufacturers must develop overseas markets and copy traditional application experience such as corporate meetings, security monitoring, retail exhibitions and outdoor advertising overseas.
In Yu Bin’s view, the future of the industry will still be driven by the LED display small-pitch market. In 2023, the small-pitch market will account for about 59% of the display industry, and is expected to rise to 67% by 2028.
Micro LED cost reduction is slower than expected
In the needs of ultra-high-definition display, intelligent interaction of all things, and flexibility of mobile intelligent terminals, etc.Driven by demand, various new display technologies are expected to achieve good development in their respective market segments. Based on this, Micro-LED display technology is considered to be one of the new display technology directions with the greatest growth potential in the future.
It is reported that Micro LED display technology uses a mass transfer process to place LED chips smaller than 50 microns in corresponding positions on the Array substrate and bond and package them to achieve inorganic LED display applications.
It is not a simple matter for Micro LED to move from laboratory to commercialization. The complex manufacturing process and high cost are two obstacles facing the commercialization of Micro LED.
Lin Mingfeng said that although Micro LED is penetrating into the application space of LCD and OLED in both small and large sizes. However, in the 4-100-inch display field, the technical difficulty and cost of Micro LED have increased significantly, while the current cost advantage of LCD and OLED in this field is difficult to shake.
In his view, in the future, as Micro LED technology matures and costs decrease, its competitiveness in this field will continue to increase. Micro LED large-size displays already have the foundation for mass production, and the key to competition is cost. Micro LED ultra-small-size display technology is not yet mature and has not yet reached the mass production stage. Therefore, large-size displays will be the first mass production application scenario for Micro LED.
It is worth noting that in the current fierce market competition for LED screens, the introduction of new technologies is still relatively slow.
Recently, Xi Kerui, deputy director of Tianma Microelectronics Micro LED Research Institute, said that the Micro LED production line will lock in the process by the end of this year and run the entire process; next year, the production yield and efficiency will be improved, and the company will move towards small batches.
He Kunpeng revealed that this year Unilumin Technology achieved mass production and shipment of Micro LED. The company Micro The single side size of the LED chip is less than 50μm. Compared with mini LED, Micro LED has a clearer display effect and will also make significant progress in energy saving and consumption reduction.
Up to now, Micro LED has not found a specific and exclusive application market, so the scale is slow, and the development of Mini LED has also occupied the market space of Micro LED.
Qiu Yubin, senior deputy general manager of research at TrendForce, said that Mini LED is targeting the market of 100 inches or more. In this field, the spacing does not necessarily need to reach the Micro display level in order to meet user needs. The demand for Micro LED has not increased. Even if the industry invests heavily, the cost decline trend is not as fast as expected.
At present, in the field of cutting-edge technology, LED display manufacturers still focus on developing Mini LED technology, with rapid increase in production capacity and much faster cost reduction than Micro LED.
TrendForce estimates, Micro/Mini LED display chips will show rapid growth, with a compound growth rate of 78% from 2023 to 2028. Some manufacturers have significantly expanded their production capacity, and competition among manufacturers for production capacity has intensified. As more and more manufacturers enter this field, most of them are also laying out RGB chip products.It will intensify competition among major manufacturers.
Looking for new application scenarios
As we all know, the traditional applications of LED screen displays are mostly concentrated in corporate meetings, security monitoring, retail exhibitions, public areas, transportation and outdoor advertising.
"Nowadays, everyone feels that business is more difficult to do. Single products are iterated quickly. It is basically hard to make money with a single product. Either iterate products quickly and continue to lead the market, or competition escalates. The future competition is an upgrade in the competitive dimension, and the upgrade in the competitive dimension must be 'products + solutions + content services.'" Lin Mingfeng said.
With Micro/Mini With the emergence of LED technology, the price of LED displays continues to drop, and the application scenarios of LED displays continue to increase, such as LED all-in-one machines, virtual shooting, and cinemas/home theaters. There is still significant room for growth in the future.
Radiodio, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilumin Technology, has built more than 100 virtual studios around the world; the virtual studio solutions of Absen (300389.SZ) are also implemented in many countries around the world.
Yu Bin analyzed to reporters that the world's largest virtual shooting market is still in North America, especially Hollywood. Compared with green screen shooting, virtual shooting can significantly reduce post-production costs.
However, affected by the "Hollywood strike" in North America in 2023, the growth rate of the virtual shooting market has slowed down, and the penetration rate is not particularly high. The industry estimates it is 4%.
Nowadays, at major LED screen display exhibitions, scenes such as virtual shooting and studios are a must-have for almost every manufacturer, but the market acceptance still needs to be improved.
In terms of cinemas, there are currently only about 160 LED movie screens installed in the world, and their applications are not yet widespread. LED displays still face technical challenges in terms of heat dissipation, power consumption, uneven brightness, dead pixels, cost, and color consistency during maintenance. These problems require urgent breakthroughs.
Yu Bin said that it is not easy for LED displays to enter cinemas. It not only requires relevant certifications, but also requires a series of supporting facilities to enter cinemas. At present, the overall price of LED display cinemas has a significant downward trend, and the cost reduction will also promote scene applications.
In addition, with the decline in LED display prices, the popularity of the rental market continues to increase, and more live events are beginning to use LED rental displays to create cooler visual effects. Combined with the film-like trend of concerts, the specifications of LED rental displays are also constantly improving.
ANNA