Micro-LED Displays 2024-2034: Technology, Commercialization, Opportunity, Market and Players

After acquisition of LuxVue by Apple in 2014, micro-light emitting diode (MicroLED, or µLED) has become an attractive emissive display technology and pursued by players from various industries. μLED displays, based on arrays of microscopic light-emitting diodes (LEDs), have distinct advantages over conventional displays including wide colour gamut, high luminance, low power consumption, excellent stability and long lifetime, wide viewing angle, high dynamic range, high contrast, fast refresh rate, transparency, seamless connection, and sensor integration capability. Some of the value propositions can be provided by alternatives such as LCD, OLED and QD, while one of the strong drivers to develop µLED displays are these unique value propositions.

 

 

The first µLED commercial product, the Crystal LED display, was launched by Sony, which replaced the traditional packaged LEDs by µLEDs. These tiny-pitch LED video displays target the to-B market and both the costs and prices are far more expensive than what already exist. Technology immaturity, cost barriers and supply chain incompletion are three major hurdles in large-scale commercialization for MicroLED displays.

 

Building upon the foundations of the established LED industry and the well-developed display sector, the emerging mass transfer and integration field plays a pivotal role in bridging these two industries. Together, they have the potential to catalyze the establishment of a new supply chain. On the basis that current LCD manufacturing is shifting to China due to cost advantage and South Korea is dominating OLED displays, those who can react quick enough to take an important position in the shaped supply chain will seize the next big opportunity. The game is open to conventional LED suppliers, display vendors, advanced material players, component providers, OEMs, integrators, tool offers, and also welcome newcomers that can bring technology innovation, material improvement, equipment support, and business model revolution.

 

To make strategic decisions, both information and insights are required. These include but are not limited to technology limitations and capabilities, market status analysis, supply chain interpretation, player activity tracking, and global trend understanding. This report will tackle these aspects accordingly.

 

To fabricate a µLED display, many technologies and processes are involved, such as epitaxy, photolithography, chip fabrication, substrate removal, inspection, mass transfer, bonding and interconnection, testing, repair, backplane and drive IC, etc. After years of development, some technology difficulties have been solved, while new challenges are placed in front of us. For instance, several years ago, the major efforts were concentrated in die miniaturization, chip design and mass transfer, etc. Recently, more and more players are realizing a complete understanding of all the processes is key. Therefore, an increasing number of people put more effort also on technologies such as inspection, repair, driving, image improvement, light management, as well as ramping yield and productivity. Commercial mass transfer and bonding tools are available on the market today. This report provides all the major technology choices with detailed introduction, analysis, and comparison. It also shows what important players have offered to the market and their technologies behind the prototypes/products. The targeting applications covers from micro-displays such as AR/VR/MR, to consumer middle-sized displays like smart phones, TVs, to huge displays, e.g., large video public displays. The corresponding technologies vary from each other. With a deep understanding of each technology, it is possible to understand where we are and where we can go. As time goes by, four applications gradually stand out with µLED displays, providing distinct differentiations: AR/MR, wearables, automotive displays and large video displays. In the meantime, other functions are demonstrated by various technology providers, such as flexibility and transparency.

 

 

With players holding various technologies, they have different entry markets to target. In this report, we have focused on 7 applications to analyze. They are augmented/mixed reality (AR/MR), virtual reality (VR), large video displays/TVs, automotive displays, mobile phones, smart watches and wearables, and tablets and laptops. A ten-year market forecast is provided based on shipment unit and market value in each application. In addition, an application roadmap is offered with the consideration of different maturity readiness of each application.

 

As more and more players are plunging into µLED industry, they gradually choose to work with each other directly or in a large network. Several supply chain clusters are formed based on geography, with cross-continental collaboration more and more common. We also show regional efforts in the report.

 

All these collaborations indicate globalization continues to be our future trend. Also, from the display cycle we know we are at the moment in the merge and consolidation stage and lots of activities show us the direction of future trends.

 

Objectives of the report:

 

 

 

 

 

Who should read it: Display makers, LED suppliers, material suppliers, R&D organizations, technology providers, OEMs/ODMs, investors, players who are exploring new opportunities

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