When it comes to new display technologies, everyone will think of Mini/Micro LED in unison. As the ultimate technology of LED display, it is highly expected by people. According to the definition, Mini LED refers to LED devices with a chip size of 50-200 microns, and Micro LED refers to LED devices with a chip size of less than 50 microns. Mini LED is a technology between LED and Micro LED, so it is also called transition technology. After a period of racing, which one is expected to become the industry leader?
COB packaging technology leads the future
The market prospect of Mini/Micro LED is very broad. According to Arizton's data, the global Mini LED market size will grow from US$150 million in 2021 to US$2.32 billion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 149.2% from 2021 to 2024. Mini/Micro LED has a wide range of applications. It can not only be applied to the field of traditional LED display, including monitoring center, meeting room, sports, finance, bank and so on.
It can also be applied to electronic consumer fields such as mobile phones, TVs, computers, pads, and VR/AR head-mounted displays. At present, the main battlefield of Mini/Micro LED is still in the application market of medium and large sizes. In the future, with the maturity of Micro LED technology and the reduction of cost, it will further expand to the display application market of small and medium-sized close viewing. At present, products such as Mini/Micro LED large-size TVs of about 100 inches and LED all-in-one machines are gradually being produced.
COB packaging technology has not been developed for a long time. The world's first COB display was born in 2017, and it has only been five years since then. Due to the difficulty of the process, there are not many screen companies and packaging companies in the layout. On the contrary, my country's LED chip companies are continuously increasing research and development efforts in the field of Mini/Micro level chips, and Micro chips have begun mass production.
Small micro-pitch technology and product upgrading
In June of this year, the State Administration of Radio and Television of China issued the "Opinions on Further Accelerating the Development of High-Definition Ultra-High-Definition Television". By the end of 2025, TV stations at the prefecture level and above and qualified county-level TV stations across the country will fully complete the conversion from SD to HD. Standard-definition channels were basically shut down, high-definition TV became the basic broadcast mode of TV, and the supply of ultra-high-definition TV channels and programs took shape. The broadcast and television transmission coverage network has significantly enhanced the carrying capacity of high-definition and ultra-high-definition television, and the receiving terminals of high-definition and ultra-high-definition television have basically become popular. At present, my country's TV is generally still in the 2K stage, and with the promotion of national policies, it is entering the 4K promotion stage. In the future, it will enter the ranks of 8K ultra-high definition. In the LED display industry, to achieve the goal of 4K and 8K indoors, it is inseparable from the mature Mini/Micro LED technology.
Due to the traditional SMD single-lamp packaging technology, it is difficult to meet the needs of Mini/Micro LED products below P0.9. However, 4K and 8K LED large screens must reduce their pixel pitch under the limited indoor floor height. Therefore, COB packaging technology has been valued by the market. COB technology products have strong stability and higher protection performance (waterproof, anti-electricity, moisture-proof, anti-collision, dust-proof). It also solves the physical limit problem encountered by traditional SMD. However, COB also brings new problems, such as poor heat dissipation, difficult maintenance, ink color consistency and so on.
So, who will drive the development of new display technologies? In my opinion, under the guidance of policy, it is either driven by the market or driven by capital. Obviously, the current market size is not enough to touch those big capital giants. Although the new Mini/Micro LED display field is a capital-intensive industry, the LED display industry is still the first to be recognized for its market prospects. They are the upstream chip companies that master the core of the light source, the midstream packaging companies that master the packaging technology, and the display and downstream application giants that master resources.
Chip and packaging companies will become popular in the industry
The entire Mini/Micro LED industry chain is very long, including upstream materials, midstream manufacturing, and downstream applications. The most critical part is the upstream and midstream chip and packaging links. This part of the cost accounts for the highest proportion, and the current industry is dominated by chip and packaging companies. In the future, chip and packaging companies will develop in the direction of deep integration, integration, and even vertical layout and horizontal integration of the entire industry chain. Since the beginning of this year, industrial integration has gradually increased. We can see that the value of the entire industrial chain is shifting to the middle and upper reaches, and the industrial form and industrial ecology are changing.
In the field of new display, the number of new entrants is increasing. These include giants in the fields of IT, TV, LCD panels, security, audio, video and video. As of August this year, the total investment in the new display field has exceeded 60 billion yuan. They are jointly promoting the rapid development of the new display industry market and technology. Of course, they also make the traditional display industry with a fixed pattern welcome changes again.
After decades of reshuffle in China's LED display industry, the few chip and packaging companies have become the focus of the giants; the formation of the dominant position of new display packaging technologies such as COB will continue to promote more market integration and integration . After all, whoever masters the core technology will lead the industry and the future.
Post time: Aug-30-2023