In 2019, the overall growth rate of the LED industry has slowed down, segmented pattern wars are staged, price wars are one after another, and industry competition is further intensified. How does the LED display industry develop? RADIANTLED analyzes five hot industry trends:
In the upstream chip field, although the number of market demand continues to increase, the unit price has dropped to a certain extent, and the market prosperity has been affected to a certain extent. Some small and medium-sized enterprises and even well-known manufacturers in the industry have gradually reduced and stopped production, and the industry’s production capacity has entered a period of pain. In the midstream packaging field, like the upstream, LED packaging has also experienced price wars due to capacity expansion. Some small and medium-sized manufacturers have been eliminated, the industry concentration has gradually increased, and industry integration tends to be completed. In the downstream application field, the LED application industry has a large market space and low threshold, coupled with the price wars in the upper and middle reaches of the recent years, resulting in a large number of downstream companies, and the market is currently in a stage of complete competition. In general, the entire LED industry is at a crossroads at this stage, and every step of advancement and retreat tests the wisdom, endurance and courage of corporate decision-makers. 2020 is approaching, how will the LED industry develop? Seeing a few major development trends will help you get out of the fog.
Trade war
Since the start of the Sino-US trade war, the impact on China has been considerable. The Sino-US trade war is actually equivalent to a “Sino-US technology war”. The United States is currently targeting China’s technology industry mainly based on how much autonomy China can control. Technology decides how to do it. At present, LED is definitely one of the best targets, because China has almost mastered most of the key LED technologies.
Looking at the global LED market in recent years, in addition to rising demand in the European and American markets, South American countries such as Brazil and Chile, as well as emerging countries such as India and Southeast Asia, have been developing rapidly. In the current fierce competition in the domestic market, Chinese LED companies continue to “go out” to seize market opportunities. Although the United States only imposes tariffs on Chinese imports, due to the current global layout of multinational companies, Sino-US imports and exports will directly have a greater impact on the EU, Japan, Southeast Asia and other economies, and the global economy will soon be negatively affected, especially It is the LED display companies that follow the “One Belt, One Road” policy to open up markets to countries along the route, which has received a lot of impact.
Despite this tortuous one-year Sino-US trade war during the Sino-US summit, the US said that it would no longer impose new tariffs on Chinese exports, and the economic and trade teams of the two countries discussed specific issues. This “magnificent” Sino-US trade war has also been announced for the time being. However, in 2020, for LED display manufacturers, they cannot relax their vigilance on this, and be ready to deal with the Sino-US trade war at any time.
LED package chip
In 2019, due to the deepening of the Sino-US trade war and the weak demand in global emerging markets, the bulk demand for lighting, backlighting, etc. has declined significantly, while the growth of emerging applications is weak, which is a problem on the demand side. LED packaging factories have to continue to cut prices, so that the overall industry decline. How to break through and survive such a “recession tide” is still a question that LED packaging companies need to think about. It is worth mentioning that after more than ten years of R&D investment, domestic LED packaging equipment manufacturers have made significant breakthroughs in technology and brand, and their market share has increased year by year. If these problems are solved, the market space for domestic packaging companies is very large.
On the whole, the market demand growth rate in 2019 is far below the growth rate of production capacity, prices are falling, and business growth is not increasing. In 2020, in terms of demand, affected by the continued global economic downturn and the significant turnover of Sino-US trade, the industry situation remains It is not optimistic; on the supply side, if upstream manufacturers continue to increase their production expansion projects, the problem of overcapacity will continue. Looking forward to 2020, the demand of different application fields is expected to show a pattern of declining and increasing, but overall it is better to rest and grow. The industry is expected to regain its upward trend after 2021, and it will mainly rely on the successive commercialization of mini LED and micro LED applications.
Mini LED/Micro LED
Although the saying of “the industry is winter” will continue to be heard in 2019, the old tree of LED is still sprouting new buds. Mini LED/Micro LED, as the “new branches” of the dead wood of the LED display industry, has a bright development prospects.
Nowadays, manufacturers of Mini LED are coming one after another. Whether in backlight or display applications, Mini LED will usher in a broader development situation as market demand expands and production costs drop. Relevant data predict that the Mini LED application market is expected to maintain a growth rate of about 175% from 2018 to 2020, and the Mini LED market will reach 2.2 billion yuan in 2020. Although the Mini LED layout is hot, most companies use it as a transitional technology, and the ultimate goal is still to approach Micro LED. At present, Apple, Huawei, Google and other giants have been following the trend and have invested heavily in Micro LED research and development through acquisitions and other methods. Micro LED will gradually penetrate into smart watches, large-size TVs, VR/AR and other application fields; from 2020 to 2025, the Micro LED market is expected to maintain a growth rate of about 75%. By 2025, the Micro LED market will reach 4.9 billion yuan.
Smart light pole screen
2019 can be said to be a year when the smart light pole industry has exploded on a large scale. Not only have governments issued policies and plans to support the development of the smart light pole industry, but also batches of smart light pole projects have been completed and put into use, and there are more A smart light pole bidding project information was released, the industry association for smart light poles began to be established and carried out related activities, and various cross-border and cross-field companies continued to pour into the field of smart light poles, making the industry development showing vigorous vitality. Driven by smart cities and the Internet of Things, the construction of smart light poles has seen an unprecedented upsurge. At present, the market dividend generated by the big cake of the smart light pole industry is increasing day by day, waiting to be shared.
Up to now, Guangdong, Shanghai, Hunan and other provinces have issued multiple policies on “multiple poles in one” and “smart light poles”, and even in the 5G related policies, “we must vigorously promote the construction of smart poles” It is also clearly mentioned that these policies all demonstrate the government’s support for the smart light pole industry. The prosperity of the smart light pole industry is both inevitable and unprecedented. From intelligence to intelligence, it is an inevitable trend in the development of science and technology in the world today. In 2020, the development of smart light pole screens will inevitably burst into vigor with the in-depth development of smart cities. At this time, a thorough understanding of the status quo of industrial development will help screen companies see the direction of progress.
Other segments
Innovation is a common topic in the LED display industry, and it is indeed an indispensable key element on the path of enterprise development. In recent years, in addition to the increase in raw material prices, labor costs in the entire industry have also risen a lot. Therefore, in order to alleviate the cost pressure of enterprises, innovation in product production processes is also urgent. Throughout the development history of the LED display industry, after more than ten years of technological innovation, both in form and technology, LED display companies have been pursuing innovation and have derived many new products, such as the small pitch that is still hot in 2019 LED display screens, transparent screens, special-shaped screens, light bar screens, flexible screens, etc. Such a change is also very beneficial to the wider application of LED displays, especially in the context of the ever-increasing demand for customization in the terminal market, product innovation is even more important.
With the increasing application of LED display screens, the potential customer base also expands. Although many LED display manufacturers have paid attention to this industry trend, they have taken root in market segments. Although the market potential of LED displays is huge, they must not blindly “follow the trend” in the market. They need to be rational and objective based on their own positioning and advantages. The selection of sustainable development subdivisions. At the same time, the market to be explored is still very impressive. LED display companies should broaden their horizons and should not confine themselves to “grabbing” in the current market, but should explore more application fields and potential users to make the “cake” bigger.
Post time: Oct-30-2020