According to DISCIEN data, in the first half of 2022, the top three industries for small-pitch applications are government departments, public security, and governments at all levels, with a total share of 46%; followed by industries such as transportation, energy, and medical care, which are also important markets for small-pitch LED applications. Therefore, the construction of Digital China is expected to increase the demand for the small-pitch LED market. At the same time, high-end markets such as security are entering a replacement cycle. According to the 5-8 year replacement cycle, small-pitch LED products installed between 2016 and 2021 will enter a replacement cycle, and 2016-2021 is the high-speed growth period of small-pitch LEDs, and the update volume is expected to increase significantly compared with previous years. Moreover, the market application at this stage is mainly high-end markets such as military industry/security, and the construction of Digital China is expected to promote the accelerated upgrading of these fields.
Mini/Micro LED is expected to drive the LED industry to real prosperity
According to the dot pitch from large to small, LED display screens can be divided into traditional LED display screens (above P2.5), small pitch LED display screens (P2.5 to P1.0), MiniLED display screens (P1.0 to P0.1) and MicroLED display screens (below P0.1). Mini LED refers to LED chips with a size of 100μm, which is between small pitch LED and Micro LED. It is the result of further refinement of small pitch LED. Micro LED is the product of LED thin film, array and miniaturization technology. It integrates high-density and small-sized LED arrays on a chip. The LED unit is less than 50um, which is only 1% of ordinary LED.
MicroLED is hailed as the "ultimate display technology" for the future. MicroLED has the characteristics of high efficiency, high brightness, high reliability and fast response time of inorganic LED, and has the characteristics of self-luminescence without backlight source, small size, thinness and energy saving. It is suitable for close-up viewing fields such as smart watches, VR/AR, and smart phones, and is hailed as the "ultimate display technology" for the future.
According to the research and forecast of semiconductor analysis agency Yole, the next 3-5 years will be a critical period for Micro LED to move towards consumer-grade applications. Micro LED will first start mass production and application in VR/AR, smart watches, and large-screen display fields: in VR/AR, Micro LED will start to develop from monochrome glasses in 2022 and will enter consumer-grade applications in 2025; in smart watches, Micro LED will also enter the rapid application development stage in 2024; in large-screen display, Micro LED is expected to enter the high-end consumer TV market in 2025, while the time for mobile phones and car display applications will be relatively later. According to Bloomberg, Apple is planning to adopt Micro LED for its high-end Apple Watch Ultra as early as the end of 2024, and gradually expand it to iPhone and other devices. According to GGII statistics, there are more than 20 AR glasses equipped with Micro LED this year. GGII expects the global Micro LED market size to reach US$3.5 billion in 2025 and US$10 billion in 2027. The current technical bottleneck restricting Micro LED is mainly mass transfer, that is, how to combine yield and efficiency to transfer tens of thousands of LED chips to TFT substrates and assemble them at the micron level to form a high-density two-dimensional array structure. This is the biggest obstacle faced in the Micro LED production process.
MiniLED backlight: It is expected to enter the accelerated popularization stage in 2025
Mini LED has a chip size of 100-300um and is considered to be a transition technology from liquid crystal display LCD to Micro LED. Its application areas are mainly for Mini LED backlight and high-definition display on P0.6. Mini LED backlight adopts direct backlight mode, which reduces the size of traditional LED grains to between 100~200μm, greatly increases the number of backlight sources, and cooperates with local dimming control to achieve regional brightness adjustment, bringing a better visual experience. This solution has the advantages of energy saving, thinness, wide color gamut, ultra-high contrast, fine dynamic partitioning, etc., overcoming the shortcomings of other backlight methods. According to the comparison in the above table, the display effect of Mini backlight display is comparable to OLED, and it is significantly better than OLED in terms of service life and working environment. According to incomplete statistics from Gaogong LED, more than 100 new Mini backlight terminal products will be released in 2022, covering TV, NB, display, VR, car display and other fields, more than doubled compared with 2021. Apple has been using Mini backlight on iPad and MacBook since 2021.
Mini/Micro LED is expected to drive the LED industry to real prosperity
According to the dot pitch from large to small, LED display screens can be divided into traditional LED display screens (above P2.5), small pitch LED display screens (P2.5 to P1.0), MiniLED display screens (P1.0 to P0.1) and MicroLED display screens (below P0.1). Mini LED refers to LED chips with a size of 100μm, which is between small pitch LED and Micro LED. It is the result of further refinement of small pitch LED. Micro LED is the product of LED thin film, array and miniaturization technology. It integrates high-density and small-sized LED arrays on a chip. The LED unit is less than 50um, which is only 1% of ordinary LED.
MicroLED is hailed as the "ultimate display technology" for the future. MicroLED has the characteristics of high efficiency, high brightness, high reliability and fast response time of inorganic LED, and has the characteristics of self-luminescence without backlight source, small size, thinness and energy saving. It is suitable for close-up viewing fields such as smart watches, VR/AR, and smart phones, and is hailed as the "ultimate display technology" for the future.
According to the research and forecast of semiconductor analysis agency Yole, the next 3-5 years will be a critical period for Micro LED to move towards consumer-grade applications. Micro LED will first start mass production and application in VR/AR, smart watches, and large-screen display fields: in VR/AR, Micro LED will start to develop from monochrome glasses in 2022 and will enter consumer-grade applications in 2025; in smart watches, Micro LED will also enter the rapid application development stage in 2024; in large-screen display, Micro LED is expected to enter the high-end consumer TV market in 2025, while the time for mobile phones and car display applications will be relatively later. According to Bloomberg, Apple is planning to adopt Micro LED for its high-end Apple Watch Ultra as early as the end of 2024, and gradually expand it to iPhone and other devices. According to GGII statistics, there are more than 20 AR glasses equipped with Micro LED this year. GGII expects the global Micro LED market size to reach US$3.5 billion in 2025 and US$10 billion in 2027. The current technical bottleneck restricting Micro LED is mainly mass transfer, that is, how to combine yield and efficiency to transfer tens of thousands of LED chips to TFT substrates and assemble them at the micron level to form a high-density two-dimensional array structure. This is the biggest obstacle faced in the Micro LED production process.
MiniLED backlight: It is expected to enter the accelerated popularization stage in 2025
Mini LED has a chip size of 100-300um and is considered to be a transition technology from liquid crystal display LCD to Micro LED. Its application areas are mainly for Mini LED backlight and high-definition display on P0.6. Mini LED backlight adopts direct backlight mode, which reduces the size of traditional LED grains to between 100~200μm, greatly increases the number of backlight sources, and cooperates with local dimming control to achieve regional brightness adjustment, bringing a better visual experience. This solution has the advantages of energy saving, thinness, wide color gamut, ultra-high contrast, fine dynamic partitioning, etc., overcoming the shortcomings of other backlight methods. According to the comparison in the above table, the display effect of Mini backlight display is comparable to OLED, and it is significantly better than OLED in terms of service life and working environment. According to incomplete statistics from Gaogong LED, more than 100 new Mini backlight terminal products will be released in 2022, covering TV, NB, display, VR, car display and other fields, more than doubled compared with 2021. Apple has been using Mini backlight on iPad and MacBook since 2021.
