According to Mikro Mesa chairman Chen Liyi said Taiwan's Micro LED manufacturers have robbed in 500 days to obtain a technological breakthrough, otherwise the technology will be limited to niche market applications.
The successful development of Micro LED technology depends on three factors: the underlying market, the potential market and the infrastructure investment.The underlying market is the initial application to generate enough income to support the technology development; the potential market is the key business application for the further development of the technology; Facility investment refers to the establishment of technology supply chain.
Correct Plasma And liquid crystal Display technology Competitive reviews can be used as a reference for micro LED development. With laptops and monitor The LCD panel is the base market for plasma technology, but the plasma TV is expensive, so the technology lacks support for further development. The LCD market is a 42-inch and larger-sized TV applications, Of the potential market. By contrast, with 17-inch and below the size of the notebook and 15 to 23 inches display As the basis for the market, LCD The infiltration of the 32-inch and above the size of the TV market, as the technology of the potential market.As the liquid crystal display technology investment far more than plasma display technology, which in the absence of potential market conditions, with the LCD display intensified competition, Eventually forced to withdraw from the market.
At present, the LCD monitor with OLED In the fierce competition, the former accounted for at least 95% of the display market share, which has a smart phone base market. LCD Of the potential market is flexible and / or transparent display areas; for OLED, it has the potential to replace the large-size TV market, LCD display. LCD is a mature technology, most companies engaged in OLED research and development are LCD panel manufacturers.
Because micro LED technology is still under development, there is neither a base market nor a lack of infrastructure investment.However, the technology will soon have a wide range of potential markets, covering almost all types of display applications. The basic market choice is whether the micro LED Has become the main display technology and application of large-scale television field key,
Smartphone and VR (Virtual Reality) / AR (Augmented Reality) devices may also be a viable market for micro LEDs. If the yield reaches 80%, the cost of micro LED panels with dimensions over 55 inches will be lower than the cost of LCD Micro LED panels do not require components such as backlight units, LCDs, color filters, and polarizers, so Mikro Mesa is developing micro LED panels for 55-inch and over-size televisions, but the development of this large application panel Some technical problems.
Small LED panels with dimensions below 10 inches are less powerful, less power efficient, and have high display performance for smartphones, but this application will face strong competition from OLEDs, especially when Apple is using its iPhone X OLED panel.As Samsung, LG and many Chinese panel manufacturers to invest heavily in the development and production of OLED panels, micro LED panel will be difficult in the field of smart phones and OLED competition.
Small size micro LED panels can also be used for VR / AR devices, but the value of these devices is content and software rather than the display.
For 10 to 32-inch display panel areas, LCD technology has dominated, micro LED technology to achieve the chances of success is minimal.
Therefore, 55-inch and above the size of the TV application will become a micro LED technology market opportunities.But because the price of large-size LCD TV is usually low, so micro LED TV must provide a higher cost, in order to face the LCD TV fierce Stand out when competing.
According to Mikro Mesa estimates, a new mass transfer approach can reduce the time required to produce 55-inch micro LED panels from the original 7 hours to 7.5 minutes. In terms of capital expenditure, due to the production of micro LED panels need array equipment , And the need for hot room equipment, so the establishment of micro LED panel plant investment required only LCD fab and OLED production facilities, 70% and 50%. Mikro Mesa plans to begin production in 2018 for large-size TV Micro LED panel.
Taiwan's LCD and LED industry matures to make Taiwan an advantage in developing micro LEDs, but because of the firmness in the smartphone market, OLED panel makers are trying to expand their business in large-scale TV, and if they succeed, The micro LED is facing a critical moment, the manufacturers involved must speed up the commercialization process.
