OLED driver chip manufacturers are accelerating the upgrade to 28nm process

According to DigiTimes, the demand for OLED panel driver chips (DDI) has increased significantly in recent years, and has become the most important product of various manufacturers. At the same time, this is one of the few types of chips whose sales volume has not decreased significantly under the background of a weak market environment. According to industry insiders, OLED driver chip manufacturers are now upgrading from 40nm process to 28nm process at the request of customers.

According to sources, Apple has requested display driver chip manufacturers to use 28nm process technology to manufacture OLED DDI. In the context of the gradual expansion of 28nm production capacity by major wafer foundries, this requirement is relatively easy to meet. From 2023, the proportion of 28nm OLED driver chips will increase, and it is expected that by 2024, its output will exceed that of 40nm process products.

Industry insiders pointed out that except for Samsung, LX Semicon, and Novatek, most panel driver chip manufacturers still mainly use the 40nm process in order to save costs. These three industry leaders took the initiative to adopt 28nm because of the serious shortage of production capacity of mature processes in the past two years, and the market demand for OLED panel drivers has increased rapidly. Among the foundries, Samsung LSI and UMC are the main producers of such 28nm chips.

Omdia, a research institution, believes that almost all wafer foundries now have expanded production capacity mainly at the 28nm node, and UMC is also planning to reduce the production capacity of 40-90nm process panel driver chips. On the demand side, the panel supply chains of major smartphone brands also want to use chips with higher specifications. Driven by both supply and demand, Omdia predicts that the current ratio of 28nm and 40nm OLED DDI chips is about 4:6, and will gradually change to 6:4 in the next two years. In addition to the field of smartphones, the growth of wearable devices has also driven the demand for such chips, and it is expected to maintain a double-digit annual growth rate in the future.