Mini LED focuses on multiple applications
Mini LED is the focus of application, while Mirco LED is yet to mature. People from all walks of life are concerned about whether Fucai Investment Control (3714) can replicate the successful model of Mini LED in Micro LED products after mass production of Mini LED. Recently, Fucai has joined hands with two major panel groups in Taiwan through a private placement case to gather the strength of Taiwan's supply chain and accelerate the mass production of Micro LED products. Attempt to preempt the top display market.
Mini LED was first proposed by Epistar. LEDs with a grain size of about 50 to 200 microns are called Micro LEDs with a grain size of less than 50 microns.
According to TrendForce data, in 2021, as the impact of the pneumonia epidemic gradually eases, various economic activities will fully recover, and the global LED market will reach US$17.65 billion, an annual increase of 15.4%. With the gradual increase in volume of Mini LED backlights, the continuous increase in the penetration rate of automotive LEDs, the continuous increase in high-end lighting demand, and the expansion of display application fields, it is estimated that the LED market size will grow to 30.312 billion US dollars in 2026, and the compound growth rate in 2021-2026 will reach 11%. Mini LED and Micro LED use a large number of LED dies, which help to reduce production capacity, and LED manufacturers regard it as an industry development trend.
At present, in response to the new crown epidemic, the mainland government is still implementing epidemic prevention and control in many places, although the impact on the production of domestic LED manufacturers in Taiwan is limited. However, if the supply of end product components is blocked, it will still affect the short-term shipment performance of LED manufacturers. In addition, the Mini LED products with the strongest growth momentum must pay attention to the subsequent changes in the competitive situation because the mainland manufacturer Sanan Optoelectronics has entered the APPLE supply chain. Mini LED backlight will be used in NB, tablet and other products one after another in 2020. Benefited from the improvement in process yield and the substantial adoption of APPLE, Mini LED backlight application shipments will jump significantly in 2021. It is estimated that the penetration rate of Mini LED backlight applications in NB, tablet, TV and other products will continue to rise in 2022. However, as the yield rate of mainland manufacturers increases, product prices may be affected. For Mini LED RGB display and Micro LED, due to the immature technology and high product price, the commercialization time is relatively slow. In the next few years, the demand for Micro/Mini LED will be the main driving force for LED chip manufacturers to expand production.
LEDs are gradually saturated in some application markets. The backlight module market, which uses a large amount of products, has entered a period of decline. Vehicle dashboards and outdoor signage have been developed for a long time and have entered a mature stage. The market growth momentum mainly comes from the LED lighting, LED car lights and other markets. In addition, Mini LED has begun to introduce various commercial models, while Micro LED is waiting for its technology to mature.
Mini and Micro LED screen design structure, structurally, OLED has the characteristics of self-illumination, which saves the structure of backlight module and color filter compared with heavy LCD. Mini LED backlight reduces the size of the backlight chip and arranges it densely in a matrix, narrowing the gap between LCD and OLED. The structural advantage of Mini LED RGB and Micro LED displays is that they do not need polarizers and color filters. Compared with OLED, there are fewer polarizers and glass substrates, which can meet the needs of thinning and light weight.
Compared with traditional direct-lit backlights, Mini LED backlights can reduce the optical distance (OD), have smaller local dimming, higher color contrast, better brightness uniformity, and are thin and power-saving. Compared with OLED, Mini LED has competitive advantages in cost and product life.
Mini LED technology uses LED chips with smaller package size, more quantity and higher density as the backlight source. Because the smallest unit of the regional backlight adjustment function is a single LED, it adopts 300~1000 zones of independent control. Mini LED can reduce the thickness, halo and light leakage of the panel backlight module. It is expected to make LCD closer to OLED performance in terms of contrast, color gamut, and brightness.
The shipment of Mini LED backlight NB panels is rising. According to market research firm Omdia, thanks to Apple’s launch of 14-inch and 16-inch Mini LED backlight Macbook Pro, shipments of NB panels equipped with Mini LED backlight will reach 4.5 million in 2021. Market penetration increased to 1.6%. It is estimated that the shipment of NB panels equipped with Mini LED backlight will continue to rise to 9.9 million in 2022, with a market penetration rate of 3%.