2024 will directly show the rise of Mini COB's biggest dark horse

Autumn is turning and winter is coming, and 2022 is drawing to an end. Just as most industry experts believe that the COB brand structure is initially settled, this year's direct display Mini COB has ushered in the biggest dark horse.
Since 2016, the COB technical route has been placed on high hopes by the LED display industry (direct display). More and more players are voting with real money, and the display effect is getting better and better. However, due to performance and cost constraints, it has been in a long-term period of exploration with a" bright future and a tortuous road".
But this year, COB technology has ushered in a big black horse-Zhaochi Jingxian has expanded against the trend, and production and sales are booming. The newly invested Nanchang production base was put into operation in November. So, how was this big black horse refined? Why 2022? Will its emergence lead to the application of COB technology routes and trigger a turning point in industry expansion?

COB 为何多年叫好不叫座？
COB 诞生于 2012 年，从国际大厂的选择到国内头部厂商的加入，玩家数量从个位数到十位数的跃升，间接阐明了 COB 技术的可行性。
Back to the technical level, COB combines packaging and display technology, eliminating the need for SMT mounting in the process flow. The product has the advantages of high density, high protection, high reliability, high adaptability, high image quality and low cost., solving the reliability problems faced by the SMD single lamp form as the dot spacing shrinks, which is in line with the development trend of the Mini/Micro LED era.
More and more players are entering the market. On the one hand, this shows that the COB route is being recognized by more investors. On the other hand, it also objectively promotes COB technology to get closer to the door of large-scale commercialization, and market acceptance is increasing day by day.
However, after 10 years of industry exploration, COB technology application has not exploded on a large scale. Why is COB, which is recognized by the industry as" a bright future", so difficult to gain market" favor"? This involves three major difficulties that have led to the twists and turns of COB's development path: manufacturing model, straight-through rate, and industrial chain integration.
First of all, it is reflected in the manufacturing model. Most COBs are customized models of engineering and have a long implementation cycle. To achieve industrialization, manufacturers need to have a profound high-end manufacturing foundation and management capabilities.
Secondly, in terms of the balance between technology and cost, compared with traditional display manufacturing, most of the current COB through-rate is still lower than market requirements; the difficulty of the COB solution lies in the huge transfer of technology, which is not only the key to improving yield and reducing costs, but also It is the key to affecting whether the market size of micro-pitch LED displays can grow.
Secondly, there is the game involved in the original interest chain of the industrial chain. From the perspective of supply chain cooperation, IMD has inherited the original SMD supply chain system, while COB may bring changes to the structure of the supply chain. In the early stages of development, when the first packaging is no longer needed, there is still uncertainty as to which link in the industrial chain the COB technology path will be realized. The original interest chain of chips, packages, and displays will be broken., and to realize the role of this technology path, a large amount of capital will be invested in purchasing equipment and introducing talents, which greatly increases the cost of promotion.
In short, the COB technology model blurs the division of labor and boundaries of the upstream and downstream industrial chains, causing differences in the division of labor in a certain link of upstream and downstream enterprises, and slowing down the pace of industrial development to a certain extent.
What other changes are needed in COB's technical route to reach the turning point?
如前文所述，COB 技术路线的艰难与曲折体现在工程定制、技术性能与成本平衡、产业化利益等方面，已然成为一个具体又明确的难题与方向。
In fact, it is precisely because of the obvious needs and pain points of COB technology that relevant players are very cautious in joining the camp, and these thoughts and explorations will undoubtedly become the focus of COB technology in the second half.
From the current perspective, COB product positioning is undergoing positive changes:
First, gradually shift from industrial products to consumer products, and project customization to standardized production;
Secondly, COB's core dimension will pay more attention to solving the price and performance of products;
The key to price lies in the yield rate of production. The yield comes from the understanding and control of the core, the improvement of large-scale mass production of equipment and rooms and the optimization of production techniques...
Of course, compared with the waves stirred up by COB technology optimization, the ripples caused by the division of labor and interests behind the technology are more eye-catching.
Based on the premise of industrial development, pure COB modules are used as products and shipped to downstream LED display factories, terminal factories and other roles to maintain the original supply chain structure and avoid differences, which in a sense is in line with the current The laws of industrial development are another way to accelerate the penetration of COB technology.
However, in recent days, news came out that Zhaochi Jingxian Nanchang base was put into" production, i.e. mass production". We may be able to expect the explosion of COB technology application to be in the near future.
How did the biggest black horse Zhaochijing play the good cards?
2022 年以来，大环境带来的压力，在地缘性战争、疫情等的影响下，整个行业需求下降，根据显示之家《2022 小间距与微间距显示调研白皮书》的数据显示，直显整体需求下降约 30-40%。Against the background of falling demand, the market has become more cautious and demanding in product selection.
In the seemingly bleak environment, there is one company that has broken out of the encirclement and achieved outstanding results, becoming the biggest dark horse on the COB technology route in 2022. It is Zhaochi Jingxian.
When Display Home conducted research on Zhaochi Jingxian, it was found that as the saying goes," ten years to sharpen the sword", all the rise is by no means accidental. Next, let's" take a" look at Zhaochi Jingxian's layout and strategy and take a look at this level. In-depth interpretation? Which king fried combinations have been selected for the pain points of COB technology promotion?
Zhaochi Jingxian is a company that advocates innovation. Since it entered the field of Mini LED display, it has used flip chips and combined with COB application technology to solve many problems in the existing process and greatly improve production efficiency. At the same time, it can achieve 180-degree light emission. Whether it is product quality, cost, delivery time or product maintenance services, flip chip far exceeds the formal process. It has been gradually applied in the LED industry on a scale. With the further improvement of precision control, performance and technology of supporting equipment, flip chip will It will shine in the field of LED display and will gradually replace formal products in the future.
At the same time, Zhaochi Crystal Display has reconfigured the entire product, using bold innovations in various aspects such as box structure, power supply, image control card application and light panel display matrix arrangement. quot; Technological leadership has laid a competitive advantage for a new generation of products, which can be said to be the first trump card for Zhaochi Crystal to enter the market.
In solving the pain points of COB's mass production technology, Zhaochi Jingxian has played another trump card-"process innovation".
According to Display Home Display Home, Zhaochi Jingxian has greatly improved and customized its production equipment, owns dozens of patented technologies, and has formed an equipment matrix. By solving huge transfer technical difficulties, its through-pass rate and yield are in the industry. Leading. At present, Zhaochi Crystal Display COB can not only fully meet the market demand, but after the Nanchang factory is put into operation, the products can cover P0.78-P1.87. All products have been fully verified at the Shenzhen factory and have been recognized by well-known customers in the industry. Mass production has been achieved. With this solid foundation, Jiangxi Crystal Display can be guaranteed to be in mass production when it is put into production, and to be fully produced when it is put into production.
According to Zhaochi Jingxian, there are currently 600 lines, and 1600 lines are planned to be built in 2023, becoming the world's largest COB manufacturer.
In addition, Zhaochi Jingxian will establish a special engineering experimental center for Mini/Micro LED technology research and development and process innovation to fully tackle Micro LED technology and deploy AR/VR products and micro display products.
As we all know, Zhaochi Jingxian is a subsidiary of Zhaochi Co., Ltd.(hereinafter referred to as" Zhaochi"), and Zhaochi is a comprehensive manufacturing enterprise with smart display, smart home networking and the entire LED industry chain. Xiaomi, Sharp, Best Buy, Wal-Mart and other domestic and foreign first-line brands are Zhaochi's long-term and stable partners. As a high-end manufacturer trusted by well-known brands at home and abroad, it has accumulated more than ten years of experience in the field of intelligent manufacturing and is obviously the third trump card played by Zhaochi Jingxian.
On November 17, He Shengbin, general manager of Zhaochi Crystal Display, cited Zhaochi Crystal Display's various innovations at the Display Home Annual Meeting: strengthening informatization control in terms of process, and using industrial big data platform to build the entire production process., subversively improving the COB process, such as making more than 20 improvements to the ASM crystal bonder.
Relying on the parent company's years of intelligent manufacturing experience, Zhaochi Jingxian has now achieved automation, informatization, standardization and large-scale production in two major production bases in Shenzhen and Nanchang. In particular, the Nanchang factory can not only learn from the mature management experience of the Shenzhen base, but also expand its scale. A 150,000-square-meter production base will be completed this year.
It has more than 600 high-performance wires since it was first put into production. The company plans to invest and build another 1000 wires next year, moving towards the goal of becoming the world's largest in scale and leading the semiconductor display industry.
For the integration of the industrial chain, which is a headache for players in the industry, this is an area where Zhaochi, who has been immersed in the manufacturing industry for nearly 20 years, has a lot of knowledge. It is also the area where Zhaochi entered the LED field in 2011, starting from packaging and continues to expand upstream and downstream., proactive layout of the entire LED industry chain lies. At present, Zhaochi has gradually mastered the core technologies of each link. The industrial chain layout includes Zhaochi semiconductors (chips), Zhaochi optical elements (packaging), Zhaochi crystal displays (panels), etc., and each link maintains complementarity and parallel development relationship.
conclusion
As mentioned above, Zhaochi Crystal Display is a key link of Zhaochi in the LED display industry chain. With the help of years of research and development and production in different links such as Zhaochi Semiconductor and Zhaochi Optical Elements, it fully solves the problems and pain points brought by COB technology through manufacturing, yield, and process. And through intelligent manufacturing experience, fixed costs can be greatly reduced; control of the supply chain can better balance variable costs.
It is precisely due to the layout and precipitation in the early stage that Zhaochi Jingxian has achieved remarkable results this year, has been favored by many customers, and has become a typical dark horse representative of growth against the trend this year.
To sum up, Display Home Research believes:
2022