The total investment exceeds 26 billion yuan! This year's Mini/Micro LED is something to watch!

After the beginning of 2023, the entire industry will charge forward with full force! Especially in the Mini/Micro LED field, news of investment, expansion, and release of new products continues. According to incomplete statistics from the Screen Display World, as of March 17, more than 26 billion yuan has entered this field this year, and the marketization of Mini/Micro LEDs will accelerate!

The total investment this year exceeds 26 billion yuan!

This year, 13 companies including Zhouming, Lehman, Vision, Huacan, Meiyadi, United Microelectronics, Chuandun Optoelectronics, Shentianma, Sinruida, Xinshitong, Inspur Group, Commet, and Weishi Electronics have released their investment plans for developing Mini/Micro LED projects. Among them, Shenzhen Tianma invested 7.8 billion yuan to develop vehicle-mounted and new display business; Zhou Ming invested 2.2 billion yuan to build Zhongshan Intelligent Intelligent Manufacturing Base, including Mini/Micro LED projects; Huacan and Fusion Microelectronics invested 2.084 billion yuan and 6 billion yuan respectively to build Mini/Micro LED chips. As of now, the total investment in Mini/Micro LEDs (including Mini backlights) since 2023 has been 26.633 billion yuan.

It is understood that in the past three years, Mini/Micro LED has a total investment of nearly 200 billion yuan. According to the current development trend, the total investment in 2023 may exceed previous years. This year, most LED display companies have invested in the Mini/Micro LED field, such as Zhouming, Lehman and Huacan, which are additional investments.

However, industry sources said that although the application prospects of Mini/Micro LED are very broad, the real implementation depends on its value in replacing other products. According to current market feedback, it will take some time for the market to mature, and the return on investment time is also relatively long.

More than 30 new products were released!

In a short period of more than two months, more than 30 new products have been released on the market, including televisions, monitors, AR smart glasses, new car displays, medical endoscopic displays, displays, etc. At present, the number of new Micro LED and Mini direct display products is much smaller than that of Mini backlights, but the future is broader. Last year, Mini backlights fell far short of the expected target. They were mainly affected by the epidemic. Consumption was downgraded and market demand weakened. They are expected to improve this year.

It can be seen from the above figure that the commercialization of Mini LED backlights in televisions, displays, notebooks, car displays and other fields is accelerating. Mini direct displays and Micro LEDs are expected to be used fastest in commercial displays, televisions, AR glasses and other fields. However, due to issues such as yield and cost, it will still be some time for them to be truly market-oriented.

There are 40,000 Mini/Micro LED patents around the world! China ranks high

On March 3, the National Third Generation Semiconductor Technology Innovation Center (Suzhou), Jiangsu Third Generation Semiconductor Research Institute and Smart Bud jointly released the "2023 Micro-LED Industry Technology Insights White Paper"(hereinafter referred to as the white paper). The white paper shows: The Micro-LED industry is characterized by large market potential, rich technical reserves, and high enthusiasm for innovative research and development. The number of patent applications in this field around the world has exceeded 40,000, which is in a period of explosive growth. From the perspective of innovation entities, China's leading enterprises and International leaders are moving hand in hand. Among the Top 15 companies in patent applications, Chinese companies such as BOE, Huaxing Optoelectronics, and Huawei account for more than half; from a technical point of view, the key technical problems in Micro LED industrialization are mainly concentrated on epitaxial& chip structure, massive transfer, full-color display and display drive, and the above technologies are accelerating the process of tackling the problem.

The white paper also shows that Micro LED technology R & D innovation is more active in the region mainly concentrated in China, the United States, South Korea. Judging from the world's leading innovation entities, companies from China, South Korea, and the United States also occupy greater advantages, and the main ones are display panels and optoelectronic companies. In terms of technical reserves, the world's leading enterprises are rich in technical reserves, opening a clear gap with the innovative entities in the back echelon.

Many places have issued policies to support new displays. Chengdu's maximum subsidy reaches 10 million yuan

This year, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Shandong and other places have successively issued emerging display policies to support the development of Mini/Micro LEDs from various aspects such as funds.

In February 2023, the "Opinions of Chengdu City on Several Policies to Further Promote the High-Quality Development of New Display Industry"(hereinafter referred to as the Policies) was released. The policy shows that enterprises that invest 1 billion yuan, 5 billion yuan, and 10 billion yuan in fixed assets around the new display industry will be awarded rewards of 8 million yuan, 9 million yuan, and 10 million yuan respectively.

In the same period, Zengcheng District of Guangzhou City issued the "Supporting Measures for Promoting the Development of Scientific and Technological Innovation in Zengcheng District (Revised)"(hereinafter referred to as the "Supporting Measures"). Zengcheng District of Guangzhou City issued the "Supporting Measures for Promoting the Development of Scientific and Technological Innovation in Zengcheng District (Revised)"(hereinafter referred to as the "Supporting Measures"). Encourage strategic emerging industries such as ultra-high definition video and new displays to become better and stronger, and provide additional rewards to high-tech enterprises whose main business income reaches more than 50 million yuan and more than 200 million yuan for the first time. The reward amount will be increased to 200,000 yuan, 300,000 yuan; a reward of 600,000 yuan will be awarded for those who reach more than 500 million yuan for the first time. Build a new R & D institution with an additional reward of 1 million yuan for each level.

The Development and Reform Commission of Shandong Province issued a list of key provincial projects in 2023, with a total investment of 1.09 trillion yuan and an annual planned investment of 344.6 billion yuan. Among them, the integration of new materials Mini LED backplane project, Yuanxu semiconductor new generation Micro LED semiconductor integrated display vertical integration manufacturing project and other successful shortlisted. In addition, Yuanxu Semiconductor invested in the construction of a new generation of Micro LED semiconductor integrated display vertical integration manufacturing project, with a total investment of 200 million yuan, is currently under hot construction, is expected to be put into production in 2023.

Chongqing CPPCC member proposal to create Chongqing new display industry cluster

At the just-concluded first session of the 14th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, 34 members of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference living in Chongqing submitted a joint proposal calling for support in Chongqing to actively create national strategic emerging industrial clusters.

At present, Chongqing has gathered nearly 60 upstream and downstream enterprises in the new display industry chain such as BOE, Huike Jinyu, Konka, Corning Glass, and Lianchuang Electronics, forming a whole industry chain from raw materials and parts supporting, glass substrates, liquid crystal panels, and display modules to devices. High-end display technologies such as new quantum dot films and Mini/Micro LEDs are leading the industry. In 2022, the output value of the new display industry will exceed 70 billion yuan, and the conditions are ripe to create a new display industry cluster with complete industrial chains. To this end, the "Proposal" recommends supporting Chongqing in creating a new display national strategic emerging industrial cluster.

According to data released by the World Display Industry Conference, the revenue of the new display industry in the mainland of China has increased year by year from 2017 to 2020. As of the end of 2020, 35 panel production lines of 6 generations and above have been built in mainland China, with a total investment in the production line reaching 1.24 trillion yuan., the annual production capacity reaches 222 million square meters, and the annual revenue of the new display industry reaches 446 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 19.7%. In 2021, revenue from the new display industry in the mainland of China will reach 586.8 billion yuan. This is also the reason for the current upsurge in establishing new display industry demonstration zones in China.

written in the end

Due to the huge investment of funds, the high enthusiasm of China companies for innovation and the full support of the government, China has a good opportunity to lead the world in the Mini/Micro LED field. However, Micro LED is still very technical difficult at present. To speed up the implementation of products, enterprises in the upper, lower and lower reaches of the entire industry chain are needed to innovate and cooperate together. 2023, as the first year of recovery after the epidemic, is a critical year to witness the achievements of Mini/Micro LED technology. I hope that China companies can ride the wind and waves to break through technical bottlenecks and create new brilliance in the display field!