Not long ago, the "2023 Micro LED Industry Technology Insights White Paper" (hereinafter referred to as the "White Paper") was released. The white paper shows that as of June 2022, Micro LED's global patent reserves have exceeded 40,000, which is in a period of explosive growth; among them, there are more than 13,000 valid patents, and the proportion of pending and valid patents is close to 80%, indicating that there are potential patents in this field. Patent hurdles are high. The key technical problems of Micro LED industrialization mainly focus on epitaxy & chip structure, mass transfer, full-color display and display drive, and the above-mentioned technologies are accelerating the process of tackling key problems. And since 2017, the research and development activity of Micro LED technology has increased significantly, and it is currently in a period of explosive growth.

Overview of Micro LED Global Technology Innovation

The areas where Micro LED technology R&D and innovation are more active are mainly concentrated in China, the United States, and South Korea. From the perspective of global top innovation entities, Chinese, Korean, and American companies also have greater advantages, and they are mainly display panel and optoelectronic companies. Chinese companies such as BOE, China Star Optoelectronics, and Sanan Optoelectronics account for more than half of the top 15 Micro LED patent applications in the world. Among them, BOE and China Star Optoelectronics have ranked among the top 5 in the world. It can be seen that China's leading enterprises have strong advantages in the Micro LED field, demonstrating the competitiveness of Chinese enterprises in this field. In addition to China's top companies, South Korea's Samsung and LG also rank among the top in the world in terms of patent applications, especially Samsung, which has significant technological advantages, which also reflects the fierce market competition in this field. The world's leading companies have rich technical reserves, and there is a clear gap between them and the innovation subjects of the latter echelon.

The main body of innovation in the number of applications for epitaxial chips

But we must also see that South Korea's Samsung Micro LED patent applications rank first in the world, with significant technical advantages. If only the mainland market is counted, my country's advantage in the number of Micro LED patent applications will decline. From the perspective of patent owners, Micro LED patented technology is basically monopolized by giants, such as Samsung, BOE, LG, China Star Optoelectronics, Apple, Huawei, Shenzhen Tianma, Konka Optoelectronics, LCF and other giants have become the main patent subjects. In terms of technical reserves, the top 10 companies in China, except for BOE and China Star Optoelectronics, still have a certain gap with the global leaders.

At present, Micro LED chips have been commercialized in display scenarios such as glasses and TVs, but most of the products are still in the concept stage and have not yet achieved large-scale market promotion. With the breakthrough and gradual maturity of key technologies such as Micro LED-related red light chips, transfer, and full-color display, commercialization and industrialization costs have been greatly reduced, and chip yields have been further improved. Micro LED is expected to be the first to realize back-end display scenarios application.

Micro LED Global & China's Main Innovators

In the direction of epitaxy & chip structure, among the top 15 global companies, there are 5 Chinese companies, among which Taiwan PlavNitride, Chongqing Konka and Sanan Optoelectronics have more than 100 patents in this technology direction, ranking among the top 5 in the world. Except for Chinese top companies, South Korea’s Samsung and Meta rank among the top in the world in terms of patent application volume, and there is a certain gap between China’s top patent applications and other applicants. Overall, China’s top companies have an advantage in innovation strength in this direction .

It is worth mentioning that after entering 2010, the Taiwan region of China focused on micro-display technologies such as Mini/Micro LED as the breakthrough point, forming a situation where many enterprises jointly tackle key problems led by the Taiwan Industrial Technology Research Institute, and have achieved good results so far. Not only has its Micro LED start-up company LuxVue been successfully acquired by Apple, but it has also driven the rapid development of Taiwan's entire micro-display industry chain, and it is also relatively advanced in terms of patent layout. In terms of global micro-display industry patent statistics, Taiwan is also included under my country’s unified caliber. Therefore, looking at China’s micro-display patent data, it is very gratifying at first glance, but carefully exclude the number of patents contributed by Taiwan-related companies and institutions. , micro-display patent application in mainland China is a blessing in disguise. The good news is that thanks to the efforts of a group of leading companies such as BOE, China Star, TCL, Huawei, Konka, and Tianma, my country's patent applications in the field of micro-displays remain at the forefront in general, but the number of patent applications for related small and medium-sized enterprises is too small . Patents are basically monopolized by large companies, especially in terms of valid patents. This also creates a threshold for small and medium-sized display companies to participate in the Mini/Micro LED micro-display industry competition in the future.

Future Development Prospects of Micro LED in China

China's micro-display technology continues to innovate and has now reached the world's most advanced level. Among them, Micro LED, as a new track for LED development, has huge market growth and market potential. From 2014 to 2022, the total number of Micro LED patent applications in China exceeded 12,000, of which the number of patent applications in 2019 and 2020 exceeded 2,000. From the perspective of the global display industry chain, China's Micro LED industry presents the characteristics of large market potential, rich technical reserves, and high enthusiasm for innovation and research and development. China is the country most likely to take the lead in realizing commercialization and industrialization.

First of all, China has a complete industrial chain in the LED display industry, including LED chip manufacturing, packaging, modules, panels, display screens and other links. This makes China have the foundation for the research and development and industrialization of Micro LED technology. Secondly, the Chinese government has been committed to promoting the development of high-tech industries, and Micro LED technology is also one of the key points. The government has given strong support in investment, policy and personnel training, providing strong support for the development of the industry and guaranteeing the industrialization of Micro LED technology. In addition, China, as a global manufacturing center, has a cost advantage. The research and development and industrialization of Micro LED technology require a lot of funds and resources. China's cost advantage can reduce the cost of technology research and development and production, and improve the competitiveness of the industry. China has the largest consumer market in the world and has huge market potential, which can attract more investment and industrial chain resources. Micro LED technology has a wide range of applications, involving smartphones, smart watches, TVs, automobiles, VR/AR and other fields, and can meet the diverse needs of the Chinese market.

write at the end

After leading the world in the field of LED lighting, my country's Micro LED will become another industry that catches up from behind. From the CRT era lagging behind the world, the LCD era lagging behind relatively, and the OLED era running alongside the world, it is believed that under the leadership of Mini/Micro LED, my country will surely achieve cornering overtaking in micro display and lead the world. In the future, with the continuous advancement of micro-display innovation technology and the continuous expansion of market demand, it is believed that the number of Micro LED patent applications in China will continue to increase, and will be far ahead of the world, and the micro-display market will also usher in a broader development prospect.

Source: Screen Display World