In 2017, the fine-pitch LED display market, while continuing its popularity for several consecutive years, also ushered in more variables and challenges. Both the technical level of sustainable innovation bottom, but also the level of accelerated competition pattern reshuffle. The following is a summary of the development trend of small-pitch LED display industry in 2017.

 

 

First, "small" is no longer the only standard, the industry will see packaging in the future. From the Guangzhou International Advertising Sign and LED Exhibition (ISLE2017) at the beginning of the year to InfoCommChina2017, and then to the Shanghai International LED Exhibition in the second half of the year, it is not difficult to find that the focus of small pitch LED display manufacturers is no longer just chasing smaller pixel spacing. Although several industry giants have launched products below P1.0 this year, for the vast majority of practitioners, the focus is more on the maturity, usability and creativity of the product transformation. In other words, "small" is no longer the only criterion to measure the competitive strength of enterprises. The emergence of such a situation is related to the stage of the development of small spacing technology. As we all know, in order to achieve the commercial application of small spacing below P1.0, we need to break through many difficulties, such as the balance between yield and cost, cost and demand and so on. This kind of enterprise capital, RESEARCH and development, production capacity, quality control, operation, channels, services and other strength is not a huge test. Therefore, it makes sense that the smaller the pixel spacing, the smaller the number of "players" that can participate.

 

2. The emergence of new technologies, the core lies in packaging: At the same time, we have also seen that some manufacturers have begun to seek new changes from the bottom packaging. The most prominent is the emergence of small-pitch LED displays in COB packaging. At present, many LED display manufacturers have launched corresponding products and have accumulated a certain number of application cases. In fact, to some extent, the emergence of new packaging forms can also be seen as another way of pursuing "small". As we all know, the current mainstream SMD surface mount process in the small-pitch LED industry is facing the difficulties of process difficulty, cost, and dead pixel rate that increase sharply below P1.0. COB, an intensive packaging method that directly encapsulates the LED wafers on the circuit board, is more interesting in terms of process difficulty, cost, and quality control in the field of fine pitch. In fact, including the upcoming commercial mini-LED and the micro-LED that is still in the research and development stage, most of the future new display technology can be attributed to the competition of LED semiconductor light-emitting technology, and the focus or bottleneck of this competition is mostly concentrated. In terms of how to improve the light efficiency of the wafer, reduce the size of the wafer, and the more integrated wafer-level packaging. It is inferred from this that the focus of competition in the small-pitch LED industry in the future will gradually move up from the downstream entire screen, and the packaging process will be the top priority.

 

Third, the industry pattern is facing a reshuffle: If the changes in the small-pitch LED industry in the past are mostly concentrated in the "micro-innovation" within the industry, or that the competition pattern is basically locked. Then, the many changes in 2017, especially the rise of COB, and the resulting disputes over technical routes, will most likely shake the current competitive landscape. The first is a "Chinese-foreign controversy." The foreign display giants who have been conservative and lagging behind Chinese brands in the past obviously hope to achieve "curving overtaking" with the help of new display technology. For example, Sony vigorously promotes its CLED black color crystal display technology, and Samsung is also vigorously promoting its fine-pitch LED cinema projection technology. These giants have more advantages in terms of display industry foundation, brand foundation, and global promotion channel foundation. Obviously, domestic brands need to be vigilant. On the other hand, there is bound to be an "infighting" between domestic brands. At present, the leading giants in the industry are without exception the firm supporters of the SMD route, and whether the supporters of COB will seize the opportunity of this technological differentiation to achieve corner overtaking is also quite worthy of attention. Of course, no matter how the technical route is chosen, corporate competition will eventually fall into brand competition built on the basis of quality and service. Therefore, even in the face of some new changes, there will be no "replacement" fluctuations in the brand structure.