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January 25, 2021

The Mini-LED market is ready to take off, and the total investment in industrial chain projects exceeds 85 billion yuan

In the past few years, under the superposition of factors such as lower than expected LED application demand and the rapid release of new capacity, most of the LED industry chain companies have performed poorly. Nowadays, under the continuous deployment of terminal manufacturers, the commercialization of Mini-LED is accelerating, which will undoubtedly open up new market space for LED industry chain companies, and it has also become the direction of industry chain related companies competing for investment and layout.

At present, LED industry chain, panel and terminal application manufacturers are all "laying heavy forces" in the Mini-LED field. According to incomplete statistics from Jiwei, since 2019, the total planned investment in domestic Mini/Micro-LED display technology related projects has reached 85.2 billion yuan, involving chips, packaging, equipment, panels, and terminal applications. However, from the amount of investment Looking at it, chip companies are the most active, and packaging, equipment, and material manufacturers have followed suit.
Giants enter, the commercialization of Mini LED accelerates

As the most advanced backlight technology in the current display field, the Mini-LED screen combines the advantages of the current LCD and OLED technology, and achieves a very high level of light control through tens of micron LED backlight modules, which can bring better The wide color gamut performance, high contrast, high dynamic range and local dimming function of the OLED screen, and the service life will be longer than the OLED screen.

At present, Mini-LED has become a key area where relevant manufacturers in the global industry chain are competing for layout. At CES 2021, a number of TV companies including Samsung, TCL, LG, and Innolux have exhibited Mini-LED TVs. Samsung expects to ship more than 2 million Mini-LED backlight LCD TVs this year.

It is precisely because of the high degree of realization, low cost and high production efficiency of the MiniLED industry in the OLED industry that HOREXS has entered the R&D of MINILED production before 2015. By 2020, HOREXS has mastered the MINIled mass production capacity. Be regarded as a rising star manufacturer.

In addition, TV companies such as Xiaomi, Konka, and Skyworth have also joined the development and mass production of Mini-LED TVs. As the Mini-LED TV camp grows stronger, Mini-LED TV is expected to become a new ignition point for the development of the TV industry. TrendForce predicts that the global sales of Mini-LED backlight TVs will reach 4.4 million units in 2021, accounting for about 2% of the overall TV market; by 2025, the global sales of Mini-LED backlight TVs will exceed 35.5 million units.

In addition to the aforementioned manufacturers, Apple's entry is to accelerate the commercialization of Mini-LED. Guo Mingchi said in a post that Apple will gradually transition its equipment to Mini-LED technology in 2021. This year, a new iPad Pro will be released and the MacBook Pro will be redesigned, followed by a new MacBook Air in 2022, all models with Mini-LED displays and Apple chips.

In view of the promotion of OLED screens, Apple’s new products use Mini-LED as the backlight, which is expected to further accelerate the application of Mini-LED. Tianfeng International has also recently adjusted Apple Mini-LED shipment forecast data. The shipment volume in 2021 will be adjusted from 2 to 3 million units to 10-12 million units, and the shipment volume in 2022 will be adjusted from 4 to 5 million units to 25-28 million units. On the supply side, due to the lower-than-expected improvement in the yield of competitors, Jingdian is expected to have a market share of more than 90%, which is almost equal to the exclusive supplier.

According to supply chain news, in order to cooperate with Apple’s Mini-LED product orders, Epistar actively adjusts its product structure. It has converted 80%-90% of its LED production line in Taiwan to produce Mini-LED chips.

Jingdian Chairman Li Bingjie pointed out that the overall Mini-LED shipments in 2020 will be less than 1 million units, and this year is expected to grow rapidly, with the total scale reaching 10 million units. Because there are not many investors in Taiwan, Jingdian and Lunda The jointly established Fucai Investment Control will account for the vast majority of the market, and it is expected that this year, Fucai Investment Control's Mini-LED revenue will account for 20 to 30%.

It can be seen that this year Mini-LED products will usher in an important year of marketization. Industry insiders pointed out that "the choice of giants is actually the development direction of the industry, and other companies will most likely follow suit. Terminal manufacturers such as Apple and Samsung continue to introduce Mini-LED products, and other manufacturers have followed suit, which will accelerate the promotion of Mini-LED products. The popularity of LEDs."

A manufacturer said, “Compared to two years ago, the cost of Mini-LED backlight TVs has been halved. As the technology becomes more mature and the industrial chain becomes more and more complete, the cost of Mini-LED is estimated. Prices will fall further. Under this trend, the commercial application of Mini-LED backlights will accelerate."
Before the market broke out, the industrial chain carried out capacity reserves

The commercialization of Mini-LED has injected new vitality into the entire industry chain. Due to the huge potential of the Mini-LED market, the LED industry chain, panel manufacturers, and terminal brand manufacturers have invested a lot of money and energy in this technology in order to obtain the first opportunity and occupy the commanding heights of the industry. This has also promoted the entry of the Mini-LED industry. A fast-growing lane.

In 2020, Apple invested tens of billions of New Taiwan dollars to establish Mini-LED and Micro-LED manufacturing plants in the Zhukelongtan Park in Taiwan, and cooperate with Epistar and AUO to supply iPhone, iPad and other products in the future. Capacity reserve.

Industry insiders pointed out, “Under the background of the LED industry downturn, Apple’s investment will drive the industrial effect. At present, domestic LED industry chain manufacturers are also accelerating their investment layout, which will greatly promote the application market.”
According to incomplete statistics from Jiwei, since 2019, the total planned investment in domestic Mini/Micro-LED display technology related projects is approximately 85.2 billion yuan. From the perspective of the amount of investment, driven by internationally renowned brands, chip companies have the most active investment, and packaging, equipment, and material manufacturers have also followed up.

In addition to huge investments, there are also many new cooperations in the Mini/Micro-LED field, including upstream and downstream cooperation and cross-border cooperation. For example, Sanan Optoelectronics and China Star Optoelectronics jointly invested 300 million yuan to establish a Mini/Micro-LED R&D laboratory. BOE and HC Semitek have signed a strategic cooperation framework agreement. Leyard also has a joint venture with Taiwan Epistar to produce Mini/mMico-LED chips. Insiders pointed out that the strengthening of industry giants' cooperation will greatly promote the development of Mini/Micro-LED.

Domestic companies have increased the Mini/Micro-LED field one after another, which is optimistic about the market prospects. It is understood that Xiaomi will release an 82-inch Mini-LED TV in 2020, equipped with 15,360 Mini-LED lamp beads, which shows that the market size behind it is very attractive. TrendForce also expects the output value of Mini-LED backlights to reach US$131 million in 2021, a 9-fold increase from 2020.

In the context of the continuous growth of market demand and the increasing layout, domestic manufacturers' Mini-LED products have also made greater progress. At present, the domestic Mini-LED chip technology has basically matured, and major chip manufacturers including Sanan Optoelectronics, HC Semitek, and Qianzhao Optoelectronics are already available for mass supply.

In the packaging field, NationStar Optoelectronics, Hongli Zhihui, Zhaochi Co., Ltd., etc. can also be supplied in batches. Yang Yongfa, general manager of Hongli Zhihui Guangzhou Branch, said that starting from the fourth quarter of 2020, the company’s order volume will increase monthly New high, strong market demand.

In general, under the impetus of well-known international brands such as Apple, TCL, Samsung, and Xiaomi, the arrival of the large-scale commercial stage of Mini-LED will be accelerated. Unilumin Technology expects that the price advantage of Mini-LED will gradually emerge from the third quarter of 2021. Mini-LED is a semi-conductor product, with an average annual decline of about 20%-30%, which opens up huge space for future development and will lead the mainstream LED display in the next 5 years.

Industry insiders pointed out that with Samsung, TCL, Xiaomi and other brands stepping up efforts to promote Mini-LED TVs, it is expected that Mini-LEDs will achieve rapid volume in 2021. In the long term, Mini-LED growth momentum will come from applications such as displays, smart cars, and IoT modules that use Mini-LEDs. As the Mini-LED market enters an explosive period, companies that have deployed Mini-LED earlier are expected to benefit fully.

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