The MicroLED Industry Association published today its first white paper, an application note that discusses the feasibility of microLED wearable displays soon, focusing on an LED cost analysis to see if such a display actually makes sense for smartwatch makers by 2024.
The white paper can be downloaded over at the MicroLED Association's website.
There are reports from Korea that say that the Korean Government is considering designating microLED display technology as a "national strategic technology", which means that companies will be given tax benefits, to encourage further investments and R&D.
According to the reports, next week the government will unveil a new draft tax law next week that will also include OLEDs and quantum dot displays as strategic technologies.
AR developer Mojo Vision announced that as it finds it challenging to raise more funds, it is changing its focus to develop its microLED technology and "decelerating" its work on the smart contact lens system.
According to reports, Mojo Vision has laid off 75% of its employees - it is estimated that the company laid off around 100 employees (it had around 150 employees before the change). The company's CEO says that the its microLED display technology has "is significant near-term market potential".
California-based integrator Just One Touch/Video & Audio Center announced that it has installed the first-ever residential installation of Samsung's latest 219-inch microLED The Wall TV. The price of this project was about $800,000. The installation took three days to complete.
The 219-inch display is made from the IW-008A modules, which offer a 0.84 mm pixel pitch, 120Hz refresh rate, a peak brightness of 2,000 nits and a maximum brightness of 250 nits.
Hong Kong based microLED microdisplay developer Raysolve Technology announced its first demonstration of a microLED microdisplay - a full-color 0.39" display.
The display is based on blue LEDs and a photolithographic QD color conversion layer. Raysolve is using a unique process, which is semiconductor process compatible, to create a novel optical design and material structure that achieves higher contrast, improved colors and a more efficient display.
In May 2021 Quantum Dots developer Nanosys acquired 3D Nanowire microLED display developer Glo. The company today announced that it is selling its GaN MicroLED fab and its related engineering team to Avicena, a startup that develops microLED-based optical interconnects. Nanosys received an equity stake in Avicena.
Avicena will use the fab and team to develop and produce high-speed GaN microLEDs optimized for parallel multi-Tbps interconnects. Before the agreement, Avicena was using the Nanosys fab for the development of its microLEDs.
PlayNitride debuted on the Taiwan Stock Exchange, and the company, now public, trades on the Taiwan Innovation Board - this is the first company on the new board. The ticker for PlayNitride is 6854.
PlayNitride revealed that in 2021 it posted a net loss of around $40 million USD. In the first seven months of 2022, its revenues reached around $7.3 million USD, up 255% from the same period in 2021. The Company also revealed that it currently produces between 1,500 to 2,000 6-inch microLED wafers each month. PlayNitride expects to turn a profit in 2023.
UK-based Kubos Semiconductors raised $605,000 to launch its cubic-GaN LED technology into new markets, such as microLED displays.
Kubos says that its unique cubic-GaN technology can increase light output (and efficiency) of green LEDs. Kubos operates in a fabless model and says that its technology is fully compatible with standard LED development process on large wafers, offering lower cost volume production. Kubos is also looking to use the technology to produce red GaN LEDs.
China-based MicroLED microdisplay developer Jade Bird Display secured its Series A3 financing round, co-led by Eight Roads and Lightspeed China Ventures. JBD raised "several hundred million Yuan", which could mean anything from $30 million USD to $130 million.
In June 2022 it was reported that JBD is building a $92 million USD display production line in Hefei. The production line will have an annual capacity of around 120 million panels (likely JBD's 0.13" monochrome variant). JBD recently announced that it has developed a new red microLED emitter, that offers up to 500,000 nits of brightness at 2 micron sizes, and also that the company is developing native full-color microLED microdisplays.
According to Ennostar, the company intends to invest around $122 million USD in its Epistar subsidiary, with an aim to setup a production capacity of 150mm microLED epitaxial wafers. The investment will be performed in several stages.
Ennostar also updates that Epistar has completed its mini LED chip production capacity, but the demand for such chips is lower than expected, and so the company's mini LED production utilization is not at 100%.
