Financial - Page 10

In September 2018 it was reported that China-based Sanan Optoelectronics started to build its first micro-LED epitaxial wafer and chip production line and in early 2019 it was reported that Sanan plans to start sampling Micro LED chips as early as January 2019.

Now Sanan announced that it has signed a contract with the Gedian Economic and Technological Development Zone in China's Hubei Province to setup a 12 billion Yuan ($1.78 billion USD) Mini-LED and Micro-LED production site.

Micro-LED microdisplay developer VueReal announced that it has raised $8.5 million from Sustainable Development Technology Canada (SDTC) that will be used to further develop its technology. VueReal will also build an advanced nano technology fabrication center in Waterloo, Canada, in partnership with Angstrom - a Canadian-based PVD and CVD equipment maker.

VueReal says that its next step is to build an integrated pilot production system that will use the company's proprietary sub-10 micrometer, high-efficiency, Solid Printing process at commercial volumes. The company will also work to enhance the performance of its Micro-LED microdisplays.

update: it turns out that the report about the eLux acquisition was incorrect.

According to a report from Taiwan, Foxconn acquired US-based eLux - a company that was established in 2016 to develop a scalable assembly process for micro-LED devices. Foxconn was already an investor in eLux (through its Subsidiary CyberNet Venture Capital).

Foxconn also acquired a 7.32% stake in Taiwan-based LED developer and producer Epileds Technologies. This is reportedly just a first step as Foxconn aims to become Epiled's largest stakeholder in the near future. Digitimes reports that the motivation behind this takeover is mostly Epiled's micro-LED technologies.

Micro-LED microdisplay developer VueReal announced the initial closing of its $10.5 million Series A funding round, led by the venture arm of a large Asian company and a leading North American vendor focused on startups with emerging technology.

VueReal says that its proprietary sub-10 micrometer, high-efficiency micro-LED technology and its patented mass transfer process enables high-performance super low-power displays, coupled with a significant cost reduction.

Wuhan-based LED producer HC Semitek announced it is launching nine new development projects, with support from the Yiwu Information and Optoelectronics Hi-Tech Industrial Park.

One of these future new projects involves the development of components for Micro-LED displays. HC Semitek's investment in these nine projects will be $1.7 billion (this also includes the company's expansion and buildings in the Yiwu industrial park). The construction of HC Semitek's new facilities will be completed by 2025.

LEDsInside reports that Samsung and China's largest LED producer San'an Optoelectronics signed a long-term agreement to co-develop Micro-LED displays. Under the agreement, Samsung pre-paid San'an $16.83 million to secure micro-LED chips.

San'an says that following its Micro-LED development completion, it aims to become Samsung's major chip supplier. It is estimated that it will take San'an three years to achieve mico-LED mass production, but apparently it will supply Samsung with such chips throughout the next three years (maybe using a lower-volume production method).

France-based 3D GaN LED developer Aledia announced its Series-C Financing round, totaling $36 million. Its existing investors participated in this round, and Aledia also announced that Intel Capital has joined as a new investor.

Aledia also says that it is developing next-generation Micro-LED displays with several large industrial partners. Aledia is developing both mobile displays (for smartphones, tablets, etc) and micro displays for AR/VR applications.

UK-based Seren Photonics has successfully completed the first tranche of a £1 million investment round with funding from existing and new investors. Seren says that these funds will be used to continue the manufacturing scale-up of its template technology along with the further development of green LED epitaxy structures.

Seren develops a suite of long wavelength LED epitaxy on its novel semipolar GaN aimed at delivering higher efficiency and more color stable green, yellow and red devices. Seren says that its Semipolar enabled LEDs overcome shortcomings of green LEDs manufactured on polar GaN, mainly low wall plug efficiency and poor poor wavelength stability over a range of current densities.

In April 2017 it was rumored that Samsung Display is set to acquire PlayNitride for around $150 million, but the deal did not materialize. According to a new report from Taiwan's LEDsInside, the two companies are at the final stage of their talk.

In September 2017 PlayNitride's said that Micro-LED displays are not as challenging as originally expected, and the company now aims to start trial production of Micro-LED displays by the end of 2017. The company has mass transfer and placement yield rates of over 99% in its lab.