Giants Compete For New Display Technology Mini LED Panel Meets Explosive Growth

In 2021, mini led accelerates the pace of large-scale business. As a new display technology, mini LED has brought new increment to the dull LED market, and has become a key word of 3C industry such as display industry and TV this year.

SKYWORTH launched Mini led backlit LCD TV on February 1. Samsung, LG, TCL, Konka and Hisense have all announced Mini LED TV products. Huawei and Xiaomi have also laid out relevant product lines. Apple plans to use mini led in computers.

For a time, the giants entered the bureau one after another with mass production of technology, and at the same time, the upstream industrial chain also further expanded its capacity.

On January 28, fullman Electronics announced that it plans to raise no more than 1.05 billion yuan in non-public offering of shares and invest in the construction of LED chips and mini / micro LED display chip, 5g radio frequency chip and other projects; on the evening of January 22, Huacan optoelectronics announced that Huashi holdings, a state-owned enterprise in Zhuhai, has signed a contract to acquire 24.87% equity of Huacan optoelectronics. After the transaction is completed, it will become the largest shareholder of Huacan optoelectronics, aiming at the Mini / micro led track.

Zhang Hong, TV research director of sigmaitell, told 21st century economic report: "mini LED backlight TV has been the focus of attention in recent two years. Mini LED backlight itself has many bright spots. By matching with high-end LCD panel, it can greatly improve the display effect of LCD TV and extend the life cycle of LCD products. It is an effective solution to standard OLED display technology in the short term. At the same time, global head brands tend to be radical in the layout of mini LED backlight TV, including head manufacturers led by Samsung Electronics. This year, mini LED backlight will usher in explosive growth. "

Giant layout demand explodes

At present, mini LED is mainly used in large screen scenes for business, including outdoor advertising, conference and exhibition, high-definition broadcasting, etc., as well as scenes for individual consumers, such as TV, notebook, tablet computer, vehicle mounted screen, etc.

Apple has always been a technology leader, and starting this year, some of Apple's products will use mini LED technology. Recently, it has been reported that Apple will adopt Mini LED technology in the iPad pro and MacBook Pro released in 2021, and the application of mini LED will cover other application products by 2022.

Tianfeng securities previously raised the sales forecast of Apple Mini LED products, because the shipment volume of Apple Mini LED devices was significantly better than expected. Tianfeng securities increased the shipment volume of 2021 by about 350% to 10-12 million units, and increased the shipment volume in 2022 by 450% to 25-28 million units.

"We expect Mini LED panels for both the two new MacBook Pro designs in 2021 and the lower priced new MacBook Air in 2022. Because the cost of Apple silicon (Apple self-developed chip) is significantly lower than that of Intel CPU, apple silicon can offset the increased cost of using mini LED panel, "Tianfeng securities analysis said." MacBook may be the main driver of mini LED panel shipment. Our optimistic scenario analysis indicates that the annual MacBook shipment is expected to be due to the use of apple Silicon and new designs have grown significantly in three years, about 100% to 30-35 million units. "

At the recent CES exhibition, Samsung Electronics released the new qled TV new product Neo qled, focusing on mini LED backlight, intelligence and environmental protection; TCL had released Mini LED backlight LCD TV 6 series, roku TV and LCD TV X10 series last year; Hisense launched Mini LED TV with smaller light control unit in 2021 to achieve more than 1000 level division; Skyworth released Q70 bright screen, using mini LED backlight technology, the LED backlight film, miniaturization, array, compared with the traditional LCD TV has higher contrast and brightness, but also thinner.

In addition, LG, Changhong, Konka, Huawei, etc. also make layout in mini LED TV and mini LED display products. In fact, in 2019, there will be significant progress in mini LED display, such as Sony's 780 inch 16K HD Mini LED display commercial large screen, and csot has exhibited a 17 inch QHD car mounted PM Mini LED display prototype with integrated touch technology. Nowadays, with the rapid mass production of panel industry chain and the commercialization of mini LED display, a large demand explosion will be ushered in 2021.

Zhang Hong told reporters that according to the prediction of group intelligence consulting, the global Mini LED backlight TV will reach 2 million sets in 2021, and the penetration rate will be close to 1%. In the next three to five years, it will maintain a very high growth trend. By 2024, it is expected to exceed 10 million sets, with a penetration rate of nearly 5% in the global market.

Supply chain expansion of chip structural shortage

With the rapid outbreak of mini led demand, there is a structural shortage in the supply chain.

According to the optoelectronic research office of trendforce Jibang consulting, in 2021, apple, Samsung and other brands plan to launch notebook computers, tablet computers, TVs and other products fully equipped with mini LED backlight display. The supply chain has started to pull goods in advance in the fourth quarter of 2020, which makes the demand for mini LED chips soar, thus crowding out the capacity supply of conventional chips. In the face of structural shortage of LED chips, some LED chip manufacturers have gradually raised the chip prices of non core customers and low margin products, with an estimated increase of 5% - 10%, but it is expected to be solved within half a year.

At the same time, the LED industry, which had excess capacity in the previous two years, began to expand its capacity around Mini led. Soochow Securities pointed out that in the upstream chip sector, Sanan optoelectronics, zhaochi shares and Huacan optoelectronics actively expand the production capacity of mini led. With mature technology and high value, mini LED chips are about to enter the stage of large-scale mass production. The packaging enterprises such as Ruifeng optoelectronics and Guoxing optoelectronics have mass produced Mini LED products and will greatly expand their production. Downstream panel manufacturers such as BOE, csot, Qun Chuang and Youda have launched differentiated Mini led solutions for different markets.

For example, Guoxing optoelectronics said on the interactive platform on January 28 that the company's Mini LED display products are in full production, and the company plans to further expand its production capacity in the first half of the year in combination with the market situation.

Fujitsu's subsidiary, crystal power, is the main supplier of Apple's Mini LED backlight In terms of LED, although it is still in the stage of test volume rate and reliability this year, the problems encountered in the past 2-3 years have been solved one after another, and the test situation is still smooth. A few days ago, the company confirmed that the product has entered the final certification stage, the second quarter has entered the mass production stage, and the supply chain has started to move. It announced that it has obtained the advanced products and equipment of NT $901 million from Whitworth.

Jibang consulting also said that at present, about 4-inch Mini LED chips have reached 150000 pieces per month. As the gross profit of mini LED chips is much higher than that of traditional LED chips, crystal power has taken reducing the production capacity of low gross profit products as a response strategy. Sanan optoelectronics and Huacan optoelectronics not only directly benefit from the transfer effect of crystal power customers, but also benefit from the continuous growth of demand for traditional backlight and direct display RGB chips. They also benefit from the sharp increase in demand for mini LED chips. About 4-inch Mini LED chips also deliver tens of thousands of chips per month.

With the continuous iteration of mini LED display technology, the domestic upstream and downstream industrial chains are also actively laying out technology research and development and production lines, and the competition has entered a new stage. Downstream TV manufacturers have begun to compete. Mini led also has cost-effective advantages compared with OLED. Both sides will seize the high-end market. Upstream suppliers are also strengthening production capacity, and the cost of core components may be further reduced in the future.

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