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Musing on Competitive Technology
Notebook and Tablet Ready to Adapt miniLEDs
December 08, 2019
Notebook and tablet vendors are getting ready to adopt mini LED backlighting for their devices, paving the way for the technology to move beyond public signage to consumer electronics, according to industry sources. Many China-based vendors as well as Apple reportedly are considering equipping their new notebooks with mini LED backlighting in 2020.
For the substrate used in mini LED backlighting module, flexible PCB (FPCB) and ultra-thin PCB are the two major choices at the moment with each having its own advantages, the sources noted. Apple MacBook's backlighting has always been built on FPBC with using suppliers Flexium Interconnect and Career Technology and FPCBs have a majority share in the notebook backlighting market. The new MacBook to be released in 2020, will use a Mini LED backlight module reportedly sourced by Zhen Ding Tech. Zhen Ding at a recent investors meeting revealed that it will begin manufacturing backlighting applications in 2020 and expects the business to become a revenue growth driver. Uniflex, a FPCB affiliate of Unimicron, has developed an ultra-thin PCB that is designed specifically for mini LED backlighting application and supports mass transfer. Since the company is having difficulties competing against Taiwan PCB maker Techvest in the digital signage market with its mini LED backlighting solutions, Uniflex is now looking to push the product line into the supply chains of China-based notebook brands in 2020, the sources said. Since many clients are becoming more demanding over PCB's coefficient of thermal expansion, it should increase the market for ultra-thin PCBs in the notebook and tablet markets.
While Mini LEDs increase the luminance and provide for more dimming areas, they are more costly and will take share from standard backlights, but since they offer neither the contrast ratio, response time not form factor they are unlikely to impact OLED panel sales in this segment.
As smartphone-use OLED panel prices have dropped since 2018, mini LED backlighting for handset-use LCD panels has become disadvantageous in cost. Market opportunities for mini LED backlighting, therefore, lie in application segments where OLED is less to competitive in production cost.
A 15-inch OLED module costs about US$220, and the production cost for a mini LED backlight unit (BLU) for a same-size LCD panel has dropped from US$120 to US$70-$80 currently, and is likely to further fall to US$50 through improved chip design and SMT process.
According to LED makers, mini LED technology does not involve significant technological breakthroughs and production of mini LEDs is not technologically difficult. But its competitiveness hinges on high enough production yield rates to reduce cost and improvements in downstream manufacturing processes including SMT, inspection and sorting. Epistar, for example, will increase capex budget to adopt new SMT equipment specifically for mini LED chips in 2020, with SMT efficiency much higher than that for existing equipment.
Epistar, Lextar Electronics and Advanced Optoelectronic Technology, having begun small-volume shipments for mini LED backlighting, expect the corresponding revenue contribution to remain small in first-half 2020.
China-based LCD panel maker BOE Technology has shifted focus to OLED panels and mini LED technology and expects demand for mini LED applications to take off over the next 2-3 years.
Notebook and Tablet Ready to Adapt miniLEDs
December 08, 2019
Notebook and tablet vendors are getting ready to adopt mini LED backlighting for their devices, paving the way for the technology to move beyond public signage to consumer electronics, according to industry sources. Many China-based vendors as well as Apple reportedly are considering equipping their new notebooks with mini LED backlighting in 2020.
For the substrate used in mini LED backlighting module, flexible PCB (FPCB) and ultra-thin PCB are the two major choices at the moment with each having its own advantages, the sources noted. Apple MacBook's backlighting has always been built on FPBC with using suppliers Flexium Interconnect and Career Technology and FPCBs have a majority share in the notebook backlighting market. The new MacBook to be released in 2020, will use a Mini LED backlight module reportedly sourced by Zhen Ding Tech. Zhen Ding at a recent investors meeting revealed that it will begin manufacturing backlighting applications in 2020 and expects the business to become a revenue growth driver. Uniflex, a FPCB affiliate of Unimicron, has developed an ultra-thin PCB that is designed specifically for mini LED backlighting application and supports mass transfer. Since the company is having difficulties competing against Taiwan PCB maker Techvest in the digital signage market with its mini LED backlighting solutions, Uniflex is now looking to push the product line into the supply chains of China-based notebook brands in 2020, the sources said. Since many clients are becoming more demanding over PCB's coefficient of thermal expansion, it should increase the market for ultra-thin PCBs in the notebook and tablet markets.
While Mini LEDs increase the luminance and provide for more dimming areas, they are more costly and will take share from standard backlights, but since they offer neither the contrast ratio, response time not form factor they are unlikely to impact OLED panel sales in this segment.
As smartphone-use OLED panel prices have dropped since 2018, mini LED backlighting for handset-use LCD panels has become disadvantageous in cost. Market opportunities for mini LED backlighting, therefore, lie in application segments where OLED is less to competitive in production cost.
A 15-inch OLED module costs about US$220, and the production cost for a mini LED backlight unit (BLU) for a same-size LCD panel has dropped from US$120 to US$70-$80 currently, and is likely to further fall to US$50 through improved chip design and SMT process.
According to LED makers, mini LED technology does not involve significant technological breakthroughs and production of mini LEDs is not technologically difficult. But its competitiveness hinges on high enough production yield rates to reduce cost and improvements in downstream manufacturing processes including SMT, inspection and sorting. Epistar, for example, will increase capex budget to adopt new SMT equipment specifically for mini LED chips in 2020, with SMT efficiency much higher than that for existing equipment.
Epistar, Lextar Electronics and Advanced Optoelectronic Technology, having begun small-volume shipments for mini LED backlighting, expect the corresponding revenue contribution to remain small in first-half 2020.
China-based LCD panel maker BOE Technology has shifted focus to OLED panels and mini LED technology and expects demand for mini LED applications to take off over the next 2-3 years.
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