TrendForce has reported a significant decline in global LED demand throughout 2022, resulting in a noticeable downturn in both LED lighting and video wall markets. The industry was faced with an LED chip surplus, which led to a continuous drop in prices throughout the year.
BOE has become the largest shareholder in HC Semitek following a RMB 2.1 billion capital investment deal, and they are now in a partnership with respect to the development of Micro/Mini LED businesses. BOE has been involved in Micro/Mini LED since 2017 and now possesses related offerings such as displays and backlight solutions. In 2020, BOE established BOE MLED Technology as a subsidiary dedicated to the R&D and manufacturing of Micro/Mini LED products. As for HC Semitek, it is a major Chinese LED chip supplier and has an overarching presence across the LED chip industry chain. Hence, it produces not only LED chips but also LED epi wafers, sapphire substrates, etc. According to the data from market intelligence firm TrendForce, HC Semitek took fourth place in the 2021 ranking of LED chip suppliers by external sales revenue. Besides this achievement, HC Semitek is also at the forefront of advanced LED technologies including Micro/Mini LED. In a ranking of LED chip suppliers based on the revenue that is solely from sales of Mini LED chips, HC Semitek is currently in third place following Epistar and San’an.
According to TrendForce's latest LED report, as a slowing pandemic drove the recovery of various global economic activities, global LED market value beat market expectations in 2021, reaching US$17.65 billion, or 15.4% YoY.
TrendForce’s 2020-2021 Global Automotive LED Product Trend and Regional Market Analysis research indicates, the global penetration rate of LED headlights exceeds 60% in 2021 with penetration in new energy vehicles (NEV) exceeding 90%, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. Influenced by growth momentum from increasing automotive market shipments and the rising penetration rate of LED lighting, global automotive LED market value is estimated to be valued at US$3.51 billion in 2021, a 31.8% YoY growth rate. This demonstrates that LED headlights and automotive display LED products remain the main driving force for growth in the automotive LED market.
Affected by the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, global LED video wall revenue for 2020 reached a mere US$5.53 billion, a 12.8% YoY decrease, with the European and US markets suffering the most significant declines, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. In 2021, as overall market demand recovers, and certain components in the upstream supply chain undergo price hikes due to shortage, LED video wall manufacturers have raised their product prices in response. Hence, LED video wall revenue for this year is expected to reach US$6.27 billion, a 13.5% YoY increase.
The LED video wall driver IC market has been suffering from insufficient production capacities on the supply side since 2020, according to TrendForce’s latest investigations. In order to ensure a sufficient level of wafer capacities at foundries, LED video wall driver IC suppliers therefore began raising prices for certain driver IC products by about 5-10% at the end of last year, and this price hike is expected to persist through 2021 as well. On the demand side, various commercial activities and sporting events have been successively resuming as the COVID-19 pandemic is gradually brought under control. The resumption of these activities is expected to drive global LED video wall driver IC revenue for 2021 to US$360 million, a 13% growth YoY.
TrendForce’s latest LED Industry Demand and Supply Data Base finds that, by 2024, the global Mini/Micro LED market is projected to reach US$4.2 billion in revenue. The positive outlook of the Mini/Micro LED industry has attracted many investors. Since 2019, total investments in Mini/Micro LED-related projects in China have reached ¥39.1 billion (RMB), with more than 14 newly added projects, according to TrendForce’s investigations. This massive influx of capital is expected to accelerate the overall pace of Mini/Micro LED commercialization.
