Ennostar’s subsidiary Epistar and PlayNitride’s wholly-owned subsidiary PlayNitride Display have announced that they have teamed up to build a production line for 6-inch Micro LED epi-wafers. Looking at the latest progress in the development of Micro LED, large-sized displays are regarded as the forerunners to the more advanced end products. Even though Micro LED has unresolved technological bottlenecks and cost-related issues, TrendForce is optimistic that this technology will eventually be adopted for the development of different kinds of displays and end products. Examples include transparent AR smart glasses, displays for wearable devices like smartwatches, automotive displays such as those embedded in a smart cockpit, and other transparent display products. Furthermore, the latest efforts in product development will likely create new high-end applications for Micro LED. TrendForce currently forecasts that the value of the market for Micro LED chips used in displays will reach US$542 million in 2024. Afterwards, the market will experience soaring growth starting in 2025 on account of the maturation of technologies.
According to the latest TrendForce research, "TrendForce 2022 Micro LED Self-Emitting Display Trends and Analysis on Supplier's Strategies," 4-inch wafers for Micro LED Large-Sized displays will reach approximately 1.14 million units by 2026. The chip market is expected to reach US$2.7 billion with a compound annual growth rate of approximately 241% from 2021 to 2026.
According to TrendForce's latest research report "TrendForce 2022 Self-Emitting Micro LED Display Cost and Trend Analysis," Micro LED light engine performance beats Micro OLED in terms of brightness, contrast ratio, and responsiveness in transparent AR smart glasses microdisplays and is ideal for applications in outdoor environments. Since 2021, more than 10 branded manufacturers around the world have launched Micro LED transparent AR smart glasses concepts and related suppliers have improved Micro LED technology and accelerated factory expansion in order to meet subsequent mass production planning. In 2026, the revenue of Micro LED transparent AR smart glasses chips is forecast at approximately US$38.3 million, with annual compound growth rate of Micro LED chips from 2023 to 2026 at approximately 704%.
According to TrendForce's latest Micro LED research report, among many Micro LED display applications, Micro LED microdisplays will be the next new high-end product following on the heels of large-scale display development. The market value of Micro LED AR smart glasses display chips is forecast to reach US$41 million by 2026. The reason for such a significant growth in market value in just one year from 2025 to 2026 is primarily due to the gradual maturity of technologies such as red chips, laser transfer, wafer bonding and full-colorization, which can improve yield and reduce production costs.
Micro LED large-sized displays will move towards the home theater and high-end commercial display markets and the revenue of Micro LED large-sized display chips is estimated to reach US$54 million in 2022, according to TrendForce’s latest research. By 2026, revenue is expected to grow to US$4.5 billion with a compound annual growth rate of 204%. In addition, technical obstacles will be conquered one by one over time. The development of Micro LED large-sized displays will peak from 2026 to 2030 and the one year revenue of Micro LED chips has the opportunity to reach tens of billions of dollars.
Annual revenue of Micro LED chips for TV is expected to reach US$3.4 billion in 2025 at a 250% CAGR across the 2021-2025 period, according to TrendForce’s latest report titled 2021 Mini / Micro LED Self-Emissive Display Trends and Analysis on Suppliers’ Strategies. This growth can mostly attributed to the early planning by display manufacturers to adopt Micro LED technology for large-sized displays; although the prohibitive cost of this technology is unlikely to be overcome in the short run, TrendForce still forecasts the aforementioned revenue in light of several factors: First, Micro LED technology enables the production of gapless, large-sized modular displays; second, displays featuring Micro LED technology are able to meet the standards of cinema-grade displays or high-end TVs; finally, Korean TV brands have been aggressively investing in Micro LED TV development.
Since the introduction of Sony’s large-sized modular Micro LED display in 2017, other companies, including Samsung and LG, have successively made advances in Micro LED development, in turn generating much buzz for the technology’s potential in the large-sized display market, according to TrendForce's latest investigations. Emissive Micro LED TVs are expected to arrive on the market between 2021 and 2022. Even so, many technological and cost-related challenges are yet to be solved, meaning Micro LED TVs will remain ultra-high-end luxury products at least during the technology’s initial stage of commercialization.
Next-generation Micro/Mini LED display technologies have generated a market which companies hoping to recover from the pandemic-induced global economic downturn look to for the next wave of commercial opportunities. Furthermore, major brands including Samsung, Apple, Facebook, Google, LG, and Sony are also rushing to get a head start in Micro/Mini LED development, in turn galvanizing the growth of the overall supply chain. Total Micro/Mini LED revenue is projected to reach upwards of US$4.2 billion in 2024.
