Micro-LED Market by Application (Display (Smartwatch, NTE Devices (AR, VR), Television, Smartphone, HUD, Digital Signage, Laptop & Monitor) and Lighting (General, Automotive), Display Panel Size, Vertical, and Geography: Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019-2025

Micro-LED Global Market Scenario

Micro-LED global market estimated to grow from $254 Million in 2017 to $20, 501 Million by 2025, at a CAGR of 80.1% during the forecast period, 2019-2025.

Micro-LED (also known as mLED or µLED) is a display technology that is based on tiny LED devices that help in directly creating color pixels. Micro-LED displays have the potential to create highly efficient and great looking flexible displays, to challenge the current high-end OLED displays.

Micro LED lighting market is expected to grow at the highest growth rate during the forecast period

The micro-LED lighting market for automotive lighting is expected to commercialize by 2019 and is expected to dominate during the forecast period. Micro-LEDs can be used in vehicle headlights and interior lights. Micro-LEDs fabricated with on-chip driver circuit, can be used for controlling the light beam. Smart headlights are the future requirement of the automotive industry, and micro-LEDs with their high brightness and inbuilt light control feature can play an important role in vehicles.

The general lighting segment holds the largest share of the market

Lighting fixtures are being used in hallways, kitchens, bathrooms, and several other places for many years. LED technology has changed the way lighting products were used. Users now focus on attractive product designs and energy efficiency while buying lighting products. Lighting fixtures are also leading the market for commercial applications, such as retail stores, salons, and corporate offices. LED technology has witnessed various innovations in the design and energy consumption of lighting products for these applications.

APAC to dominate the market during the forecast period

APAC is a leading region in terms of production and consumption of display panels. The region has witnessed significant advancements in the display devices space, along with rapid changes in terms of adoption of new technologies. APAC accounted for 35.6% of the micro-LED display market in 2017 and is expected to constitute about 65% of the global market by 2025, at $13.01 billion.

Significant dynamics of the market

The major factors that are driving the market are increasing demand for brighter and more power-efficient display panels for smartwatches, mobile devices, and AR/VR devices and Interest shown by input/component suppliers in supply chain.

Key Driver:

Interest shown by input/component suppliers in supply chain

As the technology proceeds toward commercialization, demand for display and lighting drivers will increase. The commercialization of micro-LED technology depends not only on the production of micro-LEDs with high yield and mass transfer but also on the availability of drive circuits, wafer suppliers, PCB suppliers, manufacturing equipment suppliers, and other component suppliers. Leading wafer suppliers showing interest in the micro-LED market include Jasper Display (Taiwan) and Crystalwise Technology (Taiwan). Macroblock, in 2017, collaborated with Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) (Taiwan) to develop a micro-LED digital display module. Taiwanese players such as Macroblock, Himax, Raydium, and Novatek will try to fulfill the demand for driver ICs for the micro-LED market.

Restraint: Rising demand for OLED

Efficient, bright, flexible, and thin OLED displays are made from organic light-emitting materials and do not require any backlight and filtering systems, which are used in LCDs. In the coming days, OLEDs are expected to replace LCDs in all display applications, ranging from small displays to large television sets. Rising demand for OLED displays and investment made by several players in OLED manufacturing facilities are expected to hamper the focus on micro-LED technology development.

Opportunity: Manufacturing micro-LEDs on large silicon wafers

Manufacturing micro-LEDs on wafers has been a major challenge in terms of yield and cost. Most of the LED manufacturers today use sapphire wafers for manufacturing LEDs. These wafers are small in diameter and costly, which restrains the cost reduction of LED devices. ALLOS Semiconductors, Plessey Semiconductors, Aledia, and a few other players have developed GaN-on-silicon technology for manufacturing LEDs using conventional process. These companies are collaborating with the world’s leading LED foundries to increase the manufacturing capacity on a large scale.

Challenge: Huge investment requirement in infrastructure, equipment, and process development; and need for different manufacturing processes as well as equipment compatibility

Manufacturers will have to adopt different manufacturing process and equipment or upgrade their existing systems to mass-produce micro-LED chips for different applications. Industry-leading LED manufacturers, such as Epistar (Taiwan) and Cree (US), are focusing on finding micro-LED development solutions that are compatible with the existing manufacturing processes. GLO AB (Sweden) demonstrated nanowires that can be grown on various substrates, such as sapphire and silicon, utilizing standard industry process equipment. Making the micro-LED fabrication process compatible with the existing fabrication plants is the major focus of industry-leading players.

Micro-LED technology-based displays are self-emitting, with no need for filters and liquid crystals, and industry-leading companies are finding ways to mass-produce RGB-based micro-LEDs. Down-converting micro-LEDs for display applications involves the manufacturing of very small pixel. To get down to very small pixel sizes, nanophosphors would probably not work, and even quantum dots will create some challenges due to some thermo-constraints, which make them impractical for very small pixels. Manufacturing small pixels based on micro-LED technology is comparatively easier than quantum dot or any other display technology.

Key Benefits for Stakeholders

• This study presents the analytical depiction of the global Micro-LED market along with the current trends and future estimations to depict the imminent investment pockets.
• The overall market potential is determined to understand the profitable trends to enable stakeholders gain a stronger foothold in the market.
• The report presents information related to key drivers, restraints, and opportunities with a detailed impact analysis.
• The current market is quantitatively analyzed from 2019 to 2025 to highlight the financial competency of the market.

Key Highlights of the Industry

• In May 2014, Apple acquired LuxVue Technology—a low-power display developer—for developing new display technology that can offer high picture quality at low power. LuxVue was involved in the development of such technology for many years and patented various technologies for micro-LED. With this acquisition, Apple intends to incorporate micro-LED technology-based displays in its premium products.
• In February 2017, Sony showcased its latest display solution that delivers ultrareal images in a wide range of visual presentations, simulations, and entertainment environments. The CLEDIS big-screen display system was on show at ISE 2017 for the first time, delivering 8Kx2K visual experiences that combine a high-contrast image (more than 1,000,000:1) with 1,000 nit brightness owing to uniform brightness intensity.
• In March 2015, X-Celeprint presented its micro-transfer technology (μTP) at CS International Conference in Germany. The company proposed the applications where μTP can be of advantage compared to existing methods. μTP offers the possibilities of mass-transferring the micron-sized devices on the desired substrate.
• In February 2018, Samsung signed a strategic agreement with San’an Optoelectronics to develop micro-LED displays. San’an Optoelectronics is expected to supply LED chips to Samsung for the deployment of micro-LED displays in TV applications.  
• In October 2016, InfiniLED, a low-powered LED technology developer, was acquired by a California-based virtual reality (VR) company—Oculus VR. Oculus VR is part of Facebook and develops VR solutions. The acquisition would allow Oculus to apply InfiniLED’s ILED technology to VR devices.

Leading Companies

Apple (US), X-Celeprint (Ireland), Oculus VR (Ireland), Sony Corp (Japan), Samsung Electronics (South Korea), Epistar (Taiwan), GLO AB (Sweden), Aledia (France), VerLASE Technologies (US), JBD Inc. (China), Mikro Mesa Technology (Taiwan), Uniqarta (US), Vuereal (Canada), Allos Semiconductors (Germany), Plessey Semiconductors (UK), Playnitride (Taiwan), Ostendo Technologies (US), Lumiode (US), Lumens (South Korea), Rohinni (US), Cooledge (Canada), Nichia (Japan) are the key market players in the micro-LED market.

Key Market Segments

By Application

• Display (Near-To-Eye (NTE) Devices, Smartwatch, Television, Head-Up Display (HUD), Smartphone & Tablet, Monitors & Laptops, Digital Signage)
• Lighting (General Lighting, Automotive Lighting)

By Panel Size

• Microdisplay
• Small & Medium Sized Panel
• Large Panel

By Vertical

• Consumer Electronics
• Automotive
• Advertisement
• Aerospace & Defense
• Architecture & Construction
• Energy & Power
• Entertainment & Sports
• Retail
• Residential
• Others

By Region

• The Americas
• Europe
• Asia Pacific (APAC)
• Rest of the World