Looking back at 2021, the global epidemic situation has risen and fallen, the domestic epidemic situation is generally stable, but there are still sporadic recurrences, coupled with the lack of cores, price increases and power rationing, the development of the LED industry is facing many challenges. Despite this, LED major enterprises have actively forged ahead and created many "storm" events. To this end, LEDinside has combed through 20 of these hot topics to entertain readers.
1. MiniLED backlight product lineup expanded rapidly
In 2021, mainstream brand manufacturers represented by Apple have successively launched MiniLED backlight products. Among them, Apple, Thor, Lenovo, MSI, Acer, Gigabyte, mechanics, etc. launched MiniLED backlit notebooks; TCL, Samsung, Skyworth, Changhong, Philips, LeTV, Hisense, Huawei, etc. launched MiniLED backlit TVs; Youpai, AOC, Asus Player Nation, Samsung, HKC, MSI, KTC, etc. launched MiniLED displays. Compared with 2020, the lineup of MiniLED backlight products has expanded rapidly, which has greatly promoted the commercial development of MiniLED backlight technology.
2, Micro LED AR glasses came out strongly
Since 2021, the concept of metaverse has continued to heat up, AR/VR/MR devices, which are regarded as important ports of metaversity, have also been pushed to the forefront, and manufacturers such as Vuzix, WaveOptics, Xiaomi, TCL Thunderbird and OPPO have focused on Micro LED microdisplay technology and optical waveguide technology, and launched AR glasses to seize the business opportunities of metaverse.
Among them, Vuzix's Micro LED AR smart glasses have been listed, using JBD's Micro LED display; WaveOptics, Xiaomi and TCL's Thunderbird smart glasses and AR glasses are prototype products; and OPPO's Air Glass is its first mass-produced Micro LED AR glasses.
3. The new display is included in the "14th Five-Year Plan" of many provinces and cities
Since 2021, Fujian, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Shanxi, Chongqing, Guangdong, Jiangsu, Hunan, Sichuan and other provinces and cities have included LED-related industries such as new displays into the "14th Five-Year Plan".
Among them, Guangdong focuses on supporting the development of new display technologies such as Micro LED, Jiangsu supports the research and development and industrialization of mini/Micro LED mass production technology, Shanghai encourages the development of new generation display technologies such as MiniLED, Micro LED, and Micro OLED, Fujian proposes to focus on overcoming a number of key technologies such as Mini/Micro LED, and Chongqing focuses on the development of Micro LED and other panels.
4, lack of core, rising price tide
In 2021, due to the comprehensive impact of external factors such as the epidemic, trade frictions, inflation, and internal factors such as tight supply of raw materials such as chips, there has been a wave of price increases in the entire LED industry chain.
Internationally, Signify, Acuity Brands, GE Current, the United States QSSI and Hubbell Lighting have successively announced product price increase notices since the beginning of the year, followed by Cooper Lighting and Hubbel and other companies to raise prices twice, and Signify has raised the price of some lighting products three times. In china, MULinsen, Bull Group, Grand Canyon Lighting, Leyard, Zhouming Technology, GE Current, ULT and other LED packaging companies and display manufacturers have also increased prices to varying degrees.
It is worth mentioning that on July 19, 2021, the National Development and Reform Commission announced that it will take a variety of measures to effectively ensure the supply and price stability of bulk commodities, and this reversal action will help alleviate the pressure of the huge rising cost of raw materials faced by the LED industry to a certain extent.
5. Breakthrough in red micro LED technology
In 2021, with the active cooperation and joint efforts of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, the technical problems of red micro LED production continue to make breakthroughs.
6. Breakthrough in micro LED technology of jingneng, KAUST, saifu electronics full color
One of the bottlenecks of Micro LED technology, full-color technology, has also made new breakthroughs in 2021.
7. San'an, Ruifeng, Liard, Zhouming, Hongli and other major projects began construction and put into production
8. LED enterprises are strong and powerful
In 2021, LED companies have focused on the layout of MiniLED backlight, Mini/Micro LED display, plant lighting and other fields through strategic cooperation, some of which are "strong alliances" as follows.
9. Mu Linsen changed its main business and made efforts in the field of plant lighting and photovoltaic energy storage
On January 19, 2021, Mu Linsen announced that the company's main business has been transformed from LED packaging business to lighting brand and lighting channel business.
In addition, Mulinsen also actively lays out the field of plant lighting and photovoltaic energy storage to find new profit growth points. In terms of plant lighting, Mu Linsen announced in August and September that it had reached an industry-research cooperation with the Botanical Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the China Institute of Urban Agriculture, taking the lead in focusing on the selection and breeding of pasture grasses such as alfalfa grass. In terms of photovoltaic energy storage, Mulinsen announced the establishment of Ronde Vance New Energy and ledVANCE ENERGY SOLUTIONS CHINA, a foreign photovoltaic energy storage company, in December.
10. Osram sells the lighting business, delists, and strategically invests in Bolb
In March 2021, ams and OSRAM officially merged under the name ams OSRAM OSRAM Osram Group. On May 3, ams offered to acquire the remaining 28% stake in OSRAM, which was delisted at the end of September. After the merger, AMS OSRAM sold its digital systems business such as LED power supplies in North America, digital Lumens business and Fluence, a plant lighting luminaire factory, in June, September and December, respectively.
In addition, AMS OSRAM is optimistic about the development prospects of Mini/Micro LED and UV LEDs. At present, MiniLED backlight products have entered the Apple supply chain. The UV LED part has increased its layout through a strategic investment in Bolb.
11. LED enterprises such as HC, MTC and Leyard have introduced state-owned assets
In 2021, HC Semitek, Leyard, MTC and other enterprises introduced strategic investors with state-owned backgrounds. On March 29, Huafa Group, a leading state-owned enterprise in Zhuhai, officially joined HC Semitek; on July 6, Leyard announced the introduction of Zhongtai Asset Management, a strategic investor with a state-owned background; on November 2, MTC announced the introduction of Nanchang State-owned Assets Corporation - Nanchang Industrial Control Investment Fund.
12, the world's smallest and brightest UVC LED came out
According to foreign media reports in April 2021, scientists at the University of South Carolina in the United States have developed the world's smallest and brightest deep ultraviolet LED, with a chip size of only 5 microns and a wavelength of 281 nm. The UVC LED array consisting of these chips has a brightness of 361W·cm-2.
13. LG Innotek sold the LED patent to Lejing Semiconductor
On May 20, 2021, LG InnoTek sold 1968 LED patents to Lezhen Semiconductor, a Chinese company in Suzhou. In July, LG Innotek sold another 114 LED patents registered in South Korea to Suzhou Lejing Semiconductor. Coupled with the previous acquisition of LG's registered patents in other countries except the United States, Lejing Semiconductor has accumulated about 10,000 LED patents for LG InnoTek.
14. The world's first 226nm UVC LED sterilization rate and safety test results were announced
According to foreign media reports in June 2021, Asahi Kasei in Japan and Nara Prefectural Medical University in Japan cooperated to study the inactivation effect of UVC LEDs with a wavelength of 226 nm on the new crown virus and its impact on animal skin cells. The results show that 226nm UVC LEDs can quickly inactivate the new crown virus, and compared with 270nm UVC LEDs, 226nm UVC LEDs have little effect on animal skin cells.
15. Abberson, Lehman Optoelectronics, Leyard, Zhouming Technology and others won the 337 investigation case
On June 12, 2021, the U.S. District Court for texas pronounced a judgment in the first instance, finding that 11 Chinese LED companies, such as Absen, Alto Electronics, Lehman Optoelectronics, Zhouming Technology, Riard, and Lianjian Optoelectronics, did not constitute patent infringement, the patent of the plaintiff American company UItravision Technologies was invalid, and the Chinese LED enterprise won the 337 investigation.
16. Hela merges with Faurecia
On August 14, 2021, German automotive lighting giant Hella and French auto parts supplier Faurecia officially signed a merger agreement, indicating the birth of the world's seventh largest auto parts supplier. The merger of the two companies will further strengthen their market position in key growth areas such as electric vehicles, autonomous driving, and vehicle interior design.
17. Sanan raised no more than 7.9 billion yuan and then added the Mini/Micro project
On September 29, 2021, Sanan Optoelectronics issued an announcement announcing that it plans to raise no more than 7.9 billion yuan to increase the construction of Hubei San'an Mini/Micro display industrialization project. As of the third quarter of 2021, part of the production capacity of Hubei San'an Mini/Micro LED chip industrialization project has been put into production, and product shipments are increasing month by month.
18, Cree, Tailong Lighting, Guanglei renamed
In 2021, Cree, Tailong Lighting, and Guanglei announced the change of name.
Since announcing the transformation plan in 2018, Cree has successively spun off Cree Lighting and Cree LED, and officially changed its name to "Wolfspeed" on October 8, resolutely transforming into a world-leading semiconductor company; in October, Guanglei announced that it was renamed "Taiya Semiconductor" to transform into a sensing semiconductor company; in December, Tailong Lighting announced that it intends to change its name to "Tailong Electronics" to further deepen the semiconductor market layout.
19. "100 cities and 100 screens" policy
On October 19, 2021, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Central Propaganda Department, the Ministry of Transport, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the State Administration of Radio and Television, the Central Radio and Television Administration and other six departments jointly issued a notice and decided to carry out the "100 Cities and 100 Screens" ultra-high-definition video landing promotion activity, which will be held from October 2021 to June 2023. It is foreseeable that under the impetus of favorable policies, the ultra-high-definition video industry is expected to accelerate its development in the future.
20. Shanxi 'Gallium Nitride-based High Efficiency Deep Ultraviolet LED Chip Technology' project has made key technological breakthroughs
On November 17, 2021, the major special project of Shanxi Province "Gallium Nitride-based High Efficiency Deep Ultraviolet LED Chip Technology" project has made phased progress and key technological breakthroughs. The project team systematically studied the preparation process of aluminum nitride template materials, proposed a new method of efficient P-type doping, and broke through key technologies such as polarization-induced doping, sputtering annealing aluminum nitride templates and efficient light extraction based on chip micro-nano structure, and greatly improved the light output efficiency of deep ultraviolet LED chips. (Text: LEDinside Mia)
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