Following in the footsteps of Apple and Samsung, Taiwan’s contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn, announced that Sharp and other Foxconn group companies will acquire an U.S. startup to develop Micro
LED display technology.
(Image: eLux)
Sharp said in a press release on Monday that it will team up with CyberNet Venture Capital, Innolux and Advanced Optoelectronic Technology to acquire eLux by the end of October. All of them are owned by or affiliated with Foxconn.
The deal is said to be valued at US$10 million. The goal is to develop and commercialize Micro LED-based products such as large screen displays.
According to its company
website, eLux, Inc was founded in 2016 with development headquarters located in Cama, WA. It is currently developing fluidic assembly techniques for next-generation Micro LED displays. Both CEO Jong-Jan Lee and CTO Paul Schuele were members of Sharp Laboratories of America.
After completing the acquisition, Sharp will hold a 31% of share in eLux, a stake valued at US$7 million, in order to get related patents. Sharp estimates the deal will bring in an additional 600 million Japanese yen in revenue.
LEDinside learned that eLux owns several patented technologies relating to mass transfer, fixing defective pixels and redundancy modules, which are essential parts in the Micro LED manufacturing process.
Recently, there has been growing market interest for Micro LED. Although there is still a long way to go before product commercialization can take place, more and more companies have started working on related technologies and applications through alliances or strategic partnership to reduce costs. The future for Micro LED, indeed, looks even brighter.
