As per Yonhap, on July 15, South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced a plan to invest 484 billion KRW (approximately USD 350 million) by 2032 to develop iLED (Inorganic Light-Emitting Diode) display technology, which includes Micro LED, QD LED, and nano LED.

The South Korean government stated that while the country currently holds a leading position in the OLED market, it still lags behind in the iLED sector, with LED epi-wafers, chips, and materials heavily reliant on imports. This investment aims to cultivate a fully localized industrial ecosystem and seek new growth engines for South Korea’s display industry.

Historically, South Korea dominated the global OLED market through industry giants Samsung and LG. However, in recent years, Chinese companies such as BOE, TCL CSOT, Visionox, HKC, and Tianma have rapidly emerged with strong government support. These companies have not only overtaken South Korea in the LCD panel sector but are also rapidly bridging the gap in OLED technology.

Currently, South Korea still holds an advantage in high-end flexible OLED, but Chinese manufacturers are quickly gaining market share in the mid- to low-end OLED segment, and the technological gap continues to narrow. In terms of next-generation innovations like OLED without fine metal masks (FMM), Chinese firms have been developing at full throttle.

iLED is widely considered a disruptive next-generation display technology. Compared to OLED, iLEDs, which use inorganic materials, offer superior performance regarding lifespan, brightness, image quality, and energy efficiency. Notably, the iLED industry—especially Micro LED—has a fundamentally different supply chain from OLED. It revolves around the manufacturing, inspection, and transfer of micron-scale LED chips, making it more akin to the semiconductor industry.

Although South Korean companies were early movers in technologies like Micro LED and QD LED, they have faced production capacity limitations and a high dependence on foreign suppliers for critical components and materials, which means it is at a disadvantage in terms of supply chain ecosystem.

In fact, as early as May 2022, South Korea began focusing on building a complete ecosystem around the application of iLED in display sector. As both a latecomer and a supply chain completer, the country launched national-level initiatives to address these challenges.

Now, with the official launch of this large-scale national R&D program by the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, South Korea has set a clear and targeted agenda. The government acknowledges that the investment aims to tackle three major challenges: first, to overcome South Korea’s technological lag in the iLED field; second, to reduce the country’s heavy reliance on foreign-made key LED chips and core materials by establishing an autonomous domestic supply chain; and third, to identify a new economic growth engine beyond OLED.

(Photo credit: Samsung)

TrendForce 2025 Micro LED Display and Non-Display Application Market Analysis
Release: 29 May / 30 November 2025
Languages: Traditional Chinese / English
Format: PDF
Page: 119