In retrospect, companies had already realized the only way to earn themselves new opportunities in such a mature market is to redevelop their technologies and gear up for niche markets with higher margins. LEDinside picks five trends that drove the LED industry this year and gives a quick analysis on what they will lead the industry to in 2018.

Taiwan-based LED chip manufacturer Epistar announced its business plan for 2018 will be around five cores—backlighting, high-end LED lighting, infrared application, automotive lighting, and innovative digital display. Ming-Chun Chou, General Manager of Epistar, stated the company will officially produce Mini LED in 2Q18 at the earliest.

Epistar General Manager Chou Ming-Chun revealed at the company’s investor conference on December 5 that Mini LED is likely to be mainstream in the backlight market.

LEDinside, a division of TrendForce, points out that LED manufacturers have turned to research and development of Mini LED, due to Micro LED’s technological bottlenecks which make it harder to realize commercialization in short term.

Taiwanese LED chipmaker Epistar reported a decline in revenue in October due to the slow season and estimated 4Q17 sales less than that of 3Q17. However, Epistar’s outlook for 2018 is positive with the momentum from collaboration with display makers on Mini LED-lit displays.

Mini LED has a high chance to help Taiwanese LED manufacturers reclaim the leading position in the high-end backlight market in 2018. It rekindles Taiwanese firms’ hope against the ‘OLED attack’ from Korea, expected Bingjie Li, Chairman of Epistar.

There are many recent articles explaining mini LED or Micro LED. Some are correct, but some are not. Let LEDinside explain and tell you the differences between fine-pitch LED, mini LED and micro LED.

According to the latest report from LEDinside, a division of the market research firm TrendForce, 4Q17 Micro LED Next Generation Display Industry Market Report- Micro/Mini LED in Automotive Display Market, the total passenger car display in 2017 was about 241 million sets and is predicted to total 624 million sets in 2025, CAGR of 2017-2025 is 13%. The growth driver comes from rising IoV penetration, new energy carand autonomous vehicles. Hence, interior automotive display usage volume significantly rose.

The next generation display technology Micro LED draws lots of attention, but Micro LED will take time to reach the mass production (MP) phase. Before that happens, mini LED with lower technical barrier will enter its MP phase first. Sources said, panel makers and LED die manufacturers already started their collaboration. Initially, mini LED will be used for two major categories: signage and TV panel backlight source. The cooperative effort will launch ultra-fine-pitch signage and super energy-saving, ultra-slim direct lit mini LED backlight TV panels.

Osram Opto Semiconductors is expanding its existing portfolio for flash applications with a product featuring a specially developed chip sized package (CSP). With Ceramos C, Osram is following the trend for miniaturization as the new LED is the smallest yet in its product family. It is ideal for flash applications on smartphones etc., producing perfect illumination for every snapshot.

The LED industry had quite a peaceful time in 1H17. Apart from a few M&As, the most-discussed technology would be Micro LED. Lots of high-tech giants worldwide have already started a series of R&D and the number of participants is getting bigger. The supply chain of Micro LED, although of limited mature technologies, is slowly shaping up. Here, LEDinside lists out major events and milestones made on the path of developing Micro LED in the first half of 2017.