Automobile infotainment refers to in-vehicle systems that are used for playing movies or providing navigation information - sometimes on the same display. The use of these systems is growing and they offer a great opportunity for display makers. How great? According to Strategy Analytics, the China market alone will be worth $4B by 2013.

Chris Chinnock
Sr. Analyst and Sr. Editor
of Insight Media

Currently, the use of infotainment systems in Chinese cars is small - both those installed by Chinese domestic car makers and those available as aftermarket products. But this could change starting in 2007, says the firm. Activity will be dominated by sales to domestic auto makers as well as any joint venture operations, with the aftermarket remaining fairly small.

Japanese companies have already set their sites on this Chinese domestic market and are working to set up local manufacturing operations to support the growth of this nascent segment. And, the desire to to reduce costs on these products is an equally compelling reason for these Japanese companies to set up shop in China.

This trend also bodes well for other would-be infotainment developers looking to take advantage of the costs benefits of China-based manufacturing. With Japan leading in the infrastructure development, others can piggyback on this to their own benefit. Already working on establishing capabilities in China are companies like Clarion, Pioneer, Kenwood and Panasonic.

The market research firm did not reveal their unit forecast for the China market, however The use of LEDs in automotives, particularly in car taillights, is also forecast to increase, accounting for 10% of the market in 2007, up from a projected 8% this year, according to Taiwan’s Automotive Research & Testing Center (ARTC). However, the penetration of LEDs in the car sector will increase slowly due to complex circuit designs, heat dissipation concerns and high production costs.

The use of LEDs in car headlights is expected to pick up in 2010, but according to ARTC, 100 to 200 white LEDs are required for a single car. With an annual output of 57M cars, the sector would then require at least 5.7B white LEDs.

Interestingly, the brightness, size, spectrum and thermal management needs of an LED automotive headlight are very similar those of a projection system light source. Right now, projection needs are driving development, but once the headlight opportunity is realized, the large scale of this industry is bound to help projection system makers, too. -CC