What Display Daily thinks: Putting Foxconn in a position to be, essentially, a provider in the MicroLED display business is a pretty cool outcome for Porotech, and a pretty good endorsement of its technologies, phlegmatic feelings about the potential of AR aside.
We just have to wait for that singular moment when TSMC starts to supply display wafers and we’ll be good. Good in the sense that the sooner we move to a fabless display production model, the better for the industry as a whole.
Unravelling the supply chains of the display industry is going to take at least another decade, and old habits will die hard, but disruption is good, it’s key, and having a company out of the UK making this kind of deal, if it pans out, is significant. It shouldn’t hearten other startups and their investors. MicroLED innovators are on the right track but they are also running up a hill carrying a couple of cows and wearing sandals. Not the most agile way of making the grade.
On the cautious side, strategic partnerships are not equal to other business relationships. They can be as porous as Porotech’s gallium nitride materials (a little MicroLED pun to take you into the weekend).
Advancing Mass Production of MicroLED Microdisplays
Porotech and Foxconn have formed a strategic partnership to advance MicroLED microdisplays for augmented reality (AR) applications.
The partnership will combine Porotech’s technologies like PoroGaN MicroLED-on-silicon (uLEDoS), dynamic pixel tuning (DPT), GaN-on-silicon platform with Foxconn’s expertise in areas like semiconductor manufacturing, packaging, and system assembly.
The goal is to develop ultra-high-density and energy efficient MicroLED microdisplays targeting AR applications, wearables, and smart devices. MicroLEDs have great potential for AR but integrating the multiple required disciplines like semiconductor manufacturing, IC design, optoelectronics etc. has been challenging. This partnership aims to accelerate research and productization.
Foxconn’s strength in supply chain management is expected to enable mass production.
