What Display Daily thinks: If I were any number of MicroLED startups, I would either feel elated or shamed by Samsung’s PR push into MicroLEDs. Elated because it’s an easy sell to investors who need deep pockets and even deeper patience to see you through to some exit, and shamed because all I could manage was to talk about AR/VR headsets and excite a few nerds at a small trade show.
That was a bit harsh, but let’s be fair, if you have raised tens of millions of dollars and you can’t articulate a massive vision for your technology, something is wrong. Almost anyone who wants to play in MicroLED tech needs to have hundreds of millions of dollars in investment. That means you have to think bigger than big. Yet, there is a paucity of investment in MicroLED compared to the potential because, frankly, trying to show a projection from AR/VR headsets to TVs is kind of scary for the average investor. Samsung cuts to the chase.
So, if a large screen MicroLED TV costs hundreds of thousands of dollars? That’s not the point. The point is what is possible and if you cannot see what is possible, you have to take someone else’s word for it. Now, we know that Samsung sees the future of displays as being a core semiconductor competency. So, what happens now? Do investors see MicroLED as an opportunity because of Samsung’s adoption or do they freak out because the world’s biggest semiconductor company is cementing its position in the same business that they are trying to break into? Does it mean that you should ditch headsets and start building MicroLED TVs if you’re a startup?
I guess it all depends on where your investment money is going, and ultimately what your MicroLED end product sale is going to be. But, if I am a consumer, I am going to be more sold on semiconductor tech than color gamuts. I will buy what I don’t understand if it sounds sufficiently amazing, and the whole human hair placement thing works.
This is still stodgy corporate PR stuff from Samsung, but it should really put to shame MicroLED startups and would-be competitors/suppliers who are still stuck on micro-displays. Go big or go home. For the money you are getting, you need to do better. There isn’t a single MicroLED company that is known outside of a very small niche of industry followers. That’s just ridiculous.
And, let me put a figure on the investment shortfall: $2 billion. MicroLED startups, old and new, need a further $2 billion in investments over the next 24 months. That’s the least you should expect. If I was looking at getting a piece of a $200-300 billion display industry, that figure would be ten times greater. The underestimation is a function of wanting to be disruptive without rocking the boat, I guess, of existing routes to success through traditional glass manufacturing paradigms.
Samsung Bets on MicroLED Displays to Reshape TV Market
Samsung Electronics is placing a bold bet on its next-generation MicroLED displays to disrupt the consumer television landscape. At least it appears that way if you look at some of the PR out of the company recently. The company has a story on its site that features the development team working on MicroLED technology.
According to Tae-yong Son, VP of Samsung’s MicroLED team, MicroLED allows for unparalleled picture quality. The tiny self-emissive LEDs produce their own red, green and blue colors without filtering, enabling purer color reproduction. Additionally, Samsung wants the world to know that it leverages nanometer semiconductor technology from its chip expertise to directly integrate LED driving circuits into the glass substrate. This mitigates any loss of brightness caused by material layers in other display types.
The modular and customizable design is another key advantage of MicroLED. Consumers can configure MicroLED screens to any size or ratio desired for a seamless fit into their environment. To create the bezel-less displays, Samsung talks about how it has developed an intricate auto-assembly method over 6 years to perfectly integrate distinct modules.
Mass producing MicroLED poses immense engineering hurdles. Each microscopic LED must be flawlessly placed onto the substrate, a process Son compares to placing a human hair at precise angles millions of times. Samsung eventually adopted pick-and-place techniques from semiconductor manufacturing to enable viable large-scale MicroLED fabrication, according to Son.
While high-end MicroLED TVs have seen initial interest, Samsung admits that broader consumer adoption may take time given high costs. However, Samsung is investing to optimize manufacturing and lower prices over time. The company views MicroLED as the ultimate display technology despite initial slow uptake.
