What's stopping Mini LED from being "on the market" on a large scale?

At the end of 2022, Longli Technology signed a 3 billion yuan supply order for Mini LED backlight car screens with the German Bosch Group. From the perspective of the industry, this has injected a "boost" into the Mini LED car screen industry chain. At the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition (Shanghai Auto Show) in April this year, many car companies displayed new cars equipped with Mini LED backlight screens, making Mini LED backlight car screens another wave of attention.

While color TV terminals are gradually increasing in volume, Mini LED display technology has also begun to show its prominence in the automotive field. According to industry research, there is no major technical bottleneck in the "onboarding" of Mini LED backlight technology, and 2025 may become a critical stage for real mass production.

Car manufacturers "favor" Mini LED

In February this year, Li Auto officially released the new L7 model. The display part complies with the current trend of multi-screen, large-screen, and intelligence. The safe driving interactive screen located above the steering wheel uses a Mini LED backlight display. This is the second time that Li Auto has introduced Mini LED backlight in-vehicle displays following the L9 model, which to a certain extent reflects the growing willingness of new car manufacturers to use Mini LED backlight in-vehicle displays.

TCL Huaxing Mini LED-backlit 47.5-inch completely seamless ultra-thin all-in-one car curved screen

The new generation of Lincoln Navigator released in April this year is equipped with dual 23.6-inch surround 4K ultra-high-definition screens. It applies Mini LED Local Dimming backlight technology to achieve a maximum brightness of 1000NIT. The picture is still clear under strong light and achieves 85% NTSC wide color. area.

As early as the beginning of 2022, the Mini LED backlight car screen was adopted by the Mercedes-Benz pure electric vehicle VISION EQXX. The screen is a 47.7-inch integrated display with 8K resolution and more than 3,000 local dimming areas, which means that it only Electricity is consumed only when specific parts are used, which provides new ideas for the high-end development of car companies. In November last year, General Motors launched three future models, Cadillac LYRIQ, Cadillac CELESTIQ and Buick Wildcat concept electric car, all using ultra-long Mini LED backlit car screens.

Up to now, in addition to the new car-making forces Ideal and NIO, SAIC Roewe, Great Wall Motors, Cadillac, Mercedes-Benz, Lincoln, etc. have also introduced Mini LED backlight car screens. General Motors, Ford, BMW, Volvo and other car brands have also stated that they will launch related products in the future. car model. Mini LED backlight car screens continue to release favorable information on the market demand side.

Still worried about large-scale import?

Compared with traditional LCD backlight technology, Mini LED display technology has the characteristics of ultra-high contrast, ultra-high brightness, wide color gamut, and better display effects; compared with OLED technology , Mini LED display technology has advantages in reliability, stability, and ultra-high color gamut. It has obvious advantages in high brightness.

In an interview with a reporter from China Electronics News, the relevant person in charge of Longli Technology said that Mini LED display technology is a solution that meets mid-to-high-end needs. Taking into account the current technical level, production cost and other factors, Mini LED technology can meet the needs of vehicle-mounted display modules. Set high standards and requirements in terms of lifespan, product earthquake resistance, high and low temperature resistance, safety, energy saving, etc.

The reporter learned from Tianma Microelectronics that compared to conventional LED backlights, Mini LED can achieve active control of a separate light source. By reducing the number of LEDs that are lit, it can reduce the power consumption and heat of the screen, which can better assist new energy vehicles in super-highlights. Long battery life enables "worry-free mileage".

The reporter learned that in 2022, many car manufacturers are considering introducing mini LED backlight car screens for cars, but most of them are still in the evaluation stage. There are two main reasons.

"The car manufacturers are currently more concerned about whether they can pass the vehicle regulations first, and the second is the cost." Lei Hao, manager of the FAE Department of Guangzhou Hongli Display Electronics Co., Ltd., said in an interview with a reporter from China Electronics News.

“When automobile manufacturers choose Mini LED backlit car screens, the proportion of cost in the entire vehicle will be their first consideration. At the same time, they also attach great importance to the innovation and differentiation of solutions provided by suppliers. If the solution is sufficiently innovative and competitive, Due to the differences, appropriate relaxation in cost control can be considered. At the same time, automobile manufacturers also attach great importance to suppliers’ vehicle certification and technology accumulation,” the relevant person in charge of Jufei Optoelectronics told reporters.

Due to considerations such as driving safety and component service life, Mini LED backlight car screens need to pass vehicle regulatory certification. The reporter learned through interviews that the vehicle regulatory certification cycle for traditional displays is about one year, while Mini LED is a new display technology. The certification cycle is 16 to 24 months, and scale will grow in the next one or two years, which also makes brand manufacturers more cautious when choosing Mini LED technology.

It is reported that the price of Mini LED backlight car screens is more than 1.5 times higher than that of ordinary LED backlight displays , and some even reach 2 to 3 times. Research by the LED Research Institute of Gaogong Industrial Research pointed out that the current high cost factors for Mini LED backlights are mainly substrates, driver ICs and chips .

The reporter learned that PCB substrate accounts for about 50% of the cost of Mini LED. In the past, PCB substrates that could meet the requirements basically had to be imported. With the entry of more industrial chain companies, this situation will be greatly improved in 2022. At present, the PCB substrates used in Mini LED backlights in the Chinese market have basically been localized, and only some are still imported. It is reported that materials account for a high proportion of the cost of PCBs, and there is very little room for material price reductions. Greater cost reductions may require technological innovations, such as future glass substrates.

"In summary, if Mini LED can improve process yield, production automation level, system solution design, supply chain support, etc., and achieve cost reduction and efficiency improvement, Mini LED will achieve rapid penetration and have a broad market space." Longli The person in charge of science and technology told reporters.

Data source: Crowd Intelligence Consulting

Chen Ziwei, senior analyst of automotive display at Sigmaintell, said in an interview with a reporter from China Electronics News that the shipment scale of Mini LED backlight automotive screens in 2023 will be around 800,000 pieces, a year-on-year increase of more than 5 times. It is expected that By 2025, the scale will exceed 4 million pieces.

Upstream and downstream forces urge Mini LED to “get on board”

Since this year, Mini LED has made continuous breakthroughs in panel-side technology. Features such as more partitions, higher contrast, greater curvature, hidden display, and more surround immersion bring a sense of future technology to smart cockpits.

BOE has launched dual 12.3-inch smart wood grain surface Mini LED hidden displays, creating a realistic imitation wood grain material that integrates with the cockpit interior when the screen is turned off. TCL Huaxing's 47.5-inch Mini LED seamless and ultra-thin integrated car curved screen integrates instrumentation, central control, and co-pilot entertainment functions to create an immersive surround experience. Tianma Microelectronics’ 12.3-inch AM COG Mini LED car screen achieves 2400 partitions and an ultra-high display contrast ratio of over 1,000,000:1.

At the same time, LED manufacturers’ mass production and delivery progress has further accelerated. Longli Technology told reporters that in 2023 the company plans to build a "medium and large-sized Mini LED display module intelligent manufacturing base project" to prepare for the mass production of Mini LED. Jufei Optoelectronics has successfully delivered 43-inch ultra-large screen Mini LED backlight panels for automobiles and is expanding its Mini LED production base in Wuhu. Hongli Zhihui stated on the interactive platform in June that the company's Mini LED automotive backlight products have been recognized by many car companies and tier 1 manufacturers. The "Mini LED Phase II Project" has been reasonably laid out based on existing production capacity and will gradually release production capacity in the future.

Breakthroughs have also been made on the chip side and PCB backplane side. Chitron North announced at the end of March that in response to the market demand for automotive smart cockpits, it has completed the layout and project pre-research in the fields of automotive TDDI chips, automotive Bridge chips, Mini LED driver chips and automotive power management chips . The Mini LED driver has entered the testing stage. Chip products are expected to achieve mass production this year. The mass production base of Huayinxin (Zhangjiagang) Semiconductor Co., Ltd. was launched in March. It mainly produces automotive-grade high-end light source chips and Mini  LED chips . The monthly output and shipment of Mini LED light source modules reaches 30,000 units/month. Jingtai Technology already has the R&D and manufacturing capabilities for Mini LED backlight POB solution packaging devices. Zhongjing Electronics' supporting Mini LED PCB products are currently stably providing bulk supply to relevant customers. Jingwang Electronics' PCB products are available with Mini LED, and the order delivery is going well.