The microLED market is still alive after Apple’s exit

An article written by Gary Hilson, for Fierce Electronics, in collaboration with Eric Virey from Yole Group – Had Apple opted to exit the microLED market two years earlier, it might have been the death knell of the industry, but a Yole Research analyst who has his pulse on the technology is cautiously optimistic despite the tech giant’s recent pivot.

In an interview with Fierce Electronics, Eric Virey, principal analyst covering displays at Yole Group, said after investing an estimated $3 billion into microLED development and convincing Osram to spend $1.3 billion of its own money to build a fab so Apple could make its smartwatch, Apple pulled the plug and cancelled the project.

“That’s big news, especially in the context of the microLED industry, which you could argue was created by Apple,” he said.

Prior to Apple taking an interest in microLEDs, the technology was barely on anyone’s radar, Virey said. Apple spent $450 million in 2014 to acquire a startup, which for it wasn’t a lot of money, but for everyone else it was a significant amount of money and put microLEDs on the map. “Then it started getting more and more momentum.”

The growth of the microLED market became a self-fulfilling prophecy, Virey said. “Everybody’s looking at their neighbor.” Even with other large players such as Samsung and LG participating in the microLED industry, as well as a whole host of startups, it’s a challenging technology, he said.

But the fundamental science is not what’s holding microLEDs back, Virey said. Rather, it’s a gigantic manufacturing challenge – how do you scale microLED technology so the cost per unit isn’t exorbitant? “It was making progress,” he said. “Not as fast as people would have wanted.”

… Read the full article HERE.

Source: Fierce Electronics