Apple is expected to soon unveil a miniLED-backlit iPad Pro, and its miniLED supply chain is ready to expand shipments, having improved yield rates. In the semiconductor sector, supply for packaging tools has been extremely tight, with equipment vendors reluctant to expand production, wary of possibly a lurking bubble in the market. And MediaTek is keen to maintain its leadership in the 5G phone market segment. The IC vendor has stepped up purchases of BT substrates for use in its 5G mobile SoCs to make sure it has enough supply.
Apple's supplier of backlight-use miniLED for the vendor's upcoming 12.9-inch iPad Pro will see shipments pick up later in April 2021, according to industry sources.
LED chip and Si-based sensor chip maker Tyntek has begun small-volume trial production at its 6-inch epitaxial wafer factory and will gradually expand monthly production capacity there from 10,000 wafers at present to 30,000 units, according to company chairman Bosco Foo.
TSMC chairman Mark Liu took part in a White House-hosted online meeting of the world's semiconductor powerhouses on Tuesday. After the meeting, Liu reiterated the Taiwan-based foundry house's commitment to building a wafer fab in the US state of Arizona. The semiconductor supply chain has been troubled by shortages for months, with major Taiwanese IC vendors set for another wave of price hikes in second-quarter 2021. Development of microLED applications have been gaining momentum, and commercialized products may be available as early as year-end 2021.
Development of microLED applications has been gaining momentum, with commercialization of the technology likely to begin at year-end-2021 at the earliest, according to Falcon Liu, marketing director for Taiwan-based PlayNitride.
FitTech has received significant orders for equipment for probing, testing and sorting miniLED used in backlighting, with shipments scheduled until September 2021, according to company chairman Hsu Chiu-tien.
Leading China-based panel makers China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT), BOE Technology and Tianma Micro-electronics have stepped up efforts developing miniLED applications, according to industry sources.
Ennostar has invested less than NT$3.0 billion (US$106 million) to take an about 10% stake in LED chip and Si-based sensor maker Tyntek, according to industry sources.
China-based Lijing Microelectronics Technology (Jiangsu) will expand monthly miniLED packaging capacity to 800 million chips by the end of May 2021, seven months ahead of schedule, according to one of its parent companies, Leyard Optoelectronics.
LED chip and Si-based sensor chip maker Opto Tech will set up a platform for integrating sensing system technologies in a bid to offer one-stop services in the segment, according to company president David Huang.
Viewing that demand for infrared (IR) LED photo couplers has remained strong since 2020, Taiwan-based Lite-On Technology and Everlight Electronics have raised quotes by 10-20% and 10-30%, respectively in the first quarter of 2021.
LED and Si-based sensor chip maker Opto Tech has raised quotes for all product lines by 10-30%, with orders received since the beginning of 2021 subject to new pricing, according to company president David Huang.
III-V compound semiconductor maker Unikorn Semiconductor is expected to undertake outsourced production of microLED panels for LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Epistar, according to industry sources.
Lite-On Technology will expand production capacity for infrared (IR) LED photocouplers by 10-15% in 2021, while Everlight Electronics will expand annual packaging capacity for such products by 300 million chips in the year, according to industry sources.
The miniLED backlighting business is expected to increase Ennostar's monthly consolidated revenues by 20-25%, according to company chairman and CEO Biing-jye Lee at a March 18 investor conference.
Samsung Electronics will begin shipping its Neo QLED LCD TVs at the end of March 2021, heating up competition in miniLED backlighting, according to industry sources.
LED probing, testing and sorting equipment maker FiTech has obtained orders mainly for equipment used in miniLED chip production, with shipments scheduled until second-half 2021, according to the company.
Ennostar has obtained orders with shipments scheduled until third-quarter 2021 and its utilization rates have reached 80-90%, according to industry sources.
Taiwan-based infrared LED photocouplers providers are mulling raising their quotes again in second-quarter 2021, having increased their optocoupler prices across the board by 10-30% a quarter earlier, according to industry sources.
Singapore-based semiconductor packaging equipment vendor K&S has seen strong influx of orders for wire bonders for logic ICs and memory chips with delivery lead times extending to 6-9 months, and is optimistic that equipment demand for miniLED backlight applications may grow exponentially starting in 2021.
Ennostar will kick off production of miniLED backlight units (BLU) at the end of first-quarter 2021 or in the second quarter, according to industry sources.
High-end UV-C LED chips have been in tight supply along with increasing demand for disinfection applications in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, according to industry sources.
LED automotive lighting module maker Excellence Optoelectronics (EOI) has disclosed it has worked with a US client to develop a 165-inch fine-pitch RGB miniLED displays, with shipments expected to begin in fourth-quarter 2021.
