While mini LED chips has begun seeing adoption for high-end LCD monitor and TV backlighting, the technology is not expected to be widely used over the next 3-4 years, according to industry sources.

LED chip maker Opto Tech expects significant on-year sales growth in fourth-quarter 2019 - a traditionally off-season period - due to strong demand for Si-based sensor chips used in smart watches and wrist bands, and increased orders for LED displays.

China-based LED epitaxial wafer and chip Sanan Optoelectronics plans to kick off production of 6-inch micro LED epitaxial wafers later in fourth-quarter 2019, according to industry sources.

Taiwan-based Epistar has disclosed it has lowered capacity utilization rates to controal inventory level in efforst to cope with LED chip oversupply that has been hitting the global market since the fourth quarter of 2018.

LED packaging service provider Everlight Electronics' September consolidated revenues reached NT$1.730 billion (US$55.7 million), decreasing 2.47% sequentially and 15.36% on year. LED wafer and chip maker Epistar's consolidated sales for September reached NT$1.345 billion, shrinking 6.06% sequentially...

LED probing and testing equipment maker FiTech is optimistic about demand for mini LED probing, testing and sorting equipment from China- and Taiwan-based makers and expects shipments in 2020 to hike a few times on year, according to the company.

US-based semiconductor assembly equipment supplier Kulicke & Soffa (K&S) is optimistic that 5G and AI applications will drive demand for advanced IC packaging equipment.

LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Epistar's clients are developing mini LED-backlit gaming LCD monitors, notebooks, tablets and smartphones, which is expected to boost demand for mini LED backlighting starting second-half 2020, according to company president Fan Chin-yung.

Cayman Islands-registered Mikro Mesa Technology has developed a process that mass transfers several million micro LED chips of 3 microns in diameter from epitxial wafers onto a backplane of nearly four inches via pressure-free bonding at low temperatures, according to company founder and chairman Chen...

Researchers at National Central University in Taiwan has developed a process producing GaN thin film micro LED eoitaxial wafers without using mass transfer to make display panels, according to Microluce, a startup business specifically established for commercialize the technology.

China-based makers invested CNY22.65 billion (US$3.19 billion) in seven LED R&D and production projects in first-half 2019, nearly CNY20 billion of which was related to micro LED, according to China Solid State Lighting Alliance (CSA).

Japan-based Nichia is developing micro LED automotive matrix headlights with Infineon Technologies designing the driver ICs, according to industry sources.

LED packaging service provider Everlight Electronics has disclosed it has become a partner for ISELED Alliance, an open alliance formed in 2016 to boost development of smart RGB LED lighting technology and solutions for automotive interior lighting.

Strong demand for mini LED in 2020 is expected offer related equipment suppliers, driver IC vendors, panel makers and materials distributors lucrative business opportunities.

A micro LED R&D team established in 2018 by Foxconn Electronics at its production base in Shenzhen, southern China, has been disbanded, according to industry sources.

PlayNitride is mulling increasing paid-in capital for setting up micro LED production capacity, according to company chairman and CEO Charles Li.

RGB mini LED fine-pitch displays with high resolution and contrast can form 100- to 200-inch seamless mosaic displays, form factors that LCD panels cannot achieve, according to Lextar Electronics chairman and CEO David Su.

LED packaging service provider Everlight Electronics has reported August consolidated revenues of NT$1.773 billion (US$56.5 million), increasing 7.09% sequentially but decreasing 19.90% on year, while vertically-integrated LED firm Lextar Electronics' NT$815.7 million for the month grew 5.74% sequentially...

China-based LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Sanan Optoelectronics saw second-quarter 2019 net profit decrease 75.1% on year to CNY197 million (US$28.9 million) due to oversupply and price drops, according to industry sources.

LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Epistar has developed LED chips with lower power consumption and better light-emitting effect for smartphone panel backlighting and has won orders from Chinese and Korean smartphone vendors, with global market share for such applications to rise from 20% currently...

While PCBs are used as backplanes for mini LED fine-pitch displays and mini LED backlighting currently, glass is expected to gradually replace PCBs as backplanes for mini LED backlighting beginning 2020 along with diminishing size of mini LED chips, according to industry sources.

Verticall-integrated LED maker Lextar Electronics expects the proportion of consolidated revenues from mini LED application, 3D sensing VCSEL (vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser), infrared (IR) and ultraviolet (UV) LED packaging to rise from 5-10% in the fourth quarter of 2018 to 10-20% in 2019...

LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Epistar expects clients to launch 27-inch gaming LCD monitors and 17.3-inch gaming notebooks backlit by its mini LED chips in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to the company.

Flat panel maker Innolux has said that its 28.3-inch AM (active matrix) mini LED-based integrated automotive cluster and CID display products have been adopted by major OEMs and will find their way into the production lines of Europe- and US-based automakers.

Lextar Electronics has disclosed it will release a new series of mini LED ready for mass production, including I-Mini Blue, a smart backlight module integrating mini LED and driver IC, which can realize high contrast and slim design and is already introduced to applications such as gaming notebook...