Taiwan's Favite, a leading supplier of automated optical inspection (AOI) equipment for LCD, OLED, and mini/microLED displays, has begun shipping microOLED AOI equipment to the Chinese market. The company is also expanding its focus to advanced packaging applications like fan-out wafer-level packaging (FOWLP) and fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP).
China-based display solutions supplier BOE Technology has unveiled a roadmap for diversification into making glass substrates for semiconductor packaging.
According to online monitoring data from Runto Technology (Runto), sales of color e-paper products in China's market grew by 318.2% year-on-year in the first half of 2024, with the penetration rate more than doubling from 3.2% to 8.6% compared to the same period in 2023. China's color e-paper tablet market is experiencing significant growth in 2024, with sales and product variety on the rise.
Samsung Display (SDC) has reportedly achieved a breakthrough in tandem OLED yield rates, positioning the company to increase its supply of OLED panels for tablets and to aggressively expand its presence in the IT OLED display market by the second half of 2024.
Taiwanese panel manufacturer Giantplus Technology is actively developing applications using its organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) backplanes, such as smart wearables and medical products, which it has already mass-produced for the world's first OTFT consumer electronics product — the Ledger Stax crypto electronic cold wallet.
Chinese OLED manufacturers have now surpassed South Korean companies in terms of market share, according to figures from multiple research firms. This development could potentially benefit Taiwanese display driver IC (DDI) firms, which have historically maintained close cooperation with Chinese panel makers due to past difficulties in overcoming barriers set by Korean panel manufacturers.
Cheng Mei Materials, a leading polarizer manufacturer, has reported weaker-than-expected panel demand for the third quarter. With the possibility of China adjusting its production capacity during the National Day holiday in October, the company has adopted a cautious outlook for the quarter. Cheng Mei anticipates a decrease in utilization rates from 90% to 80% but plans to continue adjusting its product mix, focusing on high-value business segments.
As smartphone camera resolutions continue to improve, lenses inevitably become thicker, impacting the weight of the devices. Market rumors suggest that Apple has been researching metalens technology over the past few years, with plans to initially use it to replace the plastic lenses in the iPad's Face ID system. Metalens technology could debut in the Face ID of the iPhone 16 Pro and flagship models as early as 2024.
To seize the European market, Samsung Display (SDC) established a production site in Slovakia. However, as its main client, Samsung Electronics, progresses towards internalized production and the increase of local personnel costs, SDC reportedly plans on clearing out its branch in Slovakia.
The second half of the year is traditionally the peak season for the launch of flagship smartphones, which is expected to boost demand for key components such as PCBs (Printed Circuit Boards) and optical parts.
Daxin Materials, which provides specialty chemicals for semiconductor, display, and key raw materials, has developed chipmaking materials supporting advanced 2nm manufacturing processes and CoWoS packaging, and continues to increase revenue generated from the semiconductor industry, according to the company.
After navigating through inventory challenges, E Ink Holdings (E Ink) has seen positive growth in the field of consumer electronics (CE) and Internet of Things (IoT), with expected improvement each quarter in 2024. Johnson Lee, Chairman of E Ink, stated that the biggest concern currently is on how to development the electronic paper billboard market that benefits the company.
The panel industry experienced strong demand in the first half of 2024 due to early pull-ins by end-product manufacturers. However, as end market performance fell short of expectations, panel order shipments have slowed, leading to a less vibrant third quarter compared to traditional peak seasons.
Samsung Electronics (Samsung) is reportedly building an image quality lab for CIS. To catch up to Sony, it is planning on using simulated photography of various scenery to enhance its high-resolution image technology in CIS.
Taiwan's display driver IC (DDI) vendor, FocalTech Systems, experienced mixed sales performances across its diverse product lines in the second quarter of the year. Despite this, the company remains optimistic about continued growth in AMOLED touchscreen ICs, driven by robust demand from the AI-enhanced smartphone segment.
Samsung Display (SDC) is reportedly collaborating with Microsoft to develop and supply OLED on Silicon (OLEDoS) for the next generation of Mixed Reality (MR) devices.
Taiwanese display driver IC (DDI) leader Himax Technologies reported a robust second quarter, driven by strong demand for automotive DDI. However, the company is adopting a cautious outlook for the third quarter due to market uncertainties, projecting a 12-17% sequential revenue decline, against the traditional peak-season trend.
Global automotive display shipments are estimated to reach 225 million units in 2024, up 7.8% from a year ago, according to Jason Yang, DIGITIMES Research analyst specializing in the display industry. Yang notes that while a-Si will remain the mainstream technology for automotive displays for the next five years, the market share of other non-a-Si displays will all grow.
It wasn't all that long ago when Meta had internal reorgs to "prioritize AI efforts". Some Meta staff were left with the impression that the metaverse efforts, which prompted the company's name change from Facebook, were no longer the priority.
Radiant, a leading backlight module manufacturer, is experiencing a gradual recovery in revenue. The company anticipates distinct seasonal patterns in 2024, with the third quarter expected to be the peak season. Revenue is projected to increase by over 10% quarter-on-quarter, surpassing the initial estimate of 5-10% growth. For the full year 2024, annual revenue is expected to grow by 5-10% compared to 2023.
Glass substrates have become a critical strategic element in fan-out panel level packaging (FOPLP), a technology that TSMC and various backend houses are developing. Because of that, TSMC, which originally chose a glass panel size of 515mm x 510mm, is said to have recently settled on a larger size that leading backend house ASE Holding has adopted, according to industry sources.
Glass substrate prices are expected to rise in the third quarter of 2024, reflecting the depreciation of the Japanese yen, the tight supply-demand balance, and profits made by some panel makers, according to industry sources.
