Nichia, with investment of JPY60 billion (US$549 million), is setting up dedicated production capacity for miniLED chips for backlighting applications in Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, with completion scheduled for July 2021 and production to kick off at the end of September 2021, according to Dai Tsuan-jia, general manager for Nichia Taiwan.
PCB and LED bicycle light maker EISO Enterprise has seen shipments rising and judging from order visibility expects full capacity utilization to remain until year-end 2021 at least, according to company chairman Chien Jung-kun.
As car-use LED supply from Germany-based Osram Opto Semiconductors has fallen short of demand, many device makers have turned to Epistar for support, sending the Taiwanese firm's capacity for AlGaInP LED chips to full utilization, according to industry sources.
GaAs, InP and GaN wafer foundry service provider Global Communication Semiconductors (GCS) Holdings has disclosed it will add investment of NT$400 million (US$14.1 million) in Unikorn Semiconductor, a compound semiconductor maker spun off from LED epitaxial wafer and chip maker Epistar, to raise its stake ratio from 34.73% to 45.39%.
LED packaging service provider Everlight Electronics has disclosed it has won a patent lawsuit in China, where its Supreme People's Court recently dismissed an appeal filed by Japan-based Nichia to claim validity of its YAG patent in the country.
The recently launched 12.9-inch miniLED-backlit iPad Pro is expected to account for almost 10% of all Apple tablet shipments in 2021, according to sources from the upstream supply chain.
Taiwan Surface Mounting Technology (TSMT) will trial surface mounting of miniLED chips, ICs and other components on PCBs for use in backlighting of two MacBook models to be launched in second-half 2021, according to industry sources.
Eternal Materials has seen shipments increasing for silicone-based sealant used in miniLED packaging amid growing demand for miniLED backlighting, according to industry sources.
Taiwan-based Darwin Precisions, which offers fine metal masks (FMM) for OLED panel production, expects robust demand for miniLED-backlit applications to drive its sales growth in 2021, according to company chairman Michael Tsai.
Taiwan's top LCD makers believe Apple's adopting miniLED backlighting for the 12.9-inch iPad Pro will encourage other device vendors to follow suit, spurring demand for such applications.
Samsung Electronics has launched in Taiwan its new Neo QLED 8K series TVs that feature the combination of a miniLED backlighting module and a QD display, and support AI and algorithm technologies.
