2023 is coming to an end. This year is also an extraordinary year. This year is also a year of all-out struggle. Even in the face of a more complex, severe and uncertain international environment, the economy in many places is recovering moderately. From the perspective of the LED display industry, in response to the complex and changing external environment and risk challenges, the overall steady recovery trend continues. The resilience and potential shown by LED screen companies provide strong support for the industry’s path forward. New technologies, new applications, new opportunities, and new challenges coexist. LED displays are moving forward in waves, which makes people full of expectations for the development of the industry in 2023 and beyond.
Winter is over and dawn is coming
Since May 2023, the overall export trend of LED display screens has been relatively stable. According to customs data statistics, the export value of LED display screens in the first three quarters of 2023 reached about 7.547 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of about 3.62%. At the same time, the sales of small-pitch LED display screens in the third quarter of 2023 were close to 4.37 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.4% and a month-on-month decrease of 1.7%; the shipment area reached 307,000 square meters, a year-on-year increase of 27% and a month-on-month increase of 3.8%. From the cumulative perspective of the first three quarters, the sales of small-pitch LED display screens in mainland China were 11.7 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.0%; the shipment area was 808,000 square meters, a year-on-year increase of 23.1%. The recovery of the LED market may be approaching dawn.
It is worth noting that according to industry insiders, from the current large-screen splicing market, LED fine pitch has surpassed LCD splicing in both sales and volume, and LCD splicing has been weak in product growth after years of development, and the main monitoring and small-area information markets will basically show a negative growth trend in the next three years. On the other hand, LED fine pitch is entering a second growth period driven by many factors such as Micro LED technology, brand, and scene applications. In the future, Mini LED fine pitch products will not be transitional technologies in the TO G TO B market, but will gradually become the main application in the engineering market, especially P0.9 products.
In addition, with the popularity of devices such as smartphones and tablets, the market demand in the display field is also increasing. The development of technologies such as AR and VR has further promoted the growth of demand in the display field, which will achieve moderate growth in 2024. From the perspective of inventory, on the one hand, the inventory of major global chip manufacturers showed an inflection point in Q3; on the other hand, benefiting from the recovery of consumer electronics, passive components, PCBs, optical components and other links have improved, and inventory liquidation is nearing the end. In summary, after a downward cycle of one to two years, the current fundamentals of the LED display industry have basically completed the “bottoming out”, and the quarterly reports of some companies have shown signs of recovery. Therefore, we should not be overly pessimistic at this point in time. The cold winter is gradually fading away, and we are waiting for the return of spring.
Technological innovations are frequent and blooming in multiple fields
Since the beginning of 2023, technological innovations in the product terminals of the LED display industry have emerged in an endless stream, presenting a state of flourishing and contending. First of all, in the field of packaging, COB has currently established a significant first-mover advantage. As a high-end direction of packaging technology, enterprises and brands have entered the market in an all-round way, gradually becoming an important product technology trend under the development of LED screen micro-pitch, and the camp and scale of related manufacturers are rapidly expanding. In addition, COB has the natural characteristics of shorter and simpler process links. When the mass transfer process and cost have achieved breakthroughs, it has the possibility of conquering the city. Secondly, Mini/Micro LED display technology, LED virtual shooting and other directions have gradually become new growth in the development of the LED market. Since the Mini LED backlight market entered the first year of volume in 2021, the annual compound growth rate has reached 50%; in terms of Micro LED, after the key technologies such as mass transfer mature, it is expected to be used on a large scale in the future; in terms of LED virtual shooting, with the cost of shooting this technology decreasing and the efficiency improving, in addition to the film and television field, it is also increasingly applied to variety shows, live broadcasts, advertising and other scenes.
In addition, according to statistics from the Light Emitting Diode Display Application Branch of the China Optical and Optoelectronics Industry Association, the market share of indoor and outdoor display products has changed significantly in recent years, and the proportion of indoor display products has increased year by year, accounting for more than 70% of the total annual product volume. Since 2016, small-pitch LED displays have exploded and quickly become the mainstream product in the display market. At present, the proportion of small-pitch products in the total market volume of indoor and outdoor LED displays is more than 40%. From the perspective of actual application scenarios, the current market sales structure of LED small-pitch displays shows that the channel market and the industry engineering market are divided into five parts. At present, the channel market continues to cover more sinking markets, while the industry engineering market is gradually covering more segmented markets. The main body of procurement or application has evolved from centralization to segmentation, and more new scenarios will be derived, such as XR virtual shooting, LED cinema applications, etc. In the next five years, the market will still show a growth of more than 15%, showing a diversified and advanced direction.
Seven ministries and commissions issued a call for a rally, and the audio-visual industry has great potential
In mid-December, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other seven departments jointly issued the “Guiding Opinions on Accelerating the High-quality Development of the Audiovisual Electronics Industry”, which gave guidance on improving the supply capacity of high-level audiovisual systems, building a modern audiovisual electronics industry system, carrying out audiovisual internal circulation smooth actions and improving the level of international development. The “Guiding Opinions” proposed that by 2030, the overall strength of my country’s audiovisual electronics industry will be among the best in the world. By 2027, the global competitiveness of my country’s audiovisual electronics industry will be significantly enhanced, key technological innovations will continue to break through, the industrial foundation will continue to be strengthened, and the industrial ecology will continue to improve, basically forming a development pattern with excellent innovation capabilities, strong industrial resilience, high degree of openness, and great brand influence. Cultivate a number of new subdivided markets of hundreds of billions of yuan, form a number of typical cases of audiovisual systems, cultivate a number of specialized and new “little giant” enterprises and single champions in the manufacturing industry, create a number of internationally renowned brands, and build a number of public service platforms and industrial clusters with regional influence and leading ecological development.
The release of the Guiding Opinions is of great significance in the expansion of emerging display applications and the innovation and invention of industrial technology. The eight types of new audio-visual systems deployed are highly related to the development path of LED technology, which undoubtedly brings a strong reassurance to the development of the LED display industry. For LED screen companies, facing the current opportunities, companies should accelerate innovation, create differentiated products, and create new consumer demand. Through technological innovation, talent introduction, and continuous introduction of high-value LED products and solutions, the industry ceiling will be raised, a healthy competitive order will be created, and a good ecological pattern of co-construction, sharing, and co-development will be formed, so as to promote the industry to work together to make the cake bigger and stronger.
Rolling stones uphill and climbing over obstacles, in this year, LED people have accumulated the tenacity of “strengthening after thousands of blows”, and continuously gathered positive energy for the development of the LED display industry. Huicong LED Screen Network also firmly believes that the rise of LED display in 2024 is imperative and ushering in a new blueprint.
In 2023, when the global economy is sluggish, LED screen companies continue to actively prepare for future development, improve the supply chain, technology and human resources layout through cooperation, acquisition or mergers and acquisitions, and focus on cutting-edge display technology and applications. As related innovative terminals are introduced to the market and gradually recognized by consumers, it is expected to drive the development of related industrial chains and add new sources of vitality to the LED display industry. Looking to the future, I believe that with the acceleration of the localization process, we will wait for the sowing and cultivation of domestic manufacturers to gradually bear fruit.
Post time: Mar-01-2024
