Mini/Micro LED Industry in 2024: A Tale of Contrasting Fortunes Amidst Massive Investment （3）
COB Products Continue to Dominate the Market
In the highly competitive display industry, COB products are making remarkable progress. The present of COB lies in Mini LED, and its future is closely tied to Micro LED. Additionally, during the intermediate stage, COB can also take the form of MIP. In 2024, COB has emerged as a high - end all - around solution, giving rise to a new "versatility theory".
On one hand, COB - based LED screens have witnessed a significant cost reduction in 2024, thus exploring new incremental markets. Industry data shows that the price of COB packaging components has dropped from 48,000 yuan per square meter (calculated at P1.25) in 2018 to 9,000 yuan per square meter in 2024. In 2024, there was a quarterly price decrease of 3 - 5 percentage points. This price drop has expanded the customer base for high - quality COB products, inevitably driving the growth of its market size.
On the other hand, the variety of COB products has become more abundant. The increased supply of products such as COB Mini LED liquid crystal backlights, COB - MIP products, COB - Micro LED products, and COB products in P0.7/P1.5/P1.8 specifications has led to a significant expansion in market sales. This has not only broadened the market reach of COB technology in the display industry but also increased the types and scale of customers, accelerating the development of COB.
With the rising demand for COB products, industry manufacturers are ramping up production capacity. For example, the COB production capacity of Zhaochi Co., Ltd. was less than 10,000 square meters in 2022, but by October 2024, it had increased to 20,000 square meters. The COB production capacity of Unilumin Technology also significantly increased to 4000KK/month in 2024. Dr. Shao Pengrui, the deputy general manager of Asmade Zhuoxing Semiconductor, predicts that by 2028, the annual production capacity area of COB will reach 500,000 square meters, 7 - 8 times that of the current level.
Regarding the technological development of COB, the industry believes that massive transfer and Micro LED are two fundamental supporting technologies. The growth of the micro - pitch and ultra - micro - pitch markets, along with the upgrade of ordinary small - pitch LED displays to high - quality and ultra - high - definition requirements, are the main driving forces on the consumer side. Given this situation, there is no reason to underestimate COB technology during the MIP era. Moreover, ultra - micro - pitch MIP products can also adopt the COB secondary packaging solution.
Under the principle that "the higher - end, more upgraded, and more dependent on micro LEDs and micro - basic devices the market demand is, the more popular COB will be", COB will continue to be a core hot topic in the Mini/micro LED industry.
