Mini/Micro-LED smart cockpit grows against headwinds despite uncertain consumer electronics market recovery

The global market, after experiencing a severe shortage of chips and key components in the first half of the year, turned weak in the second half, resulting in high inventory level from the supply chain to sales channels. The global economic outlook for the fourth quarter remains conservative, with inflation likely to moderate. The key factor still lies in unresolved geopolitical tensions, such as the Russia-Ukraine war, the U.S.-China trade conflict, and China's zero-Covid approach. Geopolitical conflicts have led to a shift from globalization to fragmentation, with consumption, investment, and government spending, as well as imports and exports decreasing. It’s expected that stocked inventory will deplete to a normal level in the first half of 2023.

Despite an economic downturn, mini/micro LEDs and compound semiconductor are still growing, as both have shown unparalleled value. Compound semiconductor provides better power conversion efficiency during the global energy crisis, while mini/Micro-LEDs secures its position in certain markets, such as AR/VR headsets, e-sports, creator applications and smart cockpit, fulfilling requirements of application platforms through Human–Machine Interface (HMI) to achieve better interactive experiences.

InfoLink has released the mini/Micro LED Market Report Q3 2022 that provides analysis of mini and Micro LED applications and trends:

• AR/VR: The two major display technologies for VR are OLED and mini-LED backlight; the AR display technology uses micro LED and micro OLED.
• Tablet : Apple iPad Pro 12.9" remains the major driver behind the growth of mini-LED Tablet , with an annual sales of 5.8 million.
• Laptop: Apple is estimated to ship about 8.3 million units of Apple MacBook Pro 14"/16" in 2022. Other laptop brands using mini-LED include Asus, Acer, and Dell, etc.
• MNT: Demand from its high-end applications, such as illustration, e-sports, or content creation, is low, as these products have the highest price sensitivity.
• TV: The market penetration rate of mini LED TVs is about 3.3% this year, since suppliers of mini TVs reduced shipment continuously due to the impact of global economic downturn.
• Automotive: Smart cockpit has become the key to the development of electric vehicles. The digital chassis (software) is also transforming the future of vehicles.

Mercedes-Benz launched the MBUX system consisting with three screens in 2021 and then unveiled the 47.5" mini-LED Hyperscreen at the Consumer Electronics Show 2022, after the EQS luxury electric car went into mass production in the same year. The display is no longer a splicing screen, but a large full 8K 47.5" display extending from the left A-pillar to the right A-pillar, to go with Vision EQXX. "Vision EQXX demonstrates what we imagine electric vehicles will look like in the future," said the CEO of Mercedes-Benz.




Auto sales in 2022 are likely to remain at the same level of 80 million units as last year, due to rising inflation and geopolitical conflicts in many regions. However, driven by the global trend of energy saving and carbon reduction, electric vehicle sales are expected to exceed 9 million units,  a Year-over-Year (YoY) growth of over 40%, . InfoLink believes that smart cockpit has become the key to the development of electric vehicles, and that digital chassis (software) will redefine the value of future vehicles, with its production value expecting to exceed US$50 billion by 2023.




According to the smart cockpit trend and industry updates featured in "mini/Micro LED Market Report Q3 2022" by InfoLink, the automotive control panel market will recover faster than the automobile market due to high willingness of car manufacturers to adopt smart cockpit. Smart cockpits will be equipped with more panels, leading to a continuous growth in the number and average size of displays. By 2026, the average vehicle display usage is expected to be 3.5 units. As the long-term outlook for mini-LED backlight of automotive looks bright, InfoLink estimates that by 2026, the shipment of dashboard and center console, the two major parts of mini-LED displays for vehicles, will reach 26.5 million and 27.05 million pieces, respectively, while the market size of mini-LED encapsulation for vehicles and light boards will reach US$570 million and US$1.99 billion, respectively.