UK-based Plessey Semiconductor announced that it aims to be the first to market with a monolithic microLED based display based on GaN-on-Silicon in H1 2018 The company also announced a new licensing program that will enable third parties to license its GaN-on-Silicon microLED IP and expertise.

Plessey says that GaN-on-Silicon is the only technology that can address all the production challenges for MicroLED displays in high volumes. The company's main business will be its licensing platform, but it aims to bring to market its own displays to demonstrates its expertise.

PlayNitride began sampling micro-LED panels, shipping these to 10-20 potential customers in Q4 2017. The company's chairman and CEO, Charles Li, says that 5-6 of these customers are continuing the developing of micro-LED modules based on these panels.

In September 2017 we reported that Charles Li said that Micro-LED displays are not as challenging as originally expected, and the company aims to start trial production of Micro-LED displays in the second half of 2017 - it's great to see the company progressing as planned. PlayNitride says that it achieved mass transfer and placement yield rates of over 99% in its lab.

As reported a couple of months ago, Samsung unveiled its first Micro-LED TV, aptly named "The Wall". This is a 146-inch tiled 4K display that is almost 8 times larger than a 55" TV in area.

Samsung did not reveal much details. Reports from CES suggest that each tile is about 3-inch in size, and it seems like you cannot see the seams of the individual tiles. It did demonstrate the difference in size between Micro-LED and regular LEDs as you can see below:

Taiwan's Innolux demonstrated a new prototype mini-LED display. The 10.1" panel features a resolution of 1540x720 (168 PPI).

Innolux says that this type is very suitable for automotive applications - as it has an almost infinite contrast (similar to OLED displays ) and it can also work in the demanding temperatures required by the automotive industry. Innolux hopes that such mini-LED displays can find a market and be a bridge before the company can develop micro-LED displays with higher densities and increased brightness.