Aixtron and PlayNitride signed a joint-collaboration agreement to accelerate Micro-LED development. Aixtron will deliver an AIX G5+ C MOCVD system to Playnitride, that will be used to produce GaN-based Micro LED devices.

Aixtron says that the G5+ C is an advanced advanced production tool that offers market leading wavelength uniformity to meet the tightened Micro LED market specifications in a batch reactor high-throughput environment. The system allows for the lowest defect and particle level in the industry due to an effective in-situ cleaning technology and the cassette-to-cassette handler which is essential for high yields. The G5+ C MOCVD was recently ordered by Plessey for its own GaN-on-Silicon Micro-LED development and production.

Hisense has unveiled its first Micro-LED concept TV, a 143-inch panel called the Adonis MD. We don't have any information, as Hisense did not give any specs or say when it plans to actually launch this as a product.

Samsung is also showing Micro-LED TVs at CES (75" consumer and 219" professional), and seems to be closer to commercialization for its consumer-level TVs.

China-based TCL is demonstrating a what seems to be an early Micro-LED prototype display at CES 2019:

The Micro-LED display panel is produced by TCL's subsidiary CSoT. It is not clear whether this is a tiled display or a single small (12-inch?) monolithic module, hopefully we'll learn more about TCL's demonstration soon.

US-based Rohinni announced a new joint venture with China-based display maker BOE. The new JV (which will be based in China and controlled by BOE) will develop LCD mini-LED and micro-LED backlighting units.

The JV will adopt Rohinni's proprietary high-speed MicroLED placement technology that is capable of placing 50 die-per-second (dps) with 10 micron accuracy at 99.999% die yields. BOE and Rohinni will initially focus on large panel applications (32-inch and up) for consumer electronic products in addition to all display sizes for industrial, automotive and other markets

In September 2018 we reported that China-based San'an Optoelectronics is gearing up to setup its first micro-LED epitaxial wafer and chip production line in Q1 2019, and in early 2019 it was reported that San'n plans to start sampling Micro LED chips as early as January 2019 .

In a new press release, San'an announced that it is advancing with its Micro-LED R&D and capacity investment, and the company has filed for 27 patents and has signed several key partnerships. San'an also says that it has "expanded its manufacturing capabilities and facilities for micro-LED production".

HDTVTest posted an interesting interview with Cadmium-Free QD developer Nanosys CEO and president Jason Hartlove. In this long interview Jason discusses the company's technology and recent achievements.

Jason explains that producing an RGB Micro-LED has many challenges as each color micro-LED chip is different - and different color LEDs need slightly different voltages and drive currents. The mechanical placement of these chips is also much more difficult for three colors. Using single-color (blue) Micro-LED chips and color-converting them using QDs makes a lot of sense for such displays - with easier manufacturing, longer lifetime, less differential aging (burn-in) and a wider color gamut.