Funding Round and Purpose
Qiushui Semiconductor, a company specializing in Micro-LED display technology, has successfully secured millions of RMB in financing during its angel round and angel+ round. The funding was led by Inno Angel Fund, with additional investments from Lihe Capital, Shanhan Optoelectronics, and Digital Optical Core. Xingtang Capital serves as the company’s long-term financial advisor. The funds will primarily be used for Micro-LED technology research and process validation.
Company Overview
Founded in November 2022, Qiushui Semiconductor is focused on Micro-LED display technology, with its primary products being Micro-LED micro-display chips and modules. These products are applied in fields such as digital automotive lighting, micro-projection, and AR displays.
Understanding Micro-LED Micro-Display Technology
To better understand Micro-LED micro-display chips, it’s important to first consider the limitations of traditional LED technology. Traditional LED displays often suffer from large pixel spacing, limiting resolution, and have constraints in brightness and energy consumption. These displays are primarily used for large-screen images.
In contrast, Micro-LED micro-display technology offers unique advantages, expanding the possibilities of projective active display applications. The smaller pixel size and chip dimensions of Micro-LEDs enable higher resolution and improved color saturation. Moreover, they optimize brightness and energy efficiency, making them a more refined and energy-efficient display technology that complements existing LED technologies.
Broad Range of Applications
Micro-LED micro-display technology finds numerous applications across various fields, including digital automotive lighting, augmented reality (AR) devices, wearables, and in-vehicle displays. In digital automotive lighting, Micro-LEDs offer more precise beam control and higher brightness, enhancing driving safety. In the AR/XR realm, Micro-LEDs enhance visual experiences with their high brightness and low energy consumption. For wearable devices like smartwatches, Micro-LED technology enables high-resolution displays while maintaining small sizes and reducing power consumption. In the in-vehicle display market, Micro-LEDs improve the display quality of vehicle information systems.
Market Growth and Forecast
According to Grand View Research, the global Micro-LED market was valued at $623.6 million USD in 2023 and is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 77.4% from 2024 to 2030. By 2030, the market size is expected to reach $25.65 billion USD.
Founder’s Vision and Technological Breakthroughs
The founding of Qiushui Semiconductor stems from Dr. Jiang Zhenyu’s research during his doctoral studies at Pennsylvania State University. In 2013, when Google released the first generation of Google Glass, Dr. Jiang realized that Micro-LED display technology would be a revolutionary next-generation display technology, unlocking new application areas.
However, at that time, Micro-LED technology its development and application. As the primary inventor of patents, Dr. Jiang pioneered the Gap-free Microdisplay technology, which addressed the issue of material damage by using ion bombardment instead of etching methods, a world-first in the field.
The Damage-free Micro-LED Chip Technology
Dr. Jiang and his team further developed an innovative Damage-free Micro-LED chip technology. This technology replaces physical insulation with electrical insulation, achieving pixel electrical isolation without damaging the materials, which is a common issue in traditional Micro-LED chip production due to etching processes. This breakthrough improves chip efficiency and stability, paving the way for the mass production of Micro-LED chips.
According to Dr. Jiang, this technology not only disrupts the exclusive monopoly of foreign companies in projective display chip technology but also solves a key bottleneck in the projection industry. Qiushui Semiconductor also employs Hybrid Bonding 3D semiconductor packaging technology and advanced semiconductor manufacturing processes, enhancing the Micro-LED chip process and improving chip yield while reducing costs. Qiushui Semiconductor is the first domestic company to report achieving 8-inch Hybrid Bonding processes for Micro-LED.
Applications and Product Line
Currently, Qiushui Semiconductor’s main products include Micro-LED chips, which have widespread applications in micro-projection and AR displays. The company’s first-generation product is a 0.61-inch digital automotive lighting chip. Digital automotive lighting is an innovative lighting technology using Micro-LED chips for finer light control. Compared to traditional automotive lights, digital automotive lights allow pixel-level beam adjustment, reducing light scattering and glare. With the high brightness and low energy consumption of Micro-LEDs, these lights enhance lighting efficiency while reducing energy use.
Additionally, Micro-LED technology’s faster response times enable the lights to adapt quickly to changing driving conditions. These intelligent car lights can integrate with a vehicle’s smart system, providing adaptive lighting modes and even projecting navigation information onto the road. These features enable Micro-LED-equipped digital car lights to surpass traditional automotive lights in both performance and functionality.
Market Outlook for Automotive LED Lighting
According to Statista, the Chinese automotive LED lighting market was valued at $3.35 billion USD in 2021. It is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.66% from 2022 to 2027, reaching nearly $5.5 billion USD by 2027.
Dr. Jiang Zhenyu believes, “The Micro-LED automotive lighting market is a vast, untapped opportunity, a from-zero-to-one chance. The first company to overcome the technical bottleneck will seize the market and set industry standards, including those for chip production and circuit board matching. With further technological maturity, Micro-LED chips will merge lighting and display functionalities, becoming universal light sources that serve not only as lighting solutions but also as displays and other smart functions. This is the inevitable trend of the future, driven by intelligent innovation.”
Team Expertise and Investor Perspective
Qiushui Semiconductor’s core technology team is a pioneer in Hybrid Bonding technology, with experience in mass production processes and a solid foundation in Micro-LED. The team has successfully developed mass production processes with 0.7-micron pitch using Hybrid Bonding technology.
Investor Viewpoints:
- Lu Jian, partner at Inno Angel Fund, emphasized the potential of XR as the next-generation personal computing platform. He believes Micro-LED technology is the ultimate display solution, and Qiushui Semiconductor’s Damage-free Micro-LED technology will enable high-yield, low-cost mass production and contribute to the rapid development of the XR industry.
- Fang Nan, founder and partner at Shanhan Optoelectronics, stated that Qiushui Semiconductor’s Damage-free Micro-LED chip technology has been successfully verified, marking a significant milestone. He expressed confidence that the company will achieve mass production of its digital automotive lighting products soon.
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