Demand for mini LED-backlit display solutions is expected to take off in 2021 with leading system vendors such as Apple and Samsung keenly adopting the solutions in their terminal devices, prompting Taiwan's Chang Wah Technology (CWTC) and JMC Electronics to step up deployments in mini LED substrates, according to industry sources.

Mini LED backlighting technology will be massively applied to desktop PCs, notebooks, tablets and TVs in 2021, and a bigger ecosystem for such applications will be built after non-Apple vendors jump on the bandwagon, the sources said.

The sources continued that Apple will adopt mini LED backlighting in its new MacBook and iPad Pro devices in 2021, and Samsung and other major TV brands will also roll out mini LED TVs to meet demand from the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics next year.

CWTC and JMC, both under Chang Wah Electromaterials, are gearing up development of metal and non-metal mini LED substrates, respectively, to process mini LED chips.

CWTC, also engaged in QFN leadframe production, is expected to join supply chains of Chinese mini LED vendors with its metal substrates to support their LED wire bonding process, and it has also sent sample substrates to potential European clients for validations.

Meanwhile, JMC, specializing in tape-COF substrates, is seeking to have its non-metal flexible substrates adopted by Taiwan's mini LED makers including Epistar to support flip chip processing.

By DIGITIMES