MicroLED car lights are emerging, and domestic LED companies are accelerating their layout

More than 100 years ago, the prototype of car lights was kerosene lamps, which could only provide basic lighting. Over time, car lights have evolved from kerosene lamps to acetylene lamps, incandescent lamps and halogen lamps. Incandescent lamps and halogen lamps were gradually replaced by xenon headlights and LED headlights. Compared with hernia headlights, LEDs have the characteristics of high brightness, long life and low energy consumption. Micro LED, as an emerging car lighting technology in the LED field, is gradually emerging.

Micro LED technology empowers automotive lighting

In the era of intelligence, car lights have become an important part of vehicle technology. Among them, the adaptive high beam achieves automatic high and low beam switching and precise lighting through the sensing system and multi-light source adjustment technology. With the advancement of technology, car lights have gradually developed into matrix LED headlights, which not only improve the lighting effect, but also intelligently adjust the light distribution, thereby enhancing driving safety.

According to TrendForce’s analysis, with the introduction of Micro LED pixel arrays into adaptive headlights, the number of pixels that can be accurately and independently digitally controlled will be greatly increased to 100,000 pixels. The more LED pixels there are, the more flexible the illumination area can be to increase driving safety and meet the needs of various regional market regulations. This will help car lighting manufacturers reduce the costs required for the development, production and logistics of headlights in different regional markets.

Although the application of Micro LED technology in the field of smart car lighting is still in its early stages, some high-end models have already been equipped with it. The Porsche Cayenne, NIO ET9, Volkswagen Tiguan L Pro and Touareg top-end versions are all equipped with Micro LED car lights. The concept car Buick Wildcat also uses Micro LED technology, providing a forward-looking display for the development of future automotive lighting.

Micro LED car lighting products are eye-catching

The application of Micro LED technology in high-end models not only demonstrates its huge potential in the field of automotive lighting, but also opens up new ideas for the development of the entire industry. As automakers' requirements for lighting technology continue to increase, Micro LED is expected to become an ideal choice for high-end models due to its excellent brightness, color performance and precise control.

Currently Micro LED pixel car light technology is in the user training stage. According to incomplete statistics from LEDinside, nearly 20 companies have launched Micro LED car lighting related products, including automotive lighting manufacturers such as Magneti Marelli, Hella, and Xingyu Co., Ltd., as well as LED manufacturers such as ams Osram, Hongli Zhihui, BOE Huacan Optoelectronics, Nationstar Optoelectronics, and Jingneng Optoelectronics.

Micro LED car lights are outstanding in pixel performance, with many products reaching pixel levels of 10,000 and above.

25,600 pixels: This number of pixels is widely used in multiple products. Magneti Marelli's new Micro LED car light module integrates 25,600 pixels, and its h-Digi® Micro LED lighting module also has 25,600 pixels in a 1:4 aspect ratio; Damo Verrico's ADB pixel headlights also integrate 25,600 Micro LED pixels.

ams OSRAM's EVIYOS 2.0 high-pixel Micro LED headlight source has 25,600 individually controllable Micro LEDs with a pixel pitch of 40 microns, and is used in Magneti Marelli's h-Digi® Micro LED lighting modules.

ams OSRAM EVIYOS 2.0 high-pixel projection headlights

Other pixel counts: In addition to 25,600-pixel products, other products also have outstanding performance in terms of pixel count.

Hella’s SSL|HD technology adopts the 16,384 pixel solution jointly developed by Nichia and Infineon, and the Micro LED power supply uses Infineon’s TLD5501 solution, which is applied to the 2023 Porsche Cayenne; BOE Huacan Optoelectronics’ Micro LED ADB matrix headlights achieve 10,000-level pixel dynamic control, and each light-emitting unit has more than 40,000 chips; Nationstar Micro The LED light source has more than 40,000 LED light-emitting units; the Micro LED silicon-based headlight chip of the digital optical core has more than 160,000 pixels.

BOE Huacan Optoelectronics Micro LED ADB matrix pixel headlights

In addition to traditional lighting functions, with the integration of intelligent technology, more and more car lighting products have projection functions.

Xingyu's high-definition ADB module can project graphics and text on the ground, and ensures the clarity of the projected image through real-time correction technology. Lite-On's high-end Micro LED headlight modules also have similar projection functions, which not only provide high-brightness lighting, but also project information such as icons and text on the ground, making the lights more intelligent and interactive.

With the continuous development of car lighting technology, the ability to accurately control each pixel has become an important factor in improving lighting effects. Nationstar Optoelectronics' 10,000-level pixel intelligent headlights use bonding technology to integrate the micron-level blue LED chip array into the CMOS control circuit, achieving independent control of individual pixels in the Micro LED array. Jingneng Optoelectronics' ADB matrix pixel headlight module uses silicon-based Micro LED chips to achieve regional light control and independent light control for each pixel unit.

For the application of Nationstar Optoelectronics Micro LED pixelated headlights, Jingneng Optoelectronics has developed a blue Micro LED epitaxial structure, which can achieve an external quantum efficiency of more than 20% under the condition of 1000A/cm2, meeting the requirements of 10,000-level pixel matrix car lights and vehicle HUD for high brightness, high efficiency and high reliability.

Xinyuanji successfully lit up its matrix Micro LED car light chip in October 2023, and significantly improved the brightness of the chip by optimizing core technology and innovative patents. The chemical lift-off technology used achieves lossless transfer of GaN pixels, and at the same time, a pyramidal microstructure is added to the light-emitting surface of the pixels, thereby enhancing the uniformity of light output.

In September of the same year, Digital Optical Core completed the design and tape-out of China's first Micro LED silicon-based driver automotive pixel headlight chip, and completed the Micro LED bonding process for Micro LED pixel headlights with its downstream partner Xinyuan in October of the same year. The chip was successfully debugged and lit on October 23 of the same year.

In February this year, Digital Optical Core obtained a patent titled "Micro LED display chip and pixel driving method and electronic equipment applicable thereto". The role of this patent in the field of Micro LED car lights is mainly reflected in optimizing drive circuits, improving display effects, reducing power consumption and costs, and improving system integration.

In terms of project promotion, Jucan Optoelectronics’ Mini/Micro LED chip production line will be put into production in Suqian in November 2024, as well as the 2.4 million red and yellow light epitaxial wafer projects put into production in January this year. The target application areas include new energy vehicles and automobile brake lights.

Jinghe Optoelectronics successfully signed a contract for the Taizhou Micro LED car lighting project in May 2024, with a total investment of 1 billion yuan. The project will establish a research and production base for intelligent car light control systems, and rely on Micro LED technology from the School of Microelectronics of Shanghai University to build an advanced packaging and testing mass production line to promote the implementation of domestic digital car light chips.

The digital optical core Micro LED project will be settled in Huzhou, Zhejiang in February 2024, with a total investment of approximately 200 million yuan. The project plans to build a R&D center and project headquarters, and set up a silicon-based display driver chip production line with an annual output of 20 million sets of silicon-based display chips, modules and Micro LED driver chips. This investment is expected to further promote the application of Micro LED technology in the field of automotive lighting.

Lishen Semiconductor stated in November 2023 that it will launch Micro LED 10,000-pixel headlight source chips based on silicon-based GaN in the future, with image projection capabilities. In February this year, Lixin released the first silicon-based GaN single-core integrated full-color Micro LED chip LEKIN-SiMiP, and cooperated with display customers such as Huike to verify its effect in micro-pitch LED large-screen direct display applications.

Summary

Globally, major international manufacturers have promoted the development of Micro LED car lighting technology by virtue of their first-mover advantage. Chinese manufacturers, relying on their technological innovation capabilities, are catching up and gradually narrowing the gap with the international advanced level. In the future, domestic manufacturers will increase investment in product research and development, technological innovation and project layout to further accelerate the application process of Micro LED car lighting technology.

According to the analysis of TrendForce's "Gold+ Member Market Report: Global LED Industry Database and Quarterly Update of LED Manufacturers", the performance of automotive LED manufacturers' on-hand orders and the auto market production are expected to recover again in 2H25. Coupled with the continued plan to introduce advanced technologies into 2026 car models, the output value of the automotive LED market is expected to grow to US$3.509 billion in 2025.

Driven by this trend, LED technology is expected to continue to penetrate in 2025, promoting innovation in automotive lighting technology. Micro LED car lights are expected to play a more critical role in vehicle lighting systems, and domestic LED manufacturers will occupy an important position in this process.