TAOYUAN, Taiwan – Apple has partnered with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. committed to developing ultra-advanced display technology in a secret facility in Taiwan, Nikkei Asia has learned.
The California technology giant plans to develop micro-OLED screens – a radically different kind of screen built directly on chipboards – with the ultimate goal of using the new technology in its upcoming augmented reality devices, sources said on the matter. .
Apple is working with its longtime chip provider TSMC because micro-OLED screens are not built on glass substrates like the regular LCD screens in smartphones and TVs, or OLED screens used in high-end smartphones. Instead, these new screens are built directly on wafers – the substrate on which semiconductors are made – leaving screens that are much thinner and smaller and use less power, making them more suitable for use in portable AR devices, according to well-known sources with the projects.
The project represents a further deepening of Apple’s relationship with TSMC, the sole provider of iPhone processors, even as the U.S. technology giant works to reduce its dependence on other major vendors. The Taiwanese giant for the production of chips also helps Apple to build its own, central processors for Mac computers.
According to the sources, the micro-OLED project is now in the trial production stage and it will take several years to achieve mass production. The screens being developed are less than 1 inch in size.
“Panelists are good at making screens bigger and bigger, but when it comes to thin and light devices like AR glasses, you need a very small screen,” said a source who has direct information about the micro- OLED R&D project. “Apple is working with TSMC to develop the technology, because the chipmaker’s expertise makes things small and good, while Apple also leverages the expertise of panel experts in the field of display technologies.”
Some sources of planned microscreen manufacturing use TSMC’s existing chip manufacturing equipment and processes.
The project is one of two carried out at Apple’s secret laboratories in the Longtan district of the northern Taiwanese city of Taoyuan. In addition to micro-OLED screens, the company is also working on micro-LED technology and has trial production lines for both types in place, Nikkei has learned.
Apple’s complex in Longtan Science Park consists of several unmarked white buildings – there is no company logo or address on the outside, and only a very faint apple symbol can be seen in the foyer, Nikkei reporters said during a recent visit saw. Apple registered a company at the park in 2014 and expanded it in 2020. The complex is within walking distance of TSMC’s advanced disk packaging and testing facility, located in the same science park.
Apple has hired dozens of veterans from Taiwanese exhibition maker AU Optoelectronics to work on the micro-OLED project, one of the sources familiar with the situation, as well as exhibition experts from Japan and elsewhere. Anyone signing up to work on the program must sign a strict non-disclosure agreement that prohibits them from even meeting with friends or acquaintances working in the technology industry.
The U.S. tech giant on Monday posted on a Taiwanese work platform looking for applicants to work in Longtan who have expertise in managing OLED vacuum evaporation equipment, packaging and testing equipment and measuring equipment. This is the first time that Apple is hiring manufacturing-related employees in Taiwan via public platforms.
Apple is not the only company pursuing this new line of display technology. Sony Semiconductor Solutions, a longtime Apple supplier, says it has developed micro-OLED display technology that can be used in AR and VR glasses, as well as for other industrial and consumer products.
China’s national champion BOE Technology Group has teamed up with Yunnan North OLiGHTEK Opto-Electronic Technology and US-based Kopin, an ultra-small display technology provider, to develop micro-OLED screens for portable and AR devices.
Apple’s other performance project on the Longtan campus focuses on micro-LED technology, which the company hopes to eventually use in the Apple Watch, iPads and MacBooks. Apple has partnered with Taiwanese LED company Epistar to develop the technology together.
Like micro-OLEDs, the micro-LED project also involves a bit of chip manufacturing technology. The components are 100 times smaller than those used in LED lighting products and they do not require backlight modules such as traditional LEDs and LCDs, which means that the screen can be much thinner. Micro LEDs also offer a high color contrast and can be used to make curved or foldable screens, similar to OLED screens.
Samsung, Apple, BOE Technology and China’s largest LED manufacturer San’an Opto-electronics are all working to make the technology commercially viable, but to find a way to transfer millions of small components onto a substrate accurately and affordably. , remains a major obstacle.
Apple’s push to develop these new display technologies is part of its efforts to reduce its reliance on Samsung Electronics, the world leader in OLEDs, and the US company’s biggest competitor in the smartphone arena. The South Korean company is Apple’s main provider of the latest displays, which is now seen as a must-have feature for high-end smartphones. OLED screens are the second most expensive component in the iPhone 12 series after the Qualcomm 5G modem.
“Not every technology Apple develops will be introduced or actually used in its products, but the company can apply patents strategically for its own patent portfolio and technological advances to gain more control in the next generation of technologies,” said one of the people said.
TSMC declined to comment on this story. Apple did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Eric Chiou, a veteran display analyst at research firm TrendForce, told Nikkei that Micro OLED may be the most ideal display technology for next-generation AR screens, as it can make an image ultra-small, reducing the overall weight of the device, but also comes with high resolution. “The technology is a mixture of knowledge of semiconductor and display fabrication,” Chiou said.
“However, it is currently in its early stages of development. It is unlikely that Apple will be able to implement its self-developed technology in its first AR products immediately in one to two years,” the analyst added.