TAOYUAN, Taiwan – Apple has partnered with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. to develop ultra-advanced display technology in a secret Taiwanese unit, Nikkei Asia learned.
The California tech giant plans to develop micro OLED displays – a radically different type of display, built directly on chip wafers – with the ultimate goal of using the new technology in its future augmented reality devices, informed sources said.
Apple is partnering with its long-time chip supplier TSMC because micro OLED displays are not built on glass substrates, such as conventional LCD screens in smartphones and TVs or OLED displays used in high-end smartphones. Instead, these new displays are built directly on wafers – the substrates on which semiconductors are made – allowing for much thinner and smaller, less energy-intensive displays, making them more suitable for use in portable AR devices, according to sources familiar with projects.
The project is a further deepening of Apple’s relationship with TSMC, the only supplier of iPhone processors, even though the American technology giant is working to reduce its dependence on other major suppliers. Taiwanese chipmaker is also helping Apple build CPUs designed for Mac computers.
The micro OLED project is now in the production phase of testing, sources said, and will take several years to achieve mass production. Developing displays are less than 1 inch in size.
“Panels are good for making screens bigger and bigger, but when it comes to thin and light devices such as AR glasses, you need a very small screen,” said a source who has direct information about the project. micro OLED research and development. “Apple is working with TSMC to develop the technology, as the chip maker’s expertise makes things very small and good, while Apple also leverages the expertise of panel experts in display technologies.”
Some parts of the planned microdisplay production will use existing TSMC chip production equipment and processes, sources said.
The project is one of two taking place at Apple’s secret laboratories in Longtan District in Taoyuan, northern Taiwan. In addition to micro OLED displays, the company is also working on micro LED technology and has trial production lines for both types, Nikkei said.
The Apple complex in Longtan Science Park is made up of several unmarked white buildings – there is no company logo or address on the outside and only a very faint apple symbol could be seen in the lobby, Nikkei reporters saw on a recent visit. Apple registered a company in the park in 2014 and expanded it in 2020. The complex is within walking distance of the advanced TSMC chip packaging and testing plant, which is located in the same science park.
Apple has hired dozens of veterans from Taiwanese display manufacturer AU Optoelectronics to work on the micro OLED project, said one source familiar with the situation, as well as exposure experts from Japan and elsewhere. Anyone who signs up to work on the program must sign a strict non-disclosure agreement that prohibits them from meeting even friends or acquaintances who work in the technology industry, the source added.
The American technology giant posted on Monday on a job platform in Taiwan looking for candidates to work in Longtan, who have expertise in the operation of OLED vacuum evaporation equipment, packaging and testing equipment and measuring equipment. It is the first time for Apple to hire employees in the Taiwanese manufacturing industry through public platforms.
Apple is not the only company pursuing this new line of display technology. Sony Semiconductor Solutions, a long-time Apple supplier, says it has developed micro OLED display technology that can be used in AR and VR glasses, as well as other industrial and consumer products.
China’s national display champion, BOE Technology Group, has teamed up with Yunnan North OLiGHTEK Opto-Electronic Technology and Kopin, a US ultra-small display technology provider, in a joint venture to develop micro OLED displays. for portable and AR devices.
Apple’s other display 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 co-develop the technology.
Like micro OLEDs, the micro LED project also involves some chip manufacturing technology. The components are 100 times smaller than those used in LED lighting products and do not require rear lighting modules, such as traditional LEDs and LCDs, which means that the display can be much thinner. . Micro LEDs also provide 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 maker, San’an Optoelectronics, are working to make the technology commercially viable, but finding a way to mass transfer millions of small components to a substrate with precision and accessibility remains a major obstacle.
Apple’s drive to develop these new display technologies is part of its efforts to reduce its reliance on Samsung Electronics, the global leader in OLEDs – and the US company’s biggest rival in the smartphone arena. The South Korean company is Apple’s main supplier of state-of-the-art displays, which are now seen as an indispensable feature for state-of-the-art smartphones. OLED screens are the second most expensive component in the iPhone 12 range, after the Qualcomm 5G modem.
“Not every technology developed by Apple will be introduced or actually used in its products, but the company could strategically apply patents to its own portfolio of patents and technological advances to gain more control over next-generation technologies,” said one of the people.
TSMC declined to comment on the story. Apple did not respond to repeated requests for comment.
Eric Chiou, a veteran display analyst at research agency TrendForce, told Nikkei that Micro OLED could be the most ideal display technology for next-generation AR displays because it can make an ultra-small display, reducing the total weight of device, but also comes with high resolution. “Technology is a mixture of semiconductors and display manufacturing knowledge,” Chiou said.
“However, it is currently in the early stages of development. It is unlikely that Apple will be able to immediately introduce its self-developed technology into its first AR products in a year or two,” the analyst added.