LED Display Market Now Valued At More Than $5B: Futuresource

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LED Display Market Now Valued At More Than $5B: Futuresource

LED displays are now a $5 billion global market, with the Americas region reaching a key milestone of $1 billion for the first time in 2017.PVC LED Neon

The data comes from the market research firm Futuresource Consulting, which makes displays one of a relatively short list of vertical markets it studies. I note this because news searches on digital signage and displays are cluttered with pricey but mostly worthless reports from Indian research factories that produce encouraging reports on absolutely anything they can dream up.

“The introduction of MicroLED by Sony in 2016 caused a great stir of excitement in the industry, but it was thought to be a measure of what was possible, not what was viable in the near term,” says Chris McIntyre-Brown, Associate Director at Futuresource Consulting. “However, this year has seen far more buzz around new chip-on-boards (COB) solutions, MiniLED and glue-on-board. All offer different benefits, but it is really the potential of MiniLED that has the industry excited. Troublingly though, are the lack of standards around MiniLED, MicroLED and indeed the LED industry as a whole. This is creating confusion – and that certainly needs to be addressed.”
1000 percent agreed there. As someone trying to watch this emerging market, trying to put a finger on what really is micro LED, mini LED and so on is very, very tough.

I’ve not seen the report ($$$$) but a press release says it goes into the competitive landscape, which is very cluttered but as with most emerging businesses, sees consolidation: The LED market has also witnessed strong merger and acquisition activity in recent years, with display vendors looking to access new technologies, increase their geographical footprint or diversify their customer bases. Futuresource expects to see this activity continue in the coming years as the market matures.

“An area to watch will be the new entrants launching LED products, typically coming from other areas of the visual display market. Indeed, it is increasingly rare to find a professional display vendor without LED in its range – although there are still a number of heavyweights in adjacent display areas yet to enter,” adds McIntyre-Brown.

Futuresource also expects service, support and localization to become more important with established international display brands expected to grow in stature.

That’s a polite way of saying integrators and end-users have had the painful experience and now know they don’t want to deal with 12-hour time zone differences and equally yawning language gaps between North America and China. Futuresource expects big growth in LED through at least 2022. It is now almost impossible to find a vertical market or end application where LED displays haven’t been optimized for both indoor and outdoor applications and this is for good reason. “The industry is poised to take the next step in technological advancement and with that we see the LED display community beginning to wonder just how much share it can take from the giant that is the LCD industry.”