At present, a wave of fierce price increases is coming, sweeping the entire LED display industry. The feedback from the market shows that this round of price increases covers the upper, middle and downstream of the LED display industry chain and supporting materials, IC, power supplies, and etc. So. why LED screen cost is higher and higher?
In fact, all the signs of price hikes began to take shape as early as Q3-Q4 2020.
In October 2020, the prices of RGB packaging devices, LED driving IC, PCB board, and even upstream raw materials such as steel, plastic, glue, etc. have all increased.
In November 2020, copper clad laminate manufacturers launched another price increasing ,the price increasing about 10%.
This article mainly discusses the reasons from:
1.Chip
2.Package
3.Driving IC
4.PCB Board
5. Why do LED display products continue to increase in price?
1.Chip
Since January 2021, a number of LED display related enterprises have issued price adjustment notices. It is noted that some enterprises have been the second or even the third price adjustment.
| Chip Manufacturer Product Dynamics | ||
| Vendor | Product News | Trend |
 | The price of low-end chips has been raised. | The trend of transition to high-end products and high-end markets is becoming more and more obvious. |
 | Chip price increases, the specific price has not yet been announced. | |
 | Product price increases. | |
 | Insufficient production capacity, high-volume supply is blocked. | |
(Information may be delayed, please refer to the latest announcement of the enterprise)
HC Semitek and CHANGELIGHT chip manufacturers revealed chip price increasing news on the investment platform as early as the end of February 2021. SAN’AN Optoelectronic also responded to the price change, saying that the company’s low-end chip prices have increased.
Under the double impact of the wave of shortage of goods and price increases, some companies have blocked production and cannot supply normally.
As one of the upstream suppliers, FOCUS LIGHTING already has the relevant technology layout on Mini chips, but due to insufficient production capacity, it is currently unable to supply large quantities to downstream customers. This phenomenon is restricting the further development of Mini LED production capacity.
In addition, as Apple, Samsung and other brands plan to launch laptops, flat-panel and TVs with Mini LED backlight displays, the demand for Mini LED chips has skyrocketed and structural shortages have occurred. Some companies have adjusted the increase by 5%-10%.
In response to this situation, domestic LED chip manufacturers also responded quickly by optimizing product structure and adjusting market strategies.
2.Package
With the shrinking of chip size, the workload of chip printing has increased by several orders of magnitude. The efficiency and yield of the chip have become the key factors affecting the quality and cost of the whole product. This means that the value proportion of the packaging and molding process in the industry chain has increased.
Looking back to 2020, we learned that the price of RGB devices will start to increase in Q3 of 2020, and the trend of Q4 trend is becoming clear.
After the Spring Festival in 2021, the increase has become more and more intense, jumping with a 4-8% increase. Although there is pressure for some big customers to increase prices, the overall RGB devices still join the “price increaseâ€.
Hongsheng, MLS and other RGB package factories have successively increased their prices during October-November 2020, and the price increase range is about 4%-8%. As of March 2021, more than 5 major RGB packaging manufacturers have clearly disclosed the price dynamics of their products, and the price increase varies slightly according to different customers.
| Package Manufacturer Product Dynamics | ||
| Vendor | Product News | Trend |
 | Price increase information has been released in the Q4 quarter of 2020. | 1) Focus on the technological development of Mini/Micro LED; 2) Expansion speed accelerated. |
 | Indoor copper wire iron bracket, 1 RMB/kg. | |
| Indoor gold wire copper bracket, 1.5 RMB/kg. | ||
| Outdoor copper wire iron bracket, every K increased by 2 RMB/kg. | ||
| The price of outdoor gold wire and special specifications models is negotiable. | ||
 | LED chips are fully produced and sold, and prices have been raised recently. | |
 | The price of indoor series lamp beads rises. | |
(Information may be delayed, please refer to the latest announcement of the enterprise)
The so-called price transmission mechanism, which will move the whole body at once, is going up and down is squeezing the production space of the packaging link, making the entire LED display industry chain more under pressure.
3.Driving IC
Driving IC price adjustments are mainly due to the full capacity of 12-inch and 8-inch wafer capacity fully loaded, and the demand of products exceeds supply. The experts said that they have also noticed the dynamics of driving IC manufacturers. The specific conditions are as follows:
| IC Manufacturer Product Dynamics | ||
| Vendor | Product News | Trend |
 | The price will start to increase in Q4 2020, and the basic increase will be between 0.01 RMB and 0.02 RMB. | Increasing plant capacity and expanding production have become the development direction of IC vendors. |
 | ||
 | 2020 Q4 LED display series driver IC products have increased prices across the board. According to different product models, the price adjustment range is between 0.006-0.02 RMB/pc. | |
For the price increase of driving IC, the public opinion in the industry also exists differences. Some enterprises believe that this price increase may lead to changes in the price of LED displays; there are also some enterprises believe that it still need time to observe.
If it is only to the driving IC price increase, display enterprises can still resolve the current round of price increases by improving the process to save costs. influences.
Some enterprises believe that price increases will become the norm in the industry, and for LED display enterprises, they will face a reshuffle.
4.PCB Board
Recently, many large PCB manufacturers intensively raised their quotations again. Compared with last year, the current prices of related products have doubled.
It is understood that Shenzhen Fengxing electronic copper clad laminates, insulation boards, circuit boards and other products have undergone price adjustments as early as October 2020. The prices of related products will be raised by 10-20%. The details of other products are as follows:
| PCB Board Material Dynamics | ||
| Product | Product News | Trend |
| Copper | Two consecutive price increases have increased by 8,600 RMB/Ton. | PCB board production costs have increased significantly high 50-60 RMB/㎡. |
| Tin | Has been increased by 30,000 RMB/Ton. | |
| Panel | Increase the price by 10-15%. | |
| Printing ink | ||
| Chemical materials | ||
(Information may be delayed, please refer to the latest announcement of the enterprise)
5. Why do LED display products continue to increase in price?
Some insiders analysis, on the one hand, the upstream of the LED display industry chain is short of raw materials and prices, on the other hand, the downstream demand of the industry chain is growing rapidly.
It is understood that the current upstream wafer capacity of IC driving chips is very short. Affected by the outbreak of new energy vehicles, 5G and other industries, some manufacturers have given wafer capacity to the semiconductor manufacturing industry, leading to a large gap in the supply of IC driving chips and rapid price increases.
With the recovery of the display market, the downstream demand of the display industry chain has increased significantly; more and more LED display manufacturers are begin to seeking to open up the high-end market, and are actively trying to develop and manufacture intelligent high-definition large screen.
Many manufacturers are actively layout the next generation display technology-MicroMiniLED and other products, will also be mass-produced in the next 2-3 years. These are the key factors driving the price increase of related upstream materials.
At present, the price increase of various raw materials in the upstream and the mismatch of various supporting devices and materials have played a role in promoting the price increase of display products. Among the materials involved in display products, LED chip increase for 15-20%, metal material increase for 30-40%, driving IC increase for 15-25%,PCB board increase for 10-20%, RGB component increase for 4-8%, LED display increase for 10-15%.
According to the current international situation and market situation, this kind of contradiction between supply and demand is expected to still exist in a short period of time. Therefore, the price of core raw materials of LED display screen will fall under pressure.
That is why LED screen cost continue to increase. For more, welcome turn to our LED FAQ page!