The 2024 OLED Driver IC Market: The Rise of Chinese Manufacturers and the Price War

The 2024 OLED Driver IC Market: The Rise of Chinese Manufacturers and the Price WarSince 2024, the resurgence of the smartphone market, particularly the foldable phone segment, has driven sustained growth in OLED panel demand, subsequently boosting demand for OLED driver integrated circuits (OLED DDICs). Chinese chip manufacturers, leveraging technological innovation and localization advantages, have formed strong synergistic relationships with domestic OLED panel manufacturers, significantly increasing their market share

The 2024 OLED Driver IC Market: The Rise of Chinese Manufacturers and the Price War

Since 2024, the resurgence of the smartphone market, particularly the foldable phone segment, has driven sustained growth in OLED panel demand, subsequently boosting demand for OLED driver integrated circuits (OLED DDICs). Chinese chip manufacturers, leveraging technological innovation and localization advantages, have formed strong synergistic relationships with domestic OLED panel manufacturers, significantly increasing their market share. However, this rapid market share growth has intensified competition, leading to a continuous decline in OLED driver IC prices, a trend expected to continue into 2025.

Growing OLED Panel Demand Expands the DDIC Market

The increasing adoption of OLED panels in smartphones and wearables, coupled with rising penetration rates in emerging areas like laptops, tablets, and automotive displays, has propelled the OLED panel industry into a period of rapid growth. This directly fuels demand for related components, including OLED DDICs. Data indicates that global OLED DDIC shipments will reach 1.3 billion units in 2024, representing a year-on-year increase of approximately 25.4%. AMOLED smartphone DDIC demand is projected to grow by 27% year-on-year to 889 million units, primarily due to the significant increase in OLED penetration within the smartphone display market, which is expected to surpass TFT LCD, reaching 56% in 2024.

Technological advancements and capacity expansion by mainland China panel manufacturers are key drivers of OLED panel demand growth. The rationalization of flexible OLED panel prices, along with continuous improvements in yield and cost, is prompting more domestic brands and OEMs to upgrade their LTPS LCD smartphone panels to AMOLED panels.

Rapid Rise of Domestic Manufacturers' Market Share and Diversification of Competitive Landscape

Driven by the increased market share of domestic panel manufacturers, Chinese AMOLED smartphone DDIC design companies have also seen steady market share growth. Companies like Uniqun, HiSilicon, ESW, and GigaDevice are leading this trend. Omdia data shows that Uniqun achieved a 5.5% market share in the OLED driver IC market in the first quarter of 2024. HiSilicon, ESW, and GigaDevice successfully entered brand supply chains and further increased their market share in 2024. The market share of mainland China design companies in the AMOLED smartphone DDIC market rose from 2% in the first quarter of 2023 to 8% in the first quarter of 2024. Localization advantages will continue to support the growth of mainland Chinese design companies.

According to Sigmaintell Consulting, from the second quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2024, the market share of mainland China manufacturers in the global OLED DDIC market increased by 6.3 percentage points year-on-year, from 7.5% to 13.8%. Taiwanese manufacturers saw their share increase by 11.1 percentage points year-on-year, rising from 19.7% to 30.8%. Meanwhile, Korean manufacturers' market share decreased from 68.9% to 53%.

GigaDevice, Uniqun, Zhongying Electronics, Shenghe Microelectronics, Goke Microelectronics, Jidith, New Phase Microelectronics, Xinying, ESW, and WeyerShares are among the domestic manufacturers actively developing AMOLED DDIC products and expanding their market presence. Uniqun supplies AMOLED driver ICs to several major domestic brands, with an estimated shipment of 55 to 60 million units for branded phones in 2024. GigaDevices OLED driver IC NA3512 has achieved mass production, marking the first time a Chinese IC design manufacturer has launched an OLED mobile display driver chip supporting LTPO dynamic refresh rate technology, foldable screens, and under-display cameras. New Phase Microelectronics' new generation AMOLED display driver IC uses a 40nm high-pressure process and a proprietary algorithm to ensure smooth curve transitions, reduce power consumption, and enhance color fidelity.

Significant progress has also been made by Chinese manufacturers in chip manufacturing and packaging and testing. For example, JCET achieved a dominant position in the large-size DDIC market in the third quarter of 2024 with a 42% market share, also holding the largest market share in the small and medium-sized display market. The company's 40nm OLED driver ICs have collaborated with several leading chip design companies, with products successively taped out; 28nm OLED driver ICs are expected to be mass-produced in the first half of 2025.

Industry insiders point out that Chinese DDIC manufacturers have established competitive advantages in terms of technology and price, further intensifying international market competition. For end users, this fierce competition translates to better value for money and more product choices.

Intensified Price Competition and 2025 Supply and Demand Analysis

With Chinese manufacturers like Uniqun, GigaDevice, and ESW achieving mass production of OLED DDICs and actively seeking more verification opportunities, the market competitive landscape will continue to diversify, and product prices, especially those of RAMless OLED DDICs, will become even more fiercely competitive. In the third quarter of 2024, the average price of conventional Dual-RAM OLED DDICs fell to around $3.5, a month-on-month decrease of about 3%-5%; the average price of RAMless OLED DDICs dropped from $2.4 in the second quarter to $2.2 in the third quarter, a month-on-month decrease of about 8%. Due to numerous new RAMless projects in 2024, some design manufacturers have offered prices below $2 to secure project opportunities.

Geopolitical factors influence end-user demand for the stability of the DDIC upstream supply chain (such as wafer supply), and the cooperation between mainland China design manufacturers and local foundries offers certain advantages. Korean manufacturers like LX Semicon and Magnachip have also begun cooperating with mainland China foundries like SMIC and Hua Hong Semiconductor to compete for market share in mainland China.

Over the next 2-3 years, the OLED DDIC market competitive landscape is expected to continue diversifying, and price competition will persist. In 2025, due to the continuous release of new capacity, the estimated monthly OLED DDIC wafer supply will be 84K, a year-on-year increase of 8.1%; demand is projected at 75K per month, a year-on-year increase of 5.3%, with a yearly supply-demand ratio of approximately 12.0%. The penetration rate of RAMless solutions is also increasing; their chip size is smaller than traditional Dual-RAM OLED DDICs, resulting in approximately 20% lower wafer capacity consumption compared to Dual-RAM solutions.

According to Sigmaintell Consulting, the global OLED DDIC (excluding Apple) demand in 2025 will be approximately 628 million units, with RAMless OLED DDICs accounting for approximately 238 million units, representing a penetration rate of 37.8%, a year-on-year increase of 6.7 percentage points. Despite relatively optimistic downstream demand, the large number of suppliers on the design side will lead to intense price competition. Sigmaintell Consulting predicts that in the first quarter of 2025, the price of Taiwanese Dual-RAM OLED DDICs will fall to around $3.3, and the price of RAMless OLED DDICs will fall below $2.1. Mainland China design manufacturers may offer Dual-RAM OLED DDICs below $3.0 in the first quarter of 2025, while prices below $1.7 may emerge in the first half of the year to secure verification opportunities for RAMless OLED DDICs in new projects.

Conclusion: Opportunities and Challenges Coexist

As OLED panels solidify their position in small-size applications and gradually expand into medium and large-size applications, OLED DDIC demand is expected to remain robust. However, increased market entry will intensify competition, and product prices are expected to continue declining. Domestic OLED DDIC manufacturers need to continue investing in technological R&D and production capacity, improving product performance and quality to meet market demands, closely monitoring market dynamics and policy changes, and adapting their strategies to address potential risks and challenges.