Leyard Turns On Vast “MicroLED” Video Wall In Chinese EnergyCo Control Room

January 12, 2021 by Dave Haynes

The giant Chinese LED display manufacturer Leyard has started manufacturing, shipping and installing large format what it calls microLED displays – lighting up a vast wall in a Chinese utility company’s control room.

The wall-filling display was activated on Dec. 31, 2020 for CHN ENERGY. That company is based in Beijing, but it is huge, so I’ve no idea if that’s where ops are managed and monitored.

The main screen is 216 sq. meters of 0.9mm display screen in the company’s Command and Control Center. The whole screen has more than seven 8K resolutions, which is close to 250 million pixels.

There are two more ultra-high definition 0.7mm display screens in the conference rooms on the east and west sides of the building’s second floor.

The PR says microLED. However, as is the case with most of the large format product on the market that’s called microLED, it may or may not actually be microLED in the pure technical sense. One industry observer, who would know, says the teeny LED emitters being used don’t meet the definition of being less than 100 microns.

Says Leyard, announcing the project:

This project is the first large order of LEADSTAR Micro-Crystal Display, which is the mass production base of Leyard microLED. It took only less than two months for LEADSTAR to complete the production and formally deliver the products. The accuracy, difficulty and speed of the project have set new records in the industry.

The argument could be made that the fine pitch and super-high contrasts delivered by microLED are overkill in this kind of environment, given sightlines and the type of content on the vast display.

But the images certainly suggest it is impressive, and this perhaps marks something of a kick-off in the microLED contest ahead. Sony (Japan) was the first manufacturer to introduce large format microLED, followed by Samsung and LG, both of South Korea. Both are more like microLED-ish, as in tiny emitters but not meeting the <100 microns measure of true microLED.

There are lots of start-ups and small companies doing work in microLED, but Leyard is the first big Chinese manufacturer putting a commercial product in the field.