Tariffs Mean No End Of Uncertainty These Days For LED Display Companies
April 29, 2025 by Dave Haynes
I’ve spoken to or corresponded with numerous display manufacturers in recent days to get a sense of how they are trying to navigate the pinballing tariffs situation, and the words that best describe their viewpoints are perplexed, nervous and hopeful – the latter related to a sense that this will all calm down, maybe even this quarter.
These were all background conversations and communications, as the most prudent move right now seems to be keeping one’s head down.
I spoke with one company who said the uncertainty is so nutty right now, it may be in a fantastic position going forward, or it could go out of business.
Another said his customers expected and certainly hoped “the tariff challenges will resolve with reasonable terms.”
A podcast up tomorrow details how an Iowa specialty manufacturer, Insane Impact, anticipated after the US election that things could get loopy, so it took the risk of ordering many months of supplies for its mobileLED trailers that might help them roll though this seriously unsettled period.
One suggestion that comes up regularly – and something the White House would like to see across manufacturing sectors – is bringing electronics production, including displays, back to America from China or elsewhere. But that – as is the case with a lot of high volume mass-market goods – is much more easily suggested than realized.
First, the LED display business is not something that could be brought back, given it was never really here – save for Daktronics and Watchfire and a smattering of other companies doing mostly lower rez outdoor stuff, versus many 100s or perhaps 1,000s of LED display manufacturers in China, including giants like Absen, Unilumin and Leyard.
More to the point, while production lines could be set up in the U.S., the capital costs to build and kit out a manufacturing facility with ALL of the machines needed to do fine pitch LED displays would be enormous. Unlike in China, states or even local governments might help reduce initial costs with tax concessions and grants, but nothing like overseas where many of the companies have direct government backing.
Who is financial backing big projects right now, in a climate of whipsawing trade policies?
“The bigger question, however,” suggested one industry sales exec, “is whether American consumers and AV integrators are willing to recognize the value and absorb the higher costs that would be driven by production expenses.”
In other words, would buyers pay what could be a significant premium for Made In America displays?
Maybe, I suppose, if the tariffs on Chinese products were so high that buyers had no choice. But the other likely outcome is the stuff just doesn’t get bought, and what’s out there and running gets repaired and tweaked to run longer.
One of the wild cards in all this is STRATACACHE, which is still building out its MicroLED manufacturing plant in Eugene, Oregon.
STRATACACHE CEO and owner Chris Riegel bought an abandoned Hynix semiconductor plant in southern Oregon that had been collecting dust since the late 90s, picking it up for $6.3 million. He has slowly been turning it into something he expects will shake up the display industry, but a combination of pandemic and the AI-driven demand for semiconductor production equipment has caused delays.
When I chatted with Riegel last fall, he said the plant was roughly 60% equipped with the necessary machines, with full production expected to begin in 2025.
He sees a big opportunity replacing the high-bright LCDs used for drive-thru pre-sell and ordering displays with microLED displays that should have triple the useful operating lives of conventional flat panels, but will eventually cost about the same. “MicroLED can be cheaper than TFT LCD on a cost per square meter basis,” Riegel says, suggesting a 90-95% cost reduction is achievable over time.
Riegel fully expected US-China relations to go south, so maybe his investment will be visionary.
But right now, I don’t think anyone has a clear sense of what’s up and where things will go.
What a great article you wrote, Dave, about tariffs in the LED display industry! However, regarding what you mentioned about Stratacache, I feel you missed adding something that should surprise everyone even more about Chris Riegel’s vision. He bought the abandoned Hynix Chip Factory in Eugene, and all of this started in the middle of the pandemic!
If you analyze the strategic acquisitions of Chris Riegel, such as Scala, Walkbase, X2O Media, Dot2Dot, and 7 other companies, along with his brilliant bet on the chip plant, there is no doubt that he has added value and more value, not only to Stratacache but to the entire ecosystem of companies in the group.
There is no doubt that this man is, by far, the most influential leader in the Digital Signage industry worldwide, with no one even coming close.
Many regards to all,
From Chile,
Alejandro