MicroLED: Daktronics Acquires XDC’s Display Business

December 28, 2025 by guest author, Florian Rotberg

Daktronics acquired the microLED display business of X Display, including intellectual property, specialized equipment and technical expertise. The US-based LED manufacturer was a shareholder of XDC since 2020 and also hired 15 key XDC employees to expand its microLED capabilities. The NPP market is the new digital signage battlefield currently dominated by Chinese manufacturers and Samsung.

With the MicroLED business acquisition, Daktronics wants to shift market attention back to its products and innovation after a turbulent time with active shareholders forcing a change in leadership in 2025. For decades, Daktronics has been the U.S. leader in SMD-based outdoor LED for stadiums and billboards. As market demand is shifting from SMD to finer pixel pitches – mostly COB / MicroLED – Daktronics is starting to invest more heavily into those two technologies that are considered the future of LED.

Through the XDC acquisition, the Brookings/South Dakota-based company got its hands on proprietary mass-transfer and microLED fabrication IP for ultra-fine pixel pitches, plus equipment for microLED/microIC development. In addition, key X Display employees are moving over to Daktronics.

The acquisition is supposed to differentiate Daktronics from the hundreds of Chinese LED manufacturers, while remaining competitive with the few microLED leaders like BOE, Absen, and especially global visual solutions brands like Samsung – a plan similar to that of Dayton/Ohio-based Stratacache (invidis report) that is in the process of building its own microLED plant on the US-Westcoast.

Among the perks of the latest microLED technology are higher brightness, enhanced contrast, greater energy efficiency, and a longer lifespan. Before the acquisition, Daktronics has been investing in XDC since 2020, helping accelerate XDC’s development of MicroLED capabilities and applications.