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TCL-CSOT Offers micoLED Automotive Options The company showed a 14.3-inch Panoramic Head-up Display (PHUD) using microLED technology. It offered a resolution of 1700 x 650 with luminance of 100K/130K (Typ./Max) with a 120 Hz refresh rate. Like the Tianma HUD, the display reflects directly off the windshield, so it offers no real virtual distance. TCL-CSOT also showed an AR-HUD demo using a 4.6-inch microLED panel in a cockpit demonstrator.

microLED Developments at Tianma Tianma showed a number of microLED products, almost all focused on the automotive market. The most striking demonstration was a microLED head-up display imager running at a measured 120,000 nits.

BOE's microLEDs at Display Week BOE showed several microLED-based products in its booth. First a large 240-inch videowall welcomed visitors to their booth. Called a Blue Whale display, it is 5110 x 2160 resolution, 600/3000 nits (typ/max) composed of a number of 23-inch tiles.

Samsung Display Details Stretchable microLED Activities Samsung Display showed a lot of innovations around their OLED technologies, but only one microLED demo. This was a stretchable display designed for automotive or wearable devices. At Display Week 2025, they showed a similar demo in an 11-inch form factor with 120 PPI and 25% stretchability using microLEDs that were 15 x 25 microns in size (See video summary here). These displays are able to stretch in all three dimensions.

MicroLEDs for Data Center Optical Interconnect: The Big Pivot? A year ago, only a few microLED companies were looking at the optical interconnect opportunity. Today, nearly all have some activity in this area. While AR glasses remain a hot area, cost and scale remain an issue. Automotive has some clear differentiated applications, but volume production is 4-5 years away. The optical communication need is driven by the boom in data centers as these expand rapidly to support AI.

AUO Features Large-Format microLED Tiles and Stretchable There were multiple microLED demos on display in the AUO booth, but I believe they were all shown at previous trade shows. Display Week 2026 demos included a 42-inch transparent display demonstrating kiosk ordering with face-to-face interaction. Transparency is 60% and the luminance was 800 nits. This is now AUO's largest native tile which can be integrated into larger display canvases if desired.

Laser Displays for AR: Competing Architectures and the Road to Volume The technical case for laser-based AR display is not speculative. Higher efficiency, greater compactness, higher achievable brightness, wider color gamut, and for holographic architectures, fundamental capabilities like vergence-accommodation conflict resolution and prescription correction are real and measurable advantages over LED-based approaches.

Tianma showed a vast array of display technologies at Display Week 2026 with a big focus on automotive applications. They are already a dominant global supplier with an overall 20% market share and 38% share in Head-up Displays (HUDs). In a presentation at the business conference, Jun Chen, Senior Manager, Automotive Market Development at Tianma noted that they are focused on OLED and microLED solutions as the smart cockpit evolves into living space for gaming and entertainment.