Endow life with the information of light. Digital optical cores drive the localization of silicon-based micro-display chips.
The explosion of two major consumer terminal products, XR and projection displays, has brought silicon-based micro-display technology into the spotlight. It has gradually received more attention and become a recognized display technology direction with great potential.
As the industrialization process of the two major technologies, Micro OLED and Micro LED, accelerates, silicon-based micro-display technology is at a critical juncture of new and old alternation. The emergence of a new generation of self-luminous chip solutions will give birth to a new chip industry worth hundreds of billions of yuan. With strong market demand, a complete industrial chain, and continuous R & D and investment enthusiasm, China's silicon-based micro-display chips are expected to become one of the fastest-growing regions in the world.
Digital Optic Core is a technology company that researches and develops silicon-based micro-display driver chips. The chips they have developed and successfully taped out are widely used in many fields such as AR glasses, smart projection, and in-vehicle displays. Through an innovative self-luminous projection chip technology route, Digital Optic Core helps terminal manufacturers provide consumers with a better visual experience at a lower production cost.
It is worth mentioning that all chip modules and subsystems of Digital Optic Core are independently developed and have 100% independent intellectual property rights. Currently, its independently designed and developed chip products have attracted a lot of market attention.
In the second season of the recently held "Lenovo New Business Innovation Ecosystem Roadshow", Digital Optic Core was selected as one of the TOP 10 projects and became a rising star in the Lenovo ecosystem. Digital Optic Core's shortlisting not only reflects its own technological strength but also highlights the consistent commitment of Lenovo's Small and Medium Business Group: to provide all-round, high-quality, one-stop services for startups, and to work hand in hand with customers to witness their success.
As the core carrier for Lenovo Group to play the role of the industry chain leader and drive the integrated innovation of startups, the Lenovo Star Program for Startups has built a three-dimensional empowerment system of technology enablement, industrial collaboration, and capital acceleration. Startups joining the Lenovo Star Program will have the opportunity to receive all-round and multi-dimensional support from the "industry chain leader" Lenovo Group, including but not limited to co-creation in production and R & D, ecological opening, capital support, business expansion, brand and service enablement, etc. Since the launch of the "Star Program for Startups", it has successfully helped hundreds of startups accelerate their development and has become an important link for Lenovo and small and medium-sized enterprises to work hand in hand and empower each other. Under the era proposition of accelerating the cultivation of new productive forces, the Lenovo Star Program for Startups will continue to expand the recruitment scale of ecological partners and looks forward to building a value symbiotic community with more industrial innovation forces and jointly climbing to new heights in global technological competition.
"We see huge market opportunities in this field for future applications in multiple industries," said Huang Ran, CEO of Digital Optic Core. "At the same time, we have a good understanding of our customers' needs and the ability to solve industry pain points. We are confident of achieving good results."
A New Domestic Force in Silicon-based Display Chips
According to industry forecasts, the silicon-based display chip market has a stock of 30 billion yuan and an incremental market of up to hundreds of billions of yuan. The huge market prospects, combined with technical barriers and high R & D costs, make the industry highly competitive. The R & D of silicon-based display chips usually faces the following challenges:
First, the technology is complex and the R & D cost is high. Silicon-based micro-display driver chips involve high-precision manufacturing and integration technologies. Developing chips with high resolution and low power consumption is challenging, and chip design and production require a large amount of capital investment. Small and medium-sized enterprises face financial pressure.
Second, industrial chain collaboration. The chip design, manufacturing, packaging and testing processes need to be highly coordinated. Any weakness in any link will affect product quality and market competitiveness.
Third, expansion of application scenarios. Although the demand in fields such as AR/VR is growing, the market is not fully mature yet. The expansion of application scenarios and user acceptance still need to be improved.
Among many players, Digital Optic Core has attracted a lot of attention with its outstanding technology route and product line. At the beginning of the company's establishment, they determined that silicon-based micro-display driver chip products for applications in fields such as AR, VR, projection, and 3D printing would be the company's future development direction, benchmarking against leading enterprises in the micro-display driver field such as Sony in Japan and JDC in Taiwan.
Digital Optic Core successfully designed and lit up China's first Micro OLED chip, Micro LED chip, and 8K projection chip, and achieved full mass production of the three major technology routes in 2022.
According to Huang Ran, Digital Optic Core's silicon-based micro-display driver technology is currently in a leading position in the industry. The company has fully mastered the design technologies of silicon-based OLED, silicon-based micro LED, and liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) driver chips, and has in-depth technical accumulation in high-resolution display digital drivers, high-speed video interfaces, compression algorithms, and low-power design. The silicon-based OLED and silicon-based micro LED driver chips have entered the stage of large-scale mass production.
Huang Ran said that the driver chip products independently designed and developed by Digital Optic Core are widely used in various display fields such as projectors, AR/VR, 3D printing, and in-vehicle chips.
In 2023, Digital Optic Core successfully lit up China's first silicon-based driver Micro LED pixel automotive headlight chip, and many performance indicators of this chip are at the international leading level. This not only marks a major breakthrough in domestic Micro LED technology but also represents a key step for Digital Optic Core in the localization process of Micro LED pixel automotive headlight chips.
Facing the involution and homogenization in the chip market, Digital Optic Core focuses on specific niche markets and develops exclusive chip products for specific industries or application scenarios, such as smart information prompt projection and AR glasses, to meet the needs of specific users. Huang Ran said that the company continues to increase R & D investment, pays attention to the development of cutting-edge technologies, and strives to achieve breakthroughs in technology and launch competitive new products.
"We are also exploring the potential of chips in different application scenarios, combining with AI applications, exploring new market opportunities, and cooperating with upstream and downstream enterprises to build a complete ecosystem to promote the application of our products in more fields," Huang Ran said.
Both Technology and Market are Indispensable
In less than a year and a half, Digital Optic Core quickly completed three rounds of financing, with a cumulative amount of hundreds of millions of yuan. The rapid development of the company is inseparable from the nearly 20-year technical accumulation of the core team in the field of silicon-based micro-display drivers.
The Digital Optic Core team is one of the earliest teams in China to engage in silicon-based display driver design. Nearly 20 years of product development has not only helped them create excellent products but also accumulated rich customer resources during the technology iteration process, forming strong customer stickiness.
Compared with large enterprises and unicorns, Huang Ran admitted that "limited by the team size, when seeing multiple market opportunities, we cannot quickly carry out R & D of multiple products at the same time, and may miss some market opportunities."
Now that Digital Optic Core is in a period of rapid growth, Huang Ran believes that the company most needs cooperation resources from upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, including reliable suppliers and customers who can cooperate closely. If it can cooperate with a global technology giant like Lenovo, it will be a great help to Digital Optic Core.
Therefore, Huang Ran and his team signed up for the second season of the "Lenovo New Business Innovation Ecosystem Roadshow" as soon as possible. They hope to showcase the company's products and technologies on the stage provided by Lenovo, and at the same time exchange ideas with partners in the AI industry to broaden their thinking for future product R & D.
Previously, in Huang Ran's impression, Lenovo had a strong reputation in technological innovation, especially in the field of personal computers. Lenovo's products often incorporated the latest technologies and design concepts. He highly recognized the Lenovo brand. "As a Chinese enterprise, it has a place in the global market, especially in the North American and European markets, and is recognized by consumers around the world."
At the roadshow site, Huang Ran gathered with entrepreneurs from different fields to share their experiences and insights. Invited by Lenovo, AMD shared the latest product progress in the AI field, which impressed Huang Ran deeply. "I felt the huge potential of AI in all walks of life in the future."
Many people think that the chip industry is a technology-driven and relatively closed field. However, through this Lenovo event, Huang Ran realized the close connection between technology, the market, and user needs. To succeed in entrepreneurship, one not only relies on technology but also needs to comprehensively consider multiple factors such as the market, the team, and resources.
Utilize the Power of the Ecosystem
Huang Ran is a veteran in the chip industry. He majored in microelectronics as an undergraduate and was admitted to the Institute of Microelectronics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences for a combined master's and doctoral program in 2004. He began researching silicon-based micro-display driver chip design during his postgraduate studies and participated in national-level research projects. He successfully developed China's earliest silicon-based OLED micro-display driver chip.
Fifteen years of in-depth study in the academic circle gave Huang Ran enough confidence to enter the industrial circle. In 2019, as a co-founder, he founded Digital Optic Core and started his entrepreneurial journey.
The long-term commitment of Digital Optic Core's core team in the field of silicon-based micro-display driver chips is, to some extent, very consistent with the temperament and concept of the Lenovo brand and the Lenovo ecosystem.
In Huang Ran's view, Lenovo has rich experience in many fields such as PCs, servers, and smart devices, which provides a solid foundation for its cross-border integration in AI applications. Based on Lenovo's in-depth understanding of different vertical industries over the years, it can better identify the pain points and opportunities in AI applications and thus provide more targeted solutions.
He is particularly optimistic about Lenovo's layout in the fields of AI smart devices and the Internet of Things. "Compared with other enterprises, Lenovo's position in the industrial chain does have some unique ecological characteristics. These characteristics are not only reflected in the diversity of its products and services but also in its interaction with partners, customers, and the entire industry ecosystem. Lenovo not only provides personal computers but also covers AI terminals, AI infrastructure, AI solutions, and services, forming a complete full-stack AI ecosystem." Huang Ran explained that Lenovo has the opportunity to expand more AI application scenarios.
Digital Optic Core's current product design is combined with AI applications to a certain extent. In the parameter and function planning of future products, the company will consider more AI application scenarios. Therefore, Huang Ran hopes that the company will have the opportunity to enter the Lenovo ecosystem and carry out further cooperation with Lenovo, such as in the fields of AR glasses, smart projection, and in-vehicle displays.
"Lenovo's huge advantages and influence in hardware, application ecosystem, and market promotion, combined with our in-depth technical accumulation in the field of micro-display drivers, can quickly design and produce terminal products that meet market demand. We believe that we can achieve a two-way empowerment effect of 1 + 1 > 2," Huang Ran said.
Next, Digital Optic Core will continue to adhere to a new technology route and promote the full localization of general projection chips from chip design to manufacturing and even application products. With the support of Lenovo and the Lenovo ecosystem, Huang Ran believes that the company can accelerate the industrialization process and contribute to the industrial upgrading of the domestic chip industry.