Huawei's chip division HiSilicon's first flexible OLED driver chip has entered trial production and is expected to be delivered by the end of this year, ijiwei.com reported Sunday, adding that Huawei's products are also expected to use it.
The chip uses a 40nm process and is scheduled for mass production in the first half of next year, with a monthly capacity of 200 to 300 wafers, the report said, citing Isaiah Research CEO Zeng Mengbin, adding that samples have been sent to BOE, Huawei and Honor for testing.
OLED screens have a large number of pixel dots, all independently illuminated, but need to be lit by OLED driver chips for each pixel dot.
The flexible OLED driver chip is the main direction of HiSilicon, Magirror Research analyst Si Maqiu pointed out.
HiSilicon's entry into the OLED driver chip market is a deliberate move under the changing landscape, as it does not require advanced processes, the report said.
Since the US set a chip ban on Huawei, global foundries cannot produce chips using 14nm, 7nm, 5nm and other advanced processes for HiSilicon, and the supply of 28nm and above mature process foundry process also requires permission from the United States.
At present, OLED driver chips mainly use 28nm, 40nm and 55nm mature process technology, and the US is likely to license foundries to produce for Huawei, the report noted.
