Micro-LED Mass Transfer Patent Landscape 2026
X Display Co Tech leads a moderately concentrated field in which the top five filers account for nearly a third of the hundred largest filers’ combined output, with semiconductor-device claims dominating the technical mix. The field expanded rapidly through 2021 but annual volume has since eased from that peak, signalling a maturing invention cycle rather than new entrant growth.
X Display Co Tech leads; a broad second tier of Chinese panel makers and US equipment firms follows
X Display Co Tech holds the largest portfolio among ranked applicants with 54 patent families, placing it well ahead of Applied Materials (34) and Intel (25), and more than double the next cluster of Chinese display companies.
The top five filers—X Display Co Tech, Applied Materials, Intel, Chongqing Konka, and BOE Technology Group—together account for 32% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total, indicating moderate concentration: a clear leader exists but no single player commands an insurmountable share.
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | X Display Co Tech Ltd | 54 | |
| 2 | Applied Materials Inc | 34 | |
| 3 | Intel Corporation | 25 | |
| 4 | Chongqing Konka Photoelectric Technology Research Institute Co Ltd | 22 | |
| 5 | BOE Technology Group Co Ltd | 21 | |
| 6 | TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd | 21 | |
| 7 | Elux Inc | 19 | |
| 8 | HUAZHONG UNIV OF SCI & TECH | 15 | |
| 9 | Sakai Display Products Corporation | 13 | |
| 10 | PlayNitride Display Co Ltd | 12 |
| # | Applicant | Patent families | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Wuhan China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd | 10 | |
| 12 | Xiamen Sanan Optoelectronics Co Ltd | 8 | |
| 13 | Samsung Electronics Co Ltd | 8 | |
| 14 | Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Semiconductor Display Co Ltd | 7 | |
| 15 | X Celeprint Limited | 6 | |
| 16 | Wuhan University | 6 | |
| 17 | General Interface Solution | 5 | |
| 18 | Interface Optoelectronics (Shenzhen) Co Ltd | 5 | |
| 19 | Lumileds Singapore Pte Ltd | 5 | |
| 20 | Chengdu Vistar Optoelectronics Co Ltd | 5 |
The presence of both US equipment and semiconductor firms (Applied Materials, Intel) alongside Chinese panel manufacturers and a Taiwanese display specialist suggests that IP strategy is bifurcating between process-equipment claims and end-product display integration, giving new entrants distinct entry vectors.
Filing counts for 2024 and 2025 are subject to publication lag and will rise as pending applications publish; the apparent decline in those years should not be read as a withdrawal of investment. Longer-window growth, applicant concentration, and technology-route coverage are therefore more reliable signals than the latest-year bar alone.
Filing volume peaked in 2021 and has eased; semiconductor-device claims dominate the technology mix
Two complementary views of the corpus reveal a field that built rapidly from 2017, crested around 2021, and is now consolidating, while the IPC composition shows H01L semiconductor-device claims as the overwhelming backbone with a long tail of adjacent branches.
Annual filing trend
Annual filings rose sharply from 22 in 2017 to a peak of 78 in 2021, then eased to 72 in 2022 and 60 in 2023; 2024 and 2025 figures are understated due to publication lag and will increase as applications publish. The multi-year arc confirms a growth-to-consolidation transition rather than an exit.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaTechnology composition
H01L semiconductor-device records account for the largest share of classified records by a wide margin, reflecting that mass-transfer innovation is primarily claimed as semiconductor assembly and packaging. Adjacent branches—optical control (G02F), lighting circuits (H05B), display control (G09G), and optical elements (G02B)—each contribute a far smaller share, pointing to secondary areas where coverage is thinner.
↗ Hover for values · click a bar to ask EurekaHighly cited patent families surfaced by the query
Citation-heavy patent families returned by the query. Use this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents.
Micro light-emitting diode mass transfer apparatus…
The disclosure provides a micro light-emitting diode mass transfer apparatus and method. The micro light-emitting diode mass transfer apparatus includes a solution container, display backplanes, a solution drive assembly and a liquid level control assembly. The solution container contains a transfer solution, and micro light-emitting diodes to be… (excerpt from the patent abstract)
| # | Patent | Citations |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Micro assembled LED displays and lighting elements | 260 |
| 2 | Printable inorganic semiconductor structures | 143 |
| 3 | Display with micro-led front light | 128 |
| 4 | Full-color monolithic micro-led pixels | 119 |
| 5 | Micro assembled LED displays and lighting elements | 114 |
| 6 | Micro assembled LED displays and lighting elements | 112 |
| 7 | Micro assembled LED displays and lighting elements | 102 |
| 8 | Micro assembled LED displays and lighting elements | 100 |
Ranked by total forward citations. Citation counts favour older and broadly cited patent families, and broad or adjacent patents may appear when they match the search scope. Treat this section as citation context, not as a curated list of the most topic-specific patents. Some patent titles may be shown in their original, non-English language where an accurate translation could not be guaranteed.
What the IP structure means for R&D investment decisions
The combination of a post-peak filing trajectory, moderate leader concentration, an emerging Chinese-university research presence, and a US-dominant filing geography creates a differentiated opportunity map for incumbents and new entrants alike.
Post-peak consolidation: core claims largely staked
The lifecycle evidence places the field in decline from its 2021 peak, with annual filings easing back. Core semiconductor-assembly and pick-and-place transfer claims are now densely covered, making incremental improvements in well-trodden H01L subclasses increasingly hard to differentiate. R&D investment is better directed at adjacent process steps or integration with display circuitry where coverage is sparser.
Life-cycle: DeclineModerate concentration: a clear leader but no monopoly
The top five filers hold 32% of the hundred largest filers’ combined output, indicating that no single entity controls the space. X Display Co Tech’s 54-family lead is meaningful but not prohibitive: Applied Materials at 34 families and Intel at 25 maintain credible blocking positions in process-equipment and integration subclasses. Tier-two entrants from China—Konka, BOE, TCL China Star—cluster tightly between 21 and 22 families, suggesting their relative positioning may shift quickly.
Top-5 share: 32%BOE subsidiary co-filing is the primary collaborative signal
The most active co-filing pairs identified are BOE Technology Group with Beijing BOE Display Technology (2 joint filings), BOE with Fuzhou BOE Optoelectronics, and BOE with Hefei BOE Optoelectronics (1 each). This pattern reflects intra-group IP consolidation within the BOE ecosystem rather than cross-industry collaboration, suggesting that external partnership opportunities with major players remain open for new entrants or research institutions.
Co-filer: BOE groupUS leads filings; China is a strong second and rising in significance
The United States is the leading filing jurisdiction with 233 patent records, followed by China with 177. WIPO PCT filings (46) and Europe (33) indicate that leading applicants are pursuing international protection, but Taiwan (13), South Korea (8), and Japan (7) are notably lower, suggesting selective rather than blanket global coverage. Entrants should assess whether filing gaps in Korea and Japan represent prosecution strategy or genuine exposure.
Lead office: United StatesGo beyond the landscape: Eureka’s TRIZ Solution agent breaks down an R&D problem and returns patented concept solutions, each with a technical approach and cited patent & literature evidence.
| Applicant | Collaborator | Co-filings |
|---|---|---|
| BOE Technology Group Co Ltd | Beijing BOE Display Technology Co Ltd | 2 |
| BOE Technology Group Co Ltd | Fuzhou BOE Optoelectronics Co Ltd | 1 |
| BOE Technology Group Co Ltd | Hefei BOE Optoelectronics Co Ltd | 1 |
Co-filing pairs, ranked by the number of jointly-filed patent families.
X Display Co Tech anchors semiconductor-device claims; Applied Materials emerges as the fastest-rising challenger
The leader and primary challenger differ sharply in trajectory: the incumbent built its position over multiple years across broad H01L subclasses, while the challenger has entered recently with concentrated recent-period activity.
X Display Co Tech
X Display Co Tech holds 54 patent families—the largest portfolio in the ranking—with technical emphasis on H01L 33 (LED semiconductor devices), H01L 25 (multi-component semiconductor assemblies), and G02F 1 (optical modulation), reflecting a broad mass-transfer and integration strategy. Momentum data for this entity is not separately listed in the recent-period table, suggesting a stable rather than accelerating recent filing pace.
families: 54Applied Materials
Applied Materials ranks second with 34 patent families and is flagged as a new entrant in the recent filing period, with 30 families filed in the most recent window—a trajectory that places it as the fastest-growing major filer by a wide margin. Its technical focus mirrors the leader’s (H01L 25 and H01L 33), but the concentration of recent activity suggests a deliberate move to establish process-equipment claims as mass-transfer manufacturing matures.
families: 34| Applicant | Recent (3 yrs) | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| Applied Materials Inc | 30 | ▲ new entrant |
| Intel Corporation | 1 | ▼ -93% |
| Chongqing Konka Photoelectric Technology Research Institute Co Ltd | 1 | ▼ -95% |
| BOE Technology Group Co Ltd | 1 | ▼ -95% |
| TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
| Elux Inc | 8 | ▼ -27% |
| X Display Co Tech Ltd | 2 | ▲ new entrant |
| Huazhong University of Science and Technology | 6 | ▲ new entrant |
Under-served branches: optical control, lighting circuits, and display control
Relative to the dominant H01L semiconductor-device branch, several adjacent IPC classes show notably lower coverage; these are observations of relative sparsity that may or may not represent actionable entry points depending on a filer’s technical roadmap.
G02F · Optical control & modulation
With 46 patent records against 528 for H01L, G02F is the most populated of the sparse adjacent branches but remains thin relative to the core. Mass-transfer processes that integrate active optical components—electro-optic modulators, liquid-crystal alignment layers, or waveguide coupling for micro-LED-based optical interconnects—are plausible technical entries. The branch already appears in X Display Co Tech’s and X Celeprint’s portfolios, confirming technical adjacency but also indicating that the earliest positions are being staked.
Search this in Eureka →H05B · Electric heating & lighting circuits
H05B records (36) cover drive circuits, thermal management, and general lighting circuit architectures adjacent to micro-LED arrays. Coverage here is sparse relative to the device-level H01L claims, and no single applicant in the ranking list appears to concentrate explicitly in this branch. For teams working on driver-IC integration or thermal co-design during mass transfer, this branch represents a relatively open filing space, though commercial value depends on whether lighting-circuit claims can be meaningfully differentiated from display-driver IP.
Search this in Eureka →How leaders differ across technology routes
Route coverage across the main technology branches in the current evidence set.
| Player | H01L 33 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 25 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 21 · Semiconductor devices | H01L 27 · Semiconductor devices | H10P 72 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| X Celeprint Limited | Strong · 43 | Strong · 30 | Moderate · 9 | Moderate · 10 | Absent |
| Applied Materials Inc | Strong · 27 | Strong · 29 | Moderate · 8 | Moderate · 9 | Absent |
| Intel Corporation | Strong · 21 | Strong · 17 | Absent | Strong · 18 | Absent |
| Chongqing Konka Photoelectric Technology Research Institute Co Ltd | Strong · 20 | Strong · 11 | Moderate · 10 | Moderate · 7 | Moderate · 8 |
| BOE Technology Group Co Ltd | Strong · 21 | Strong · 12 | Moderate · 7 | Moderate · 7 | Moderate · 8 |
| Elux Inc | Strong · 18 | Strong · 19 | Strong · 10 | Absent | Moderate · 4 |
| TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co Ltd | Strong · 19 | Strong · 13 | Moderate · 4 | Strong · 10 | Moderate · 4 |
Frequently asked questions
The corpus stands at 480 patent families in scope, filed predominantly between 2017 and 2023, with the United States as the leading jurisdiction.
X Display Co Tech leads with 54 patent families, ahead of Applied Materials at 34 and Intel at 25. The top five collectively account for 32% of the hundred largest filers’ combined total.
Annual filings peaked in 2021 at 78 and have eased since. The recent-window growth figure is -19%, placing the field in a post-peak consolidation phase. Figures for 2024 and 2025 are understated due to publication lag.
The United States leads with 233 patent records, followed by China with 177. WIPO PCT (46) and Europe (33) are the next-largest venues, indicating selective international coverage by leading filers.
Applied Materials is flagged as a new entrant in the most recent filing period, with 30 families in that window—the highest recent-period count among the tracked applicants and a sharp acceleration relative to its prior activity.
The sparsest branches relative to the dominant H01L core are G02F optical control and modulation (46 records), H05B electric heating and lighting circuits (36), G09G display control circuits (35), and G02B optical elements and systems (34). These represent areas of relatively lower existing coverage, though whether they constitute actionable opportunities depends on each team’s specific technical direction.
Ready to map your own micro-LED mass transfer landscape?
Join 18,000+ innovators using PatSnap Eureka to map any technology landscape: search 2B+ patents and papers, surface key assignees, and generate a report like this in minutes.
Disclaimer. This page is generated from PatSnap Eureka data drawn from a limited snapshot of global patent and scientific-literature records, and is provided for general information and reference only.
Patent data carries inherent limitations: recent filings (typically the most recent 18–24 months) are under-counted due to standard publication lag; counts may be reported at either a patent-family or a patent-record basis and are not always directly comparable; classification, applicant-name, and citation data may contain errors, duplicates, or omissions; and the underlying search query defines and constrains the scope shown. As a result, the analysis may be incomplete or inaccurate and may not reflect the full technology landscape.
Nothing on this page constitutes an exhaustive prior-art, novelty, freedom-to-operate, or validity search, nor does it constitute legal, financial, investment, or professional advice, and it should not be relied upon as such. Any patent, commercial, or strategic decision should be verified independently and reviewed with qualified patent, legal, and domain professionals. PatSnap makes no warranties, express or implied, as to the accuracy, completeness, or fitness for any particular purpose of the information presented.