COB technology is penetrating the mid-range market, ushering in a comprehensive technological upgrade for the LED display industry.

As the LED display industry transforms towards high-quality development, COB (Chip-on-Board) packaging technology, after years of iteration, has gradually penetrated from high-end professional scenarios to the mid-range market. Leveraging its mature technology and decreasing costs, it has broken the monopoly of traditional SMD technology in the mid-range market, driving a comprehensive technological iteration in the LED display industry and ushering in a new development pattern of "breakthroughs in the high-end, upgrades in the mid-range, and guarantees in the low-end," providing more cost-effective display solutions for commercial and consumer applications.

Previously, COB technology was largely confined to high-end professional scenarios, with its core bottlenecks being high costs and insufficient production capacity. The mid-range LED display market, dominated by SMD technology, while possessing cost advantages, had significant shortcomings in display effect and stability, failing to meet the high-definition and long-lasting requirements of mid-range commercial scenarios. With the continued maturation of COB technology, the large-scale release of production capacity, and cost reduction through supply chain collaboration, its overall cost has decreased by over 40% compared to three years ago, narrowing the price difference with SMD products to less than 15%. This has officially created the conditions for penetrating the mid-range market, becoming a core driving force for technological iteration in the industry. The penetration of COB technology into the mid-range market is primarily driven by a combination of technological optimization and capacity expansion. Technologically, breakthroughs in key processes such as flip-chip and mass transfer have boosted COB packaging yield to over 91%, streamlining the production process by 40% and effectively reducing manufacturing costs. Simultaneously, module standardization is progressing, with mainstream specifications like 150×337.5mm achieving mass production, catering to the large-scale procurement needs of the mid-range market and breaking the limitations of high-end customization. In terms of capacity, global COB packaging capacity has experienced explosive growth, with monthly capacity increasing by over 60% year-on-year. Economies of scale further reduce marginal costs, laying a solid foundation for the technology's penetration.

This COB technology penetration is forcing the LED display industry to undergo end-to-end technological iteration. In the packaging stage, traditional SMD packaging companies are accelerating equipment upgrades and deploying COB production lines, driving the transformation of packaging technology from "point light source splicing" to "surface light source integration," improving product stability and display effects. On the upstream materials side, the localization rate of materials such as high thermal conductivity substrates and new encapsulating adhesives has increased to over 85%, further reducing supply chain costs and facilitating the penetration of COB technology. Simultaneously, COB is integrating with technologies such as AI and cold screens to achieve intelligent dimming and low-power operation, adapting to the diversified needs of mid-range commercial and consumer scenarios.

The explosive growth in demand in the mid-range market has become the core driving force for the penetration of COB technology. Currently, mid-range scenarios such as smart conferencing, commercial showrooms, and smart education are increasingly demanding higher resolution, stability, and lower maintenance costs for display products. COB technology's advantages of surface light source, high protection characteristics (IP54 and above), and long lifespan (over 100,000 hours) perfectly meet these scenario requirements, gradually replacing traditional SMD products. Data shows that the global COB display terminal market size reached 10.17 billion yuan in 2025, with the mid-range market accounting for over 35%, a year-on-year increase of 49.1%.