Radiant Opto-Electronics aims to ship 2-3 million LED backlight units (BLU) for use in automotive dashboards of about 10 inches in 2021, with Europe-based automakers to be main clients, according to industry sources.
Radiant has cooperated with LCD panel maker Japan Display for automotive display-use BLUs, and shipped one million units for about 1% of consolidated revenues in 2020, the sources said.
Radiant stands a chance of supplying BLUs for Tesla's automotive displays in 2021, said the sources. Radiant declined to comment on the report.
Apple is expected to unveil 14- and 16-inch miniLED-backlit MacBook Pro models in second-half 2021, with Radiant to be the exclusive supplier of BLUs and Quanta Computer to be an OEM, the sources noted.
Radiant expects shipments for BLUs used in tablets and notebooks in first-quarter 2021 to slip 10% and 15-20% respectively on quarter. Consequently, first-quarter 2021 consolidated revenues will decrease 15% sequentially but hike 60-70% on year. It has obtained orders with shipments scheduled until April 2021.
Following Apple's adoption of OLED for the iPhone 12 series, Radiant has not produced BLUs for smartphones, the sources said, adding that it has sharply decreased production of BLUs for LCD TVs.
Radiant is expected to set aside a capex budget of NT$500 million to NT$1 billion (US$17.9-35.7 million) for 2021, mostly for procuring equipment used in R&D of miniLED backlighting.
