Unilumin has initiated its fifth round of price adjustments this year, Qiangli Jucai followed suit with a 3% to 15% increase, and Kingboard Laminates, a global leader in copper-clad laminates (CCL), issued a second price hike notice within a month... As July began, the wave of price adjustments in the LED display industry chain showed no signs of cooling down; instead, it continued to spread to downstream terminals. According to incomplete statistics, since the end of 2025, nearly a hundred companies across the entire industry chain have coordinated price adjustments, covering chips, packaging, power supplies, ICs (Integrated Circuits), and displays. Some leading screen manufacturers have accumulated 3 to 4 rounds of price adjustments this year, with increases ranging from 3% to 30%, marking the most extensive and frequent price hike in the past three years.
The "Relay Baton" of Price Hikes Passed Along the Industry Chain
From the most upstream copper-clad laminates to the most downstream terminal screens, the relay baton of price hikes has completed a full pass along the LED display industry chain over the past more than half a year.
In August 2025, midstream packaging companies were the first to feel the pressure of precious metal costs. Leading packaging manufacturers such as MLS, Hongli Zhihui, and Lextar Electronics collectively adjusted prices by 5% to 10%, and chip manufacturers followed suit with minor increases. By December 2025, the price hike wave had spread to driver ICs, PCB (Printed Circuit Board) auxiliary materials, and terminal applications, with nearly 20 companies issuing price adjustment notices.
Entering2026, price adjustments continued. Driver chips became the segment with the most significant price increases—six domestic driver IC companies, including Fuman Micro, Kiwi Instrument, and Mingmicro, completed price adjustments within two months, with increases generally ranging from 10% to 20%, and high-end products exceeding 25%; in April, six major Taiwanese driver IC manufacturers followed suit simultaneously, with a maximum increase of 20%; in May, Chipone, Leapsilicon, and others raised prices by more than 30% again, with wafer foundry shortages and soaring precious metal prices being the core reasons.
Midstream packaging continued to follow the adjustments. From January to February 2026, dozens of packaging plants, including Techno Semicon and NationStar Optoelectronics, adjusted prices successively, with Lextar Electronics raising prices across its entire product line by 5% to 25%. Supported by copper prices, PCB auxiliary material quotes were also adjusted upward by about 10%.
Downstream screen manufacturers became the final stop for cost transmission. Since the end of January, Unilumin gradually increased prices for its entire product line in five steps, with a single round of price hikes of 5% to 15% on May 18; Qiangli Jucai announced in July that all its products would be increased by 3% to 15%; small and medium-sized module manufacturers such as Chengxun Zhixian and Mengsituo集中 adjusted prices from the end of June to the beginning of July, with some increasing prices by up to 15%, and some models initiating order queuing due to shortages. In late July, Leyard announced that it would increase the prices of all its COB products by 5% to 10% starting from August 1, with Silan Micro's entire product line seeing an increase of at least 15%, and the overall increase of terminal products maintaining between 3% and 25%.
After sorting out the complete context of this round of price adjustments, reporters found that the trigger for this round was the rise in precious metal costs in the packaging segment. Subsequently, upstream chips and driver ICs continued to intensify due to AI computing power squeezing wafer capacity, ultimately transmitting to commercial display terminals. Low-end general products saw moderate increases, while scarce models such as Mini LED, automotive-grade LED, and high-end driver chips saw significantly higher increases... Thus, the LED price reduction cycle lasting for more than a decade has come to an end. Nearly a hundred companies participated in it, and the industry alleviated the profit pressure caused by long-term low-price involution through collective price adjustments.
Three Logics Behind the Price Hike Wave
In interviews, reporters learned that there are three logics behind this round of price hikes:
First, geopolitical conflicts have pushed up the cost of basic raw materials. Liu Guoxu, CTO and Executive Vice President of Beijing E-Max New Creation Technology Co., Ltd., pointed out to reporters from China Electronics News that the core reason for this round of price hikes is the soaring prices of metals such as gold, silver, copper, tin, and aluminum, coupled with the rise in oil prices causing chemical products to increase. The cost increase of E-Max optoelectronic devices for different products ranges from 5% to 15%. A relevant person in charge at AOTO Electronics pointed out in an interview with China Electronics News that key materials such as gold, silver, and copper account for over 70% of LED packaging costs. Since 2025, the international gold price has accumulated an increase of over 70%, the silver price has increased by about 148% to 170%, and the copper price has risen by over 36%. These materials are indispensable raw materials for core components such as LED lamp beads and PCB circuit boards, and cost pressure is transmitted layer by layer downstream.
Second, the explosion of the AI computing power industry has squeezed the capacity of key components. Liu Guoxu further analyzed that the AI boom has led to shortages of products such as PCBs and ICs, driving long-term and continuous price increases. With the explosive growth of AI large models, the global semiconductor industry has entered the "AI First" era. Leading foundries such as TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) and Samsung are tilting their 8-inch wafer capacity towards high-end chips, and the wafer foundry price for LED driver chips has increased by 15% to 25% year-on-year. A large amount of wafer and IC chip capacity is tilting towards servers and computing hardware, tightening the supply of components, and the procurement costs of core accessories such as lamp beads, drivers, and circuit boards continue to rise.
Third, the demand for value restoration after a decade of price wars in the industry. Chen Ying, head of the procurement center at Ledman Optoelectronic, told reporters from China Electronics News that over the past years, the LED industry has fallen into a disorderly price war, with small and medium-sized manufacturers continuing to lose money, and the profit margin of the entire industry chain has long been close to the break-even line. From 2022 to 2025, the LED industry fell into homogeneous competition, with the average price of mainstream products accumulating a drop of 30% to 40%, and the industry's average gross profit margin declining by about 50%. This round of collective price adjustment is also an objective choice for the industry to collectively restore profitability and get rid of the involution model of "trading volume for price".
Multiple interviewees believe that what the current LED industry is experiencing is not a simple cost transmission, but an industrial cyclical adjustment triggered by the superposition of soaring precious metals and the restructuring of semiconductor capacity. Some industry insiders attribute the essence of this round of price hikes to being "driven by the semiconductor cycle"—the early price hikes of PCBs were related to copper prices, but now it is more about the structural demand changes driven by the AI boom, and the price hikes of precious metals such as copper and silver have receded to a secondary position.
Same Chain, Different Situations
The impact of the price hike wave on different segments and companies in the LED display industry shows obvious differentiation.
Upstream bargaining power increases, and profitability recovers first. Leading enterprises such as Kingboard and Sanan Optoelectronics hold the power of speech on the supply side, and price hikes are directly transmitted to downstream customers. In the first quarter of 2026, the gross profit margin of upstream chip companies generally recovered, but small and medium-sized chip and copper-clad laminate manufacturers lack stable long-term contract customers, facing a high risk of downstream customer loss, and some second-tier material factories have suspended new expansion plans.
Midstream packaging and driver IC segments bear the most pressure. The packaging segment is sensitive to cost changes and is in the "buffer zone" of industry chain transmission—it lacks bargaining power for upstream raw material price hikes, and it is difficult to fully transmit cost pressure downstream in the short term. Chen Ying pointed out that driver IC prices have undergone 4 rounds of price hikes this year, with some manufacturers increasing prices by up to 30%, but small and medium-sized screen manufacturers have weak bargaining power, resulting in a situation of "price hikes but declining sales". An executive from a listed LED packaging company revealed that although price hike notices have taken effect one after another, due to the wide range of choices for downstream customers, companies are generally worried about losing market share by taking the lead in implementing new prices, and the promotion is not easy.
The differentiation of downstream screen factories is also obvious. According to feedback from Unilumin, long-term large customers in government, enterprise, and overseas markets fully understand the price adjustments, existing orders remain at original prices, and orders are stable; low-end circulation and small and medium-sized channels have seen more short-term wait-and-see attitudes. Small and medium-sized module factories face a dilemma in price adjustments: raising prices may lose orders, while not raising prices means losing money on every order. Unilumin judges that in the future, the clearance of small and medium-sized manufacturers will accelerate, and the market share of leading manufacturers will continue to increase.
From the perspective of terminal applications, low-end outdoor advertising screens and ordinary commercial standard large screens are under heavy pressure. Chen Ying pointed out that customers of market-oriented projects such as real estate retail and offline stores generally lengthen their procurement cycles, and short-term incremental growth slows down. Some channel merchants reported that after LED price hikes, some advertisers have postponed new screen replacement plans and even switched to LCD splicing screens as alternatives. Conventional stage rental screens and domestic small and medium-sized government and enterprise projects are in a moderately pressured range, with the performance rental industry showing a decreased willingness to purchase new screens and more choosing to refurbish old screens.
It is reported that the collective price hike of the current LED industry chain has already had a significant impact on terminal application demand. Liu Guoxu stated that in the short term, it has triggered a stockpiling wave in the industry chain, but in the long run, it will inhibit subsequent consumption momentum, and current market demand has obviously turned weak.
In contrast, cultural tourism immersive displays, high-end conference Mini LEDs, and overseas high-end commercial displays have strong shock resistance. Unilumin stated that customers in scenarios such as COB/MIP, Mini/Micro LED high-end commercial displays, XR cultural tourism, and sports event large screens value solutions and quality, and have a relatively high acceptance of price adjustments of 5% to 15%. Ledman Optoelectronic also mentioned that COB products use relatively high-end raw materials, and suppliers will prioritize the supply of high-end raw materials, so the price hike of raw materials has little impact on the gross profit margin and order delivery of COB products.
High-end fields such as Mini LED TV backlights, automotive LEDs, and Micro LED giant screens are also less affected by price hikes. These fields are themselves in an upward demand cycle, and some product lines have already reached full production.
Industry Chain is Being Reshaped
Industry insiders believe that beyond price hikes, the LED display industry chain is being reshaped.
Industry concentration continues to increase. Rising costs form a hard threshold, and small and medium-sized manufacturers without supply chain price locking, high-end products, or overseas channels continue to exit. It is expected that industry concentration will further increase, with the CR5 (industry concentration) of the low-end general screen market rising from 42% last year to 51%.
Process and material substitution accelerate simultaneously. Ledman Optoelectronic is vigorously developing the glass-based Micro LED technology route to replace traditional high-priced PCB substrates. Glass raw material prices are stable and have no copper price linkage fluctuations. Wu Zhenzhi also mentioned that one of the key points for the industry to break through is to promote the development of precious metals and IC localization. Unilumin also stated that it is promoting precious metal development and IC localization, while establishing a dynamic pricing and raw material risk hedging mechanism.
Upstream and downstream coordination mechanisms are gradually taking shape. Unilumin stated that the company completed the strategic reserve of key raw materials ahead of schedule last year, effectively smoothing the impact of short-term price fluctuations on production and operation through scientific planning of safety stock levels. Ledman Optoelectronic is also promoting the establishment of long-term price locking mechanisms with leading chip, packaging, and domestic driver IC manufacturers, ensuring normal order delivery through multiple measures such as advance payments and early stockpiling. Some industry insiders pointed out that long-term contract price locking is becoming popular, with screen companies signing fixed supply agreements with lamp bead and copper-clad laminate enterprises, agreeing on the upper limit of price fluctuations.
Regarding the future market, Yu Bin, Research Director at TrendForce, judges that from the current perspective, precious metal prices have basically peaked, the impact of wafer capacity shortages will continue but is limited, and this wave of LED price hikes may temporarily come to an end. He also pointed out that the trend of continuous decline in LED product prices over the past few years has ended this year, and the industry is accelerating its transformation to high-value fields to break through.
AOTO Electronics judges that this round of raw material price hikes has the problem of阶段性 surging too fiercely, and there are also factors of hoarding and speculation, with some component prices increasing by 5 to 10 times. It is expected that prices will gradually return to rationally in the future market, and industry profitability is expected to return to a healthy range to support long-term healthy development. AOTO Electronics believes that the current industry faces the dual pressure of high upstream costs and downstream price suppression. The key to breaking through lies in improving product quality, perfecting supporting services, and strengthening technological innovation and integrated solutions to get out of the development dilemma.
The price hike wave has become a "capability test" for the LED display industry: against the backdrop of continuous fluctuations in the global electronic supply chain, the model of relying on scale and low-price expansion is facing challenges, and a competition model centered on technology, quality, and full-chain coordination is becoming the main direction for the development of the LED display industry. Industry insiders believe that for industry chain enterprises, responding to this round of changes requires not only paying attention to price adjustments but also grasping the cycle window and promoting work in areas such as layout in high-end segmented tracks, self-research of materials and processes, and upstream and downstream coordination.
Author | Gu Yue | Editor | Qiu Jiangyong | Art Editor | Malia | Supervisor | Wu Lilin