PanelSemi is a Panel Semiconductor Provider

Background

• After approximately 30 years of development, the TFT-LCD industry has formed a huge Ecosystem with panel manufacturers as the core. However, Taiwanese panel manufacturers are gradually losing their advantages on the production capacity, including Innolux. In order to keep on surviving and developing, these manufacturers must seek for strategies such as technological breakthrough or industry value-chain repositioning. 
• During this process, there is a concept gradually forming and rapidly intensifying. Generally, this concept can be called as Panel Semiconductor, which means using the TFT manufacture process (TFT means Thin Film Transistor, which is also a kind of Semiconductor Device) on the Glass Panel to make all kinds of Semiconductor devices  or systems. Compared with the Si-wafer Semiconductor manufacturing process which makes IC on the Si Wafer, the process accuracy / device density / system complexity of the Glass-panel Semiconductor naturally fall short of those of the Si-wafer. Yet, resulted from the limits on the size and the cost of the Si-wafer, some applications can only be achieved by using the Glass-panel with substrate sizes much bigger than those of the Si-wafer! One of the most understandable examples of application is the chest X-ray sensor. It can only be made with the Glass-panel because its standard size of 17 inches basically exceeds the Si-wafer’s size of 12 inches.  
• As the development of all kinds of technological domains going on, such cases and opportunities are increasing, and most of them come from non-LCD fields. With the current domain knowledge and talent pool from the panel manufacturers, it is actually quite difficult to deal with and take control of the business opportunity like this. On the other hand, many new innovations Enterprises who want to develop/implement new technologies using the Glass-panel do not know where to start either. This is because they do not know how to make use of the existing resources from the panel manufacturers, while building panel factories by themselves would be extremely expensive and impractical.
• Such distribution of resources and demands is very similar to the background of TSMC establishing professional foundry 30 years ago. At that time, many applications needed to be achieved with Si IC, and a single IDM was not capable of doing all the work; similarly, many startup IC companies were not able to build fabs by themselves. Therefore, the business model of professional foundry was created by TSMC, which further evolved into a very efficient Ecosystem with many successful companies.
• The current panel industry should learn from the wise decision made by TSMC 30 years ago and work on the promotion and establishment of a Panel Semiconductor Ecosystem. With such great ambition and vision, PanelSemi was established！ 

 Task role of PanelSemi   

• MTK-like role in the Panel Semiconductor domain (with      self-owned products): 
  • Display Centric Solution based on AMminiLED PID: A complete system solution with display as the core, including all kinds of non-display hardware (Touch, Camera, Speaker, Mic,…) and application software (Interactive Conference,...) 
    • Not just a Display Solution 
    • Of course, not just a Display Device 
    • PanelSemi plays the role as a customer of Innolux for AMminiLED PID system applications, collaborating with Innolux to realize vertical integration
  • New technologies in the future (unknown and undecided)       
• GUC-like role in the Panel Semiconductor domain (not self-owned products): 
  • Fulfill demands of third party startup teams to develop new technologies by using panel fabs, and provide them necessary       helps to input lots in panel fabs. For example, photo mask design,       process development, experiment management, so as to improve the efficiency and success rate.

Task role of panel manufacturers 

• TSMC-like role in the Panel Semiconductor domain, to establish Panel Foundry Business Model 

Collaboration between PanelSemi and panel manufacturers 

• PanelSemi (or a third party supported by PanelSemi) is in charge of product development and the special process development essential to new technology (such development requires the collaborations of panel manufacturers) 
• Panel manufacturers are in charge of providing standard process and assisting the special process development.