Late yesterday we briefly touched on Tripod Technology having entered Apple’s Supply chain in a report titled “Apple Supply Chain News: TSMC & Foxconn Plan new chip plants, Apple gains new mini-LED Supplier & Wistron acquires stake in Luxshare.” Today, Digitimes posted their full report regarding Tripod Technology.
Digitimes reported that “PCB manufacturer Tripod Technology has reportedly cut into the supply chain for Apple’s upcoming mini LED-backlit iPads and MacBooks and will offer super-thin rigid boards for the devices, according to industry sources.”
Interestingly the report noted that Tripod is undertaking trial production of sample super-thin rigid boards, and may start volume production in early 2021 at the earliest. So it’s not for updated products for Q4 2020.
The report further noted that “Tripod may have a chance of elbowing out its Korean peer Young Poong Electronics to share Apple orders for mini LED backlight modules with Taiwan’s leading PCB supplier Zhen Ding Technology, the sources said.
Apple’s mini LED backlight modules will adopt three-layer rigid boards, which require higher flatness and hole density than general rigid PCBs to support mass transfer technology, with materials also having to achieve extremely low shrinkage/expansion rates, the sources said.
Tripod can join the supply chain for Apple’s mini LED devices probably thanks largely to its good cost control capability, well recognized by Apple, the sources said. For more on this, read the full Digitimes report.
A few past reports covering mini-LED
01: Rumor Claims that Apple will Shift to Mini-LED displays for High-end iPad Pro and MacBooks by 2021
02: A Prediction by Apple Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo in September takes a twist in Timeline for the arrival of Apple’s first Mini LED Displays
03: A new Rumor claims that Apple’s Next-Gen iPad Pro launching later this year will be using mini-LED Displays from LG Display
04: Information on Apple’s mini-LED Display Supply Chain Deepens for iPad Pro and MacBook Pro Devices
