Light advances, copper retreats! Computing power infrastructure welcomes a new direction. Micro LED concept leads the early trading gains.

On March 11, the A-share Micro LED concept continued to rise. By the morning close, the sector increased by 2.46%, leading the market concept sectors. In individual stocks, Vogt Photonics hit the daily limit, Huacan Optoelectronics rose over 9%, Sanan Optoelectronics increased over 7%, Tiantong Co. gained over 6%, Jufei Optoelectronics rose over 5%, Ruifeng Photonics increased over 4%, and LianDe, LianYing Laser, and others rose over 3%.

Industry Chain Accelerates “Optical Replaces Copper”

Since the beginning of the year, energy supply and consumption optimization have become important development topics for computing infrastructure.

According to TrendForce, with the rise of generative AI, data centers’ demand for high-speed transmission continues to grow. Copper cabling solutions used for intra-rack short-distance transmission, previously applied within cabinets, will face severe challenges in transmission density and energy efficiency. In comparison, Micro LED CPO solutions have lower unit transmission energy consumption, significantly reducing overall energy use to about 5% of copper cabling solutions, and are expected to become an alternative to optical interconnects due to their energy-saving advantages.

TrendForce points out that data transmission rates of ≤400 Gbps have been widely adopted by cloud service providers’ data centers. Since 2025, market demand has continued to push transmission specifications to 800 Gbps and 1.6 Tbps. Under the pursuit of high transmission speeds, traditional copper cables consume over 10 pJ/bit, greatly increasing overall system energy consumption, which accelerates the industry shift towards “optical replacing copper.”

Data shows that Micro LED is called the “ultimate display technology.” Micro LED pixels are typically 5-100 micrometers in size. By introducing electron excitation into semiconductor materials to produce photoluminescence, it achieves display effects. Its advantages include: ① exceptional performance, with each pixel independently emitting light, enabling infinite contrast and extremely high brightness; ② ultra-long lifespan, aging much slower than OLED, completely avoiding burn-in risk; ③ remarkable energy efficiency, as pixels can be completely turned off when displaying black, resulting in very low power consumption.

Guotai Haitong believes that if the Micro LED industry continues breakthroughs in large-scale mass production cost reduction and technical feasibility studies for optical interconnect applications, it is expected to see Micro LED gradually develop from smartwatches/AR smart glasses into ultra-large (over 100 inches) high-end TVs, commercial displays, and high-end automotive HUD displays starting from 2026. Additionally, ongoing technological progress in short-distance communication within AI computing server centers is anticipated. The Micro LED industry will expand its application scenarios and market scale in the coming years.

Listed Companies Accelerate Technology Development

Market has high expectations for Micro LED technology’s new applications in AI computing. Several listed companies have recently disclosed their latest progress.

On March 11, Leyard stated during investor relations activities that the company has partnered with the Chinese Academy of Sciences in optical communication R&D and provides Micro LED optical modules to replace traditional LED optical transmission solutions. The scheme is still in the R&D verification stage.

On March 6, Huacan Optoelectronics announced abnormal stock trading fluctuations, stating that the application of Micro LED in optical communication and other fields is still in early R&D and sample verification stages, and will not have a substantial impact on the company’s performance in the short term. Earlier, Huacan Optoelectronics signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Xinxiang Micro at the beginning of the year. The two sides will focus on Micro LED optical interconnect technology and optical module R&D and production, leveraging the advantages of chip manufacturing and driver design.

According to a report by Shanghai Securities News on March 6, Sanan Optoelectronics, Tsinghua University, and China Mobile achieved breakthroughs in Micro LED optoelectronic devices and high-speed optical communication, extending Micro LED technology to data center optical interconnect applications, providing innovative solutions for building next-generation green and efficient information transmission networks. In this deep industry-university-research collaboration, the three parties focus on key technologies for high-speed optical communication with Micro LED.

Under high market attention, A-share Micro LED concept stocks have performed well overall this year. According to Eastmoney StockChoice data, as of the midday close on March 11, out of 26 constituent stocks, 21 saw rising prices, with a median increase of 17.5%. Xinxiang Micro had the largest increase, up over 66% this year; Jufei Optoelectronics followed closely, up over 60%. Additionally, Huacan Optoelectronics, Ruifeng Photonics, and LianDe all gained over 40% this year.

(Source: Eastmoney Research Center)