On October 15, JBD, a manufacturer of Micro LED microdisplay technology, officially released its new generation flagship platform for Micro LED microdisplay technology, "Roadrunner," achieving a key breakthrough in 2.5-micron pixel pitch.
Roadrunner full-color lighting engine (Image source: JBD)
It is reported that since mass production began in 2021, JBD’s “Hummingbird” series with a pixel pitch of 4 micrometers has promoted the popularization of Micro LED microdisplays with its high brightness and extremely low power consumption.
Currently, the Hummingbird series has been widely used in nearly 50 AR smart glasses, including Rokid Glasses, Alibaba Quark Glasses, RayNeo X3 Pro, INMO GO2, MLVision M5, and Leion Hey2, becoming the core technology foundation for consumer-grade AR displays.
The newly released "Roadrunner" technology platform is JBD's flagship solution for next-generation consumer AR products. In the future, this technology will prioritize shipments of multi-color optical engines, leveraging JBD's strengths in Micro LED panel assembly and testing, display algorithms, optical design, and cost control.
JBD stated that through end-to-end innovation in chip manufacturing processes and device architecture, the "Roadrunner" platform has solved the challenge of luminous efficiency for ultra-small Micro LEDs, further improving luminous efficacy, energy efficiency, and image quality. The first product in the series, the "Roadrunner I" multi-color light engine module, will be built based on the mature mass-production technology framework of the Hummingbird series.
In terms of performance, the "Roadrunner" technology boasts a pixel density of up to 10,160 PPI, 2.56 times the number of pixels per unit area compared to the Hummingbird series. JBD is the first to adopt a 22nm silicon backplane process, keeping power consumption below 18 milliwatts, significantly reducing overall energy consumption.
Thanks to the finer pixel pitch, the Roadrunner light engine is over 50% smaller than the first-generation Hummingbird while maintaining the same resolution, achieving a thinner and lighter modular design. Furthermore, thanks to JBD's technological expertise in mass production, the product demonstrates excellent consistency and stability.
Currently, JBD is collaborating with several international technology giants to advance the mass production of "Roadrunner" technology, which is expected to be gradually launched to the market in the second half of 2026.
JBD stated that the breakthroughs in pixel density and energy efficiency of "Roadrunner" bring higher resolution, wider field of view, and a more comfortable visual experience to AR smart glasses, while also taking into account ultra-miniaturization design. This allows Micro LED to surpass technologies such as LCoS in terms of light engine size, contrast, and pixel density.
According to available information, JBD was founded in 2015 and focuses on AR, VR, and other near-eye display applications. The company possesses full-process capabilities from wafer manufacturing and chip packaging to module integration. Currently, the company has established a mature product line of monochrome and color Micro LED light engines, including various micro-display products such as the "Hummingbird" series and the color "Phoenix" series.
Among them, the "Hummingbird" series is a micro-display technology product mass-produced by JBD. It is designed for the application of waveguide AR glasses with a 30-degree field of view. It uses a monochrome Micro LED panel or uses an X-cube architecture combined with three monochrome panels of red, green and blue to achieve a full-color display effect.
The "Phoenix" series is a single-chip full-color Micro LED microdisplay built by JBD based on a vertical stacking architecture, with a stacking thickness of less than 5μm; the pixel pitch of the display is only 5μm; and the white balance brightness reaches 2 million nits. The "Phoenix" series is expected to begin mass production in the third quarter.
It is worth noting that this year, JBD has completed a B1 round of financing worth hundreds of millions of RMB; collaborated with Applied Materials and Thunderbird Innovations to create a third-generation full-color optical waveguide solution; and launched the latest "Hummingbird II" color light engine, etc., to promote the development and application of Micro LED micro-display technology in multiple ways.
Thanks to continuous research and development by companies like JBD, the application of Micro LED microdisplay technology in AR glasses is accelerating, and it has become one of the key near-eye display technologies. However, on the other hand, the development of near-eye display technologies such as OLEDoS and LCoS is also accelerating. Which will become the true mainstream in the AR glasses market in the future?
On October 30, its subsidiary and TrendForce Display will jointly host the 2025 Self-Emitting Display Industry Seminar.
Yu-Pin Chiu, Senior Vice President of Research at TrendForce, will deliver a presentation titled "Exploring New Opportunities for Light Engines and Optical Devices in the Development of AR Glasses," analyzing the current state and future of near-eye display technology from multiple perspectives and addressing the opportunities and challenges in the near-eye display market. (Compiled)
