A sound supply chain system has become the cornerstone for consumer electronics to gain more market and profits. The success of apple, Dell, HP, Lenovo and other technology enterprises has confirmed this. As apple, Xiaomi, Sony, Samsung, etc. vie to lay out AR (augmented reality) new track, AR hardware is expected to usher in explosive growth. IDC, an industry organization, predicts that the shipment volume of AR headphones will increase from about 300000 in 2020 to 21million in 2025. Before ar glasses became the next phenomenal consumer electronics product, major manufacturers in the supply chain of the industrial chain had scrambled to lay out relevant products, trying to seize this tuyere and take off. Goethe consolidated its leading position Benefiting from the continuous growth of vr/ar equipment shipments, Goethe, the mainstream ar/vr manufacturer, made a lot of money last year. According to the financial report of Goethe in 2021, its operating revenue in 2021 was 78.221 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 35.47%; The net profit was 4.275 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 50.09%. According to the data, Goethe has accounted for 80% of the world's mid - and high-end VR shipments. In order to consolidate its leading position in vr/ar manufacturing, goer has continued to focus on the AR glasses track recently, with frequent news. On the night of Qualcomm Xiaolong on May 20, Goethe and Qualcomm jointly launched a new generation of AR glasses reference design. Compared with the previous generation reference design, the chip platform of the newly released ar reference design has been upgraded from XR1 to XR2, and the CPU and GPU performance have been improved accordingly. It is worth mentioning that this ar glasses also upgrades the first generation wired connection to wifi6 and Bluetooth wireless streaming connection, which is more convenient and lightweight. Qualcomm said that the reference design of the new generation of wireless ar glasses will help manufacturers build prototypes with more seamless experience and cost advantages, and then launch lightweight top-level ar glasses. Yuanyu, senior analyst of CCID Consulting, said in an interview with China Electronics News that Goethe may have three considerations when launching ar glasses reference design. First, seize the initiative of AR hardware product standards and promote the unified format of optical solutions and product terminal forms; Second, to speed up the entry into the consumer end and accelerate the large-scale application of consumer grade ar products; The third is to show our overall strength from key ar component design to model completion, from production line construction to mass production. Almost at the same time as the AR design reference was released, Goethe announced that the company planned to subscribe for the new equity of Beijing Yuguang technology with its own capital of 200million yuan. After the transaction is completed, goer will hold 10.526% equity of Yuguang technology. Public information shows that Yuguang technology is an optical company with the ability to provide ar glasses with core micro nano optical devices (DOE, ROE), projection / display modules and overall three-dimensional sensing solutions. In addition, the company's products also include ar optical waveguide, human-computer interaction ar/vr, etc. For the purpose of goer's subscription, Yuan Yu believes that goer can further broaden its meta universe hardware layout and create a competitive advantage by integrating the three-dimensional sensing technology and production capacity upstream of Yuguang technology. Perhaps Goethe will also explore the AR application field and complete richer human-computer interaction content through gesture operation. Active position of upstream enterprises In addition to OEMs / ODM manufacturers of complete machines represented by Goethe, the segment industries of key devices such as display screens and optical solutions in the upstream of the vr/ar industrial chain have also set off a "lock-in" war in the supply chain. As ar/vr hardware is still in the early stage of development, compared with smart phones, smart TVs and other products, the supply chain system is not perfect, and some industrial chains lack leading enterprises. There are many opportunities and variables in the supply chain. Industry experts told the reporter of China electronic news that the strong enterprises in the supply chain are always strong. If they lay out the potential tuyere racetrack and occupy the leading position in the supply chain as soon as possible, they will accumulate more capital to "take off on the tuyere". In the display field, display industry chain enterprises such as BOE, TCL Huaxing and Corning are trying to gain a firm foothold from the upstream supply chain of vr/ar hardware. BOE disclosed that the company has contacted and cooperated with 119 brand customers around the world, and the new vr/ar models released by many domestic and international well-known brands have adopted BOE products. BOE created a meta universe exhibition area at the just concluded Sid exhibition in 2022, focusing on the dynamic frame rate VR head display equipment that can realize adaptive adjustment of display frame rate. According to yole's prediction, under optimistic circumstances, AR is expected to account for about 30% of the micro LED market in 2027, or become a killer application of micro led. As the technological highland of the AR industry, micro LED has become an important node of the supply chain enterprises' position war, and TCL Huaxing, Konka, etc. have taken action. Zhao Jun, chief operating officer of TCL China Star, said at the 2021 TCL China Star Global display ecology conference that TCL China Star has launched projects related to silicon-based micro LEDs for AR, set up an exclusive team to conduct in-depth research, and set up a joint laboratory with San'an optoelectronics, the world's largest LED chip manufacturer, to focus on the commercialization of micro LEDs with broad prospects in the vr/ar field. Linweihan, general manager of the display design and industrial design center of Konka Group Co., Ltd., said during the 2021 world display industry conference that Konka has deeply laid out the micro LED industry in the two fields of "one large and one small". In the field of small screen, because ar requires pixel density of more than 1000ppi, micro LED has a huge market opportunity. Ar optical underlying technology has also been competed and annotated by many supply chain enterprises. For example, Corning launched a new 2.0 high refractive index glass this year, which will bring a wider field of view (FOV), better optical clarity and excellent blue light transmittance to ar/mr glasses, making ar/mr glasses lighter and more fashionable. The Hong Kong listed subsidiary of Foxconn Technology Group invested in Beijing Lingxi low light Technology Co., Ltd., a provider of AR core display and optical solution services. Lenovo venture capital invested in nedega, a supplier of ar/vr optical modules. Guangfeng technology announced the world's first PPI breaking 10000 ar optical modules to enter the AR glasses supply chain. In an earlier interview with China Electronics News, the AR technical director of Guangfeng technology explained that at present, there are still many technical problems to be solved in the industry. AR is still in the early stage of outbreak. It is hoped that its SPD ar optical module can help customers produce ar products with better display effect. Not only is it a display and optical track, Yuanyu believes that the AR supply chain will also become a "sweet pastry" for supply chain enterprises such as smart phones and smart homes. There are three main reasons: first, the product functions are similar, and the feasibility of technology migration and expansion is great; Second, the supply chain enterprises have strong strength and have good ar R & D strength; Third, the market space of traditional smart phones and smart homes can see the boundary. In the future, if the above markets are saturated, enterprises still need to rely on tapping new markets and exploring new demands, and AR is a new market with great potential. (Xinhua News Agency)