Global Technologies gathered display and hardware manufacturers in Shenzhen to pitch component-cutting driver designs, securing an initial purchase order process for standard desktop monitors with one regional hardware maker.

The gathering, announced on Nov. 9, drew representatives from TCL CSOT, Innolux, ZTE, WG Tech and NationStar as panel makers and consumer electronics brands search for cheaper bills of materials for television backlights and computer screens.

The core proposition presented at the gathering relies on time-sharing operation, known as TSO, which operates multiple light-emitting diodes from a single driver channel by staggering power cycles. Splitting the operating time across diodes eliminates discrete integrated circuits from the printed circuit board. That drops the raw component count, simplifies the copper routing on the substrate, and lowers manufacturing costs on high-density LED arrays.

Rather than selling bare silicon, the supplier is pitching combined packages that bundle the driver integrated circuits with optical layers and module assemblies. One standard desktop monitor from an unnamed client has already adopted the platform, with formal purchase orders now in progress. Commercial discussions with that customer have expanded to apply the same architecture to automotive instrument clusters and high-refresh gaming displays.

For large televisions, the company is attempting to apply TSO controllers to glass backlight units. Glass backlights offer better rigidity and thermal management than traditional plastic substrates in slim television chassis, but driving hundreds of separate local dimming zones typically requires dense arrays of driver chips. Reducing the silicon footprint directly addresses the assembly yields that have kept glass-substrate backlights expensive for consumer brands.

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