Shanghai JBD Display Technology Co., Ltd. (JBD) recently completed a B1 round of financing worth hundreds of millions of yuan, with investors including Anhui Railway Fund, Fanghua Fund, Guangyue Investment, Chaos Investment, Ant Unicorn Fund, Shanghai Science and Technology Innovation Fund, Xichuang Investment, and China Merchants Fund.

The funding will primarily be used for core MicroLED micro-display technology research and development, capacity expansion, talent acquisition, and deepening ecosystem cooperation to meet the growing demand in the global AR+AI terminal market.

Founded in 2015, JBD is one of the few global manufacturers with mass production capabilities for MicroLED micro-displays. The company focuses on providing leading AR near-eye display solutions, with its products gaining accelerated market penetration.

In terms of customers, nearly 50 smart glasses models in the market adopt JBD's MicroLED micro-display technology, including Rokid Glasses, INMO GO2, Microoled M5, Thunderbird X3 Pro, Leion Hey2, Alibaba's Wow Quark AI glasses, and Halliday, among other well-known domestic brands. Additionally, JBD has secured mass production orders from international technology giants, with order deliveries expected to further expand its influence in the global AR near-eye display industry. More new products based on JBD technology are expected to launch within the next year.

In recent years, driven by increased digital transformation demands and breakthrough developments in consumer hardware technology, the global AR device market has shown accelerated growth, with explosive demand for lightweight, all-day wearable AR smart glasses. According to Counterpoint's "Global Smart Glasses Model Shipment Tracking" report, international smart glasses market shipments in the first half of 2025 increased by 110% year-over-year. IDC's "Global Smart Glasses Market Quarterly Tracking Report" also mentioned that the explosion of glasses concepts and the entry of leading hardware manufacturers in the second half of 2025 will jointly drive high growth for lightweight glasses with displays.

As core terminals connecting virtual and reality, most AR device product iterations and upgrades in the market focus on two core requirements: "lightweight design" and "high image quality performance."

"Lightweight design" directly determines the wearing comfort and usage scenario breadth of AR devices. When product size and weight break through existing limitations to achieve forms approaching ordinary glasses, it can effectively lower user adoption barriers, expanding AR device applications from professional fields like industry to fragmented daily scenarios such as commuting and social interactions. Achieving this all-day wearing experience is a necessary condition for AR devices to transform from professional tools to mass consumer products, and is also a strategic focus for terminal manufacturers entering the consumer market.

Since its establishment, JBD has long focused on the research and development and production of MicroLED micro-displays under 0.3 inches. JBD's "Hummingbird Mini II" monochrome optical engine released in 2024 represents one of the leading products in AR lightweight design, with a volume of only 0.15 cubic centimeters and weight of 0.3 grams, making it currently the smallest AR optical engine. Its typical power consumption can be as low as 60 milliwatts, better suited to smart glasses' requirements for lightweight design, comfortable wearing, and long battery life, enabling terminal products to more closely resemble ordinary glasses and enhance user wearing experience.

High image quality performance is the key element determining AR devices' achievement of "virtual-real fusion." Whether displaying information under strong outdoor light or natural integration of virtual content with real environments, all depend on sufficient brightness, precise colors, and fine details. Especially in professional scenarios, image quality stability directly affects functional reliability - from telemedicine to industrial maintenance, any color deviation or detail blur could cause actual losses.

In this dimension, JBD has developed and launched the ARTCs image quality correction solution, as well as the new "Hummingbird I" color optical module based on ARTCs, featuring 6,000 nits ultra-high eye brightness and solving light waveguide display non-uniformity issues, delivering high image quality display capabilities. Additionally, JBD is about to launch the "Hummingbird II" color optical engine, which further advances in volume, power consumption, and color performance, potentially being the industry's first color display solution truly suitable for consumer-grade lightweight AR glasses.

As decisive indicators of MicroLED micro-display performance, JBD has recently achieved breakthroughs in both panel brightness and quality control. Under typical driving conditions, the 4-micron platform monochrome MicroLED panels achieve green light brightness of 10 million nits, blue light 2 million nits, and red light 1.5 million nits, with brightness capable of several-fold increases under overdrive conditions. The single-chip full-color "Phoenix" series based on vertical stacking architecture has also achieved white balance brightness exceeding 2 million nits, providing high-performance support for large field-of-view (FOV) AR scenarios.

In quality control, JBD has reduced monochrome MicroLED micro-display panel defect counts from ≤100 per screen to ≤3 per screen, significantly improving product reliability and end-user experience.

JBD founder and CEO Li Qiming noted that the smart glasses market has crossed the proof-of-concept period and entered the scaled implementation stage. Currently, MicroLED micro-display technology, as an industry consensus, is recognized as the next-generation mainstream solution for AR near-eye displays. With the completion of this funding round, JBD's research and development and capacity reserves will be enhanced, promoting the widespread application of MicroLED micro-display technology in AR near-eye displays.