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Seoul Viosys says WICOP 3 makes rare-earth-free white light in chips down to 10µm

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Seoul Viosys Co Ltd (SVC), an opto-semiconductor maker, says it has broken the dependence of white LEDs on rare earths. For three decades, white LEDs have layered a rare-earth material such as yttrium aluminium garnet (YAG) onto a blue LED chip. SVC says it has developed and mass produced a chip that emits white light without rare earths, and that the chip can be as small as 10µm. The report is dated 29 October 2026.

The chip is WICOP 3, the third generation of WICOP (Wafer Integrated Chip on PCB), a chip architecture that eliminates the package altogether. SVC and its parent, South Korean LED maker Seoul Semiconductor Co Ltd, opened up the micro-LED market with WICOP. With it, the two companies have already developed and mass produced ultraviolet, blue, green, red and infrared LEDs smaller than 100µm. WICOP 3 extends that to white light without rare-earth elements. WICOP 3 is claimed to be the world's first white opto-semiconductor to achieve white light in a micro-LED smaller than 100µm.

The source puts white LEDs at about $10bn of a $15bn global market for packaged LEDs, and the firm reckons WICOP 3 can replace them with a rare-earth-free technology. WICOP 3 uses no rare earths (described as a major source of environmental pollution) and no package, and it has no synthetic silicone resins, plastics or lead frames. The result is said to be more environmentally friendly and to cost about half as much to make as a conventional white LED.

Technically, WICOP 3 generates white light from gallium nitride (GaN) alone. Until now WICOP could shrink chips, but white light still needed a package containing rare earths, so white chips could not go below 1000µm. That held back cost reduction, and white micro-LEDs under 100µm were out of reach. Removing rare earths means white light is now possible both in large chips of 1000µm and above and in micro-LEDs below 100µm.

Performance figures: in its first mass production, a micro-LED chip measuring 25µm x 10µm produced 0.015lm of white light, with chromaticity inside the CIE standard white region. Luminous efficacy is already close to 100lm/W, and the company aims to reach 200lm/W within two years. For comparison, a conventional 1000µm x 1000µm chip achieves 50lm.

Because the chip contains no plastics, silicone or other synthetic organic materials, the source says it can last for decades. In lighting, it says invisible micro-emitters could be embedded in wallpaper or window glass, lighting a space with no fixtures at all, ending bulb replacement and fixture costs. The company expects this to create a market tens of times larger than today's $10bn white LED market. It likens the shift to the miniaturized transistor replacing the vacuum tube.

A second target is AI data links. Over short distances, data has long travelled electrically through copper wire, but under AI-era loads copper links slow down, generate heat and use much more power. Micro-LEDs built on WICOP can now carry high volumes of AI data over distances from under 1cm to tens of meters. Seoul Viosys arranges 1000 WICOP chips of about 10µm each in a grid within 1mm2 or less, and the source says this array transmits data 10 times faster at one tenth of the power. Market research firms including Omdia forecast that this technology and augmented reality (AR) together will create a new $60bn market within five years, which the source equates to half of today's DRAM memory market.

On timing, the source's headline says mass production has begun, but the body says Seoul Group (Seoul Semiconductor and Seoul Viosys) will start mass production of WICOP 3 in fourth-quarter 2026, while also describing the 25µm x 10µm chip as being in its first mass production. The group says it will supply first those customers that have respected its intellectual property and relied on its products. Seoul Semiconductor's founder Chung Hoon Lee says the company intends to target WICOP 1, 2 and 3 at AR glasses and AI data communications, which work at scales of 10µm or less. To that end the company is seeking trusted upstream and downstream micro-LED supply chain partners in AR displays and AI transmitters. A closing line notes that Seoul Viosys is expanding beyond components into data-interconnect transceivers.

Key facts

  • Seoul Viosys and parent Seoul Semiconductor say WICOP 3 emits white light from gallium nitride alone, with no rare-earth phosphor and no package, in chips as small as 10µm.
  • First-production chip: 25µm x 10µm, 0.015lm of white light, efficacy close to 100lm/W, with a company aim of 200lm/W within two years. A conventional 1000µm x 1000µm chip gives 50lm.
  • The company says WICOP 3 costs about half as much to make as a conventional white LED and can last for decades; white LEDs are about $10bn of a $15bn packaged-LED market.
  • Optical data links are a second target: an array of 1000 chips of about 10µm in 1mm2 or less is said to move data 10 times faster at one tenth of the power of copper.
  • Mass production of WICOP 3 is slated for fourth-quarter 2026, though the headline says it has begun; all performance and cost figures are the company's own.

Why it matters

White LEDs have used a rare-earth layer such as YAG on a blue chip for three decades, and that layer and its package set a floor of 1000µm for white chips. If WICOP 3 works as described, white light becomes possible in micro-LEDs below 100µm, which the company claims is a world first. The source also ties the technology to two uses: fixture-free lighting and short-range optical links for AI data, where copper is said to slow down, run hot and use much more power.

Who it affects

The nearest audience is makers of AR displays and AI data transmitters; Seoul Semiconductor says it is seeking upstream and downstream micro-LED supply chain partners in both. The packaged white LED business, put at about $10bn of a $15bn market, is the one the firm says WICOP 3 can replace. The source also says the group will supply first those customers that have respected its intellectual property and relied on its products.

How to use it

There is nothing to buy or deploy yet. Mass production of WICOP 3 is slated to start in fourth-quarter 2026, and early supply goes to existing customers who have respected the group's intellectual property. Companies building AR glasses or optical AI interconnects are the ones the company is courting as partners. No price is given.

How solid is it

This is a vendor announcement carried by a trade site, and the claims rest on the company's own statements. The source does not give independent verification or third-party tests of the 0.015lm output, the ~100lm/W efficacy, the cost saving or the 10x speed and one-tenth power claim. It also does not say how the chip makes white light beyond 'from gallium nitride alone'. The 10x comparison is made against copper links in general, with no benchmark. The $60bn forecast is attributed to research firms including Omdia and covers this technology and AR together, not WICOP alone. The headline says mass production has begun while the body says it starts in fourth-quarter 2026, and the source does not reconcile the two.

Risks and caveats

The 0.015lm result is for a 25µm x 10µm chip; the source gives no output for a 10µm or a 100µm chip. No price, customer name, production volume or factory is given. The fixture-free lighting scenario is phrased as 'could', and the market sizes (tens of times larger than $10bn; $60bn in five years) are expectations and forecasts, not results. The 200lm/W figure is a two-year aim.