(Our Correspondent) Amidst the global trend of accelerating the transformation of the phosphor industry towards high-end and refined products, Phosphor in Glass (PIG), as a core new material replacing traditional resin-based phosphors, is entering a critical golden period of industrialization in mainland China, thanks to its irreplaceable performance advantages and diverse application potential. Policy guidance, breakthroughs in core technologies, and the explosion of downstream applications are forming a triple synergy, driving PIG products to quickly overcome laboratory bottlenecks and move towards large-scale application. This is opening up a new high-value-added track for my country's LED phosphor industry and helping the new materials industry achieve a leap in value chain.
PIG products are manufactured by mixing and sintering phosphor and glass powder under normal pressure and at low temperatures below 800℃. The stable glass matrix completely replaces the traditional resin carrier, fundamentally solving industry pain points such as poor thermal stability, significant high-temperature light decay, and uneven phosphor distribution in resin-based phosphors. Data shows that the thermal conductivity of PIG products can reach 1-20 W/(k·m), far exceeding the level of resin materials below 0.2 W/(k·m). This allows for efficient heat conduction and temperature control during device operation, perfectly meeting the long-term operating requirements of high-power LED devices. At the same time, it achieves a significant breakthrough in color consistency, chemical stability, and service life. This performance upgrade precisely matches the core demands of my country's LED industry's transformation from "scale expansion" to "high-end quality improvement," becoming a core material support for high-end applications.
Policy dividends continue to pave the way for the industrialization of PIG products. my country's "14th Five-Year Plan" for new materials lists rare earth phosphors as a key technological breakthrough direction. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's "Guidance Catalog for the First Batch of Application Demonstrations of Key New Materials" explicitly includes high-performance fluorescent materials in the scope of support. It is estimated that the cumulative financial subsidies for related technology research projects will exceed 1.5 billion yuan before 2027, providing a solid guarantee for corporate R&D investment. At the same time, environmental protection and standards are accelerating industry iteration. The EU's new RoHS regulations have tightened the exemption period for cadmium-based phosphors to 2026, and domestic national standards such as the "Fluorescent Powder Brightness Test Method" are continuously improving industry norms, forcing companies to transform to lead-free, high-stability PIG technology routes. Multiple policies have been implemented to create a comprehensive industrial support system, accelerating the industrialization process of PIG products.
The explosive growth of downstream application markets provides broad application scenarios for PIG products. In the LED lighting field, the penetration rate of general lighting has exceeded 85%, and the demand for high-power, long-life products in scenarios such as road lighting and industrial lighting is surging. The temperature resistance advantage of PIG products makes them a core suitable material. The display field has become a major growth driver. With the continuous penetration of RGB Mini LED technology and the accelerated commercialization of Micro LED in 2026, the industry's demand for high-color gamut and high-brightness phosphorescent materials continues to rise. PIG products, with their uniform phosphor distribution characteristics, can accurately match the image quality upgrade needs of high-end display panels and have become a key focus for leading companies. The automotive display market also has huge potential. The upgrade of smart cockpits is driving the demand for high-brightness, anti-interference materials in HUDs and in-car screens. PIG products can meet the display requirements of tens of thousands of nits, and some solutions have already received mass production orders from car manufacturers. Furthermore, expansion into emerging fields such as medical imaging and laser display further broadens the market.
At the industry level, mainland China has built a complete industrial chain ecosystem for the development of PIG products. As a core base contributing over 40% of the global phosphor production capacity, the Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta regions have formed a complete industrial cluster from rare earth raw material processing and glass substrate preparation to LED device manufacturing, providing full-chain support for the large-scale production of PIG products. Leading companies have increased R&D investment, achieving breakthroughs in key areas such as glass substrate formula optimization, low-temperature sintering process improvement, and mass production yield improvement. Some companies have already achieved small-scale mass production, gradually breaking the overseas technological monopoly. At the same time, collaborative innovation between industry, academia, and research institutions continues to deepen. Companies and research institutions have jointly established laboratories, focusing on technological breakthroughs in automotive-grade and display-grade PIG products, accelerating the industrialization of technology while steadily reducing product costs, laying a solid foundation for large-scale popularization.
Looking ahead, PIG products in mainland China will show three clear development trends. First, technological iteration will continue to accelerate, with continuous breakthroughs in core indicators such as luminous efficiency, thermal conductivity, and yield. It is expected that PIG products with a luminous efficiency of 220 lm/W will achieve large-scale mass production around 2027, and customized formulations for specific scenarios will become a key focus of R&D. Secondly, the application scenarios are precisely segmented, forming differentiated solutions in areas such as automotive-grade HUDs, RGB Mini LED backlighting, and high-end medical imaging, adapting to the upgrading needs of emerging sectors such as intelligent cockpits and high-end displays. Thirdly, industry concentration is steadily increasing, and companies with independent intellectual property rights, large-scale mass production capabilities, and comprehensive solutions will dominate the market, driving the industry's transformation from "capacity competition" to "value competition."
Industry experts say that PIG products, as the next-generation core technology direction of the phosphor industry, precisely align with my country's high-quality development strategy for new materials. In the next five years, driven by policy support, technological innovation, and downstream demand, the market size of PIG products in mainland China will maintain rapid growth, and is expected to cultivate a number of leading enterprises with international competitiveness. As technological maturity and application penetration continue to improve, PIG products will completely reshape the LED phosphor industry landscape, enabling my country to gain a dominant position in the global high-end fluorescent materials field and achieve a leap from "a large industrial country" to "a strong industrial country."
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