Aledia, a start-up spun off from CEA-Leti, has launched FlexiNova, its first product—an industrial platform that will scale production of microLEDs based on 3D nanowires. This world first stems from a deep, long-running collaboration with the CEA institute.

MicroLED technology overcomes limitations of mature LCD and OLED displays by using arrays of tiny light-emitting diodes as pixels, delivering superior energy efficiency, brightness, lifespan, and enabling transparent or flexible form factors. Aledia’s proprietary approach builds each microLED from a 3D gallium nitride (GaN) nanowire, offering gains in luminosity, power efficiency, pixel density, and operating voltage. The nanowires are grown atomically layer by layer via epitaxy on cost-effective silicon substrates (up to 300 mm diameter), avoiding the sapphire typically used.

“From its inception, Aledia launched a joint laboratory with CEA-Leti,” noted CEA-Leti CEO Sébastien Dauvé, tracing fundamental research back to 2006 at CEA-Irig. The partnership embodies lab-to-market support for Europe’s reindustrialization. In 2021, Aledia opened a factory in Champagnier, Isère, dedicated to this proprietary technology. The FlexiNova platform, reaching a milestone in January 2026, produces components such as 15x30 µm² 6V microLEDs assembled on a 400 µm pitch backplane. The devices also operate at 3 V, with 9 V soon, simplifying integration into TFT screen backplanes, a technology largely manufactured in Asia. Aledia now plans to accelerate FlexiNova’s market introduction and broaden its product range.

​Aledia, a CEA-Leti start-up, has announced the launch of FlexiNova, its first product. It is based on an industrial platform that will enable the company to scale up its production of microLED technology, which presents promising advantages for screen manufacturers. This world first is the fruit of a long-term collaboration with CEA-Leti.

​Current screens generally rely on two major technological innovations, LCD and OLED displays. “Both technologies are mature, but have a number of drawbacks," observed Jeannet Bernard, Key Account Manager at CEA-Leti.

MicroLEDs offer a new solution. This technology uses a multitude of tiny LEDs which emit light and form pixels in the display device. What's more, they feature improved energy efficiency, greater luminosity, a longer service life when compared with competing technologies, and the ability to develop transparent or flexible screens.

These microLEDs are core to the activities of Aledia, a CEA-Leti spin-off start-up, and with whom it has kept a strong tie since 2012. “From its inception, Aledia launched a joint laboratory with CEA-Leti, resulting in the company's innovations in the field of microLEDs," highlighted Sébastien Dauvé, CEA-Leti CEO. “CEA research on this technology actually began as early as 2006, at theInstitut de recherche interdisciplinaire de Grenoble (CEA-Irig).It's a good example of ourlab-to-marketsupport, which covers everything from fundamental research to industrial production, and, in our case, serves the reindustrialization of Europe."

This is how Aledia came to open a factory in Champagnier (Isère department) in 2021. A production site devoted to the company's proprietary technology: each microLED comprises a 3D gallium nitride (GaN) nanowire, a specificity that offers many advantages in terms of luminosity, energy efficiency, pixel density, and operating voltage.

These nanowires are produced by “epitaxy," a very precise process which involves growing them at the atomic level, one layer at a time. It is a procedure that is carried out on a silicon substrate, a less costly material than sapphires generally used for manufacturing microLEDs, with a diameter that will ultimately reach up to 300 mm.

In January 2026, Aledia's technology reached a milestone, and announced the launch of the FlexiNova platform.

Additionally, components can operate at 3 V or 6 V – and very soon, at 9 V –, making them very easy to integrate them into TFT (Thin Film Transistor) screens, technology that is essential for producing screens, and currently mostly produced in Asia.

Aledia now intends to accelerate the marketing of FlexiNova products, and to expand the platform's provision.

15x30 µm² 6V FlexiNOVA microLEDs assembled on a 400 µm pitch backplane

Read an interviewwith Félix Marchal,Chief Sales & Marketing Officer at Aledia, on the future of microLED technology and its place on the screen market of tomorrow and after tomorrow.​