TI's DLP technology

If you are not a practitioner in the semiconductor-related industry, it is estimated that the company Texas Instruments (TI) will be relatively unfamiliar.

TI neither provides influential terminal products like Apple and Huawei, nor does it occupy most of the time we use mobile phones like Tencent and ByteDance, but invisible does not mean it does not exist. TI is like air. Although it is invisible and intangible, it has always existed around us. It is a great hider.

Start with little-known black technology

When you use a projector in a company to give PPT presentations or receive training; when you watch Hollywood blockbusters, chase dramas, and play games in your home theater; when you participate in concerts, awards ceremonies and other large-scale public events... These scenes have TI's figure. At present, more than 90% of projectors on the market use TI's DLP technology, and DLP cinema technology also occupies more than 80% of cinema screens.

However, behind this black technology that benefits mankind, Texas Instruments has an extremely difficult research and development experience.

In 1977, a team led by Texas Instruments scientist Dr. Larry Hornbeck began to study the reflection principle that can control the light source, and it was a technology called DLP to be conquered. DLP technology is digital light processing, which is a technology that digitally processes image signals and then projects light.

In order to overcome the DLP technology, Dr. Larry Hornbeck started research and development in 1977, and officially developed it in 1987. It was not until 1996 that TI solved all the problems and successfully commercialized it. In this 20-year R&D process, TI has invested a lot of money and resources. There are even rumors that TI has spent so much on this project that it has not yet achieved profitability.

From the commercialization in 1996 to today, more than 20 years later, during this period, countless startups have tried other technical solutions, hoping to get a share of the pie with TI, but they have all failed. In the field of projectors, TI's DLP technology is unparalleled in the world.