Kopin received another US$18.6 million in project funding to increase its investment in full-color MicroLED micro displays

In October, micro-display technology company Kopin announced that it had received another US$18.6 million in IBAS project funding from the military to promote the research and development of full-color Micro LED micro-display technology and the construction of domestic manufacturing capabilities in the United States. So far, Kopin has received a total of US$34 million in IBAS project funds, equivalent to approximately RMB 240 million. This additional funding will support the development of two additional Micro LED display configurations, respectively for ground soldier equipment and pilot applications.

Kopin has received a total of US$34 million in IBAS funding

In September 2025, Kopin received US$15.4 million in funding from the US Department of Defense through the IBAS program for the first time, focusing on the development of ultra-high brightness, full-color Micro LED displays for augmented reality systems for ground soldiers, requiring products to adapt to different lighting environments.

In March 2026, Kopin won another Phase I Small Business Innovation Research Contract from the U.S. government to develop small-size, full-color Micro LED display technology for individual soldier applications. The additional funding of US$18.6 million means that the U.S. government continues to increase its investment in Kopin-related technologies, and the project focus has also extended from display technology development to more application configurations and local manufacturing capacity building.

Kopin said that the new funds will be used to develop two displays for specific ground soldiers and pilots, and to accelerate the construction of Micro LED manufacturing capabilities in the United States. Company CEO Michael Murray pointed out that the cumulative IBAS funding of US$34 million will support the development and manufacturing of high-performance Micro LED displays required for next-generation soldier and pilot systems, while also providing basic Micro LED platform technology for AI optical interconnect products.

Micro LED orders parallel expansion of AI optical interconnection

It is not difficult to find that Kopin has continued to bear fruit in the commercialization of Micro LED in recent years. Going forward to October 2025, it has received an order of approximately US$3.2 million to provide Micro LED displays for military aircraft upgrade projects to transform the head-up displays of existing aircraft. This order is Kopin’s first production order for this type of fighter display application, and the product is scheduled to be delivered in the second half of 2026.

On the basis of deep cultivation in the display field, Kopin has also followed the industry development trend and extended its technological development to the field of AI optical interconnection. In May this year, it reached a cooperation with the fabless semiconductor company Fabric.AI. The two parties aimed to develop Neural I/o optical interconnect technology based on Micro LED and received an initial development order of US$15 million.

The single-chip full-color brightness exceeded 150,000 nits, and local manufacturing was simultaneously promoted

The steady advancement of business expansion requires the support of technology and large-scale production capabilities. In this regard, Kopin is also simultaneously breaking through technical difficulties and strengthening production and manufacturing capabilities.

On July 14, Kopin announced three developments in the military full-color Micro LED project: the single-chip full-color Micro LED display brightness exceeded 150,000 nits, exceeding the threshold goal set by the project; full-color display technology continued to advance into the early integration of soldiers' comprehensive vision systems; new Micro LED bonding equipment arrived at the company's U.S. headquarters and started installation.

Among them, the brightness breakthrough provides technical support for the application of Micro LED in AR and mission-critical visual systems in strong light environments. As an important link in achieving precise bonding of backplanes and Micro LED arrays, bonding equipment will help Kopin establish its domestic manufacturing capabilities in the United States.

Kopin expected at the time that related products would enter the production stage in mid-2027. The above progress shows that the project is advancing from technology research and development to system integration and manufacturing capacity building, but it still needs to complete product development, verification and production introduction.

Second quarter revenue increased 51% year-on-year

With the development of business diversification and the growth of orders, Kopin's revenue in the second quarter of 2026 was US$12.7 million, a year-on-year increase of 51%; product revenue was US$7.6 million, a year-on-year increase of 2%; non-product revenue was US$5.1 million, a year-on-year increase of 433%, mainly including income from funded research and development, cooperation agreements, government grants, and licensing and royalties.

Overall, the U.S. government’s continued investment has provided financial support for Kopin’s full-color Micro LED research and development and local manufacturing. As the demand for high-brightness, low-power consumption and lightweight displays in military vision systems continues to grow, Kopin is expected to further transform project results into stable mass production orders and promote further growth in performance.