A micro-light emitting diode (micro-LED) display backplane includes a plurality of macro-pixels. Each macro-pixel includes: a contiguous two-dimensional (2-D) array of bitcells storing display data bits for driving a set of micro-LEDs of a 2-D array of micro-LEDs; and drive circuits configured to generate, based on the display data bits stored in the contiguous 2-D array of bitcells, pulse-width modulated (PWM) drive signals for driving the set of micro-LEDs of the 2-D array of micro-LEDs. In one example, the plurality of macro-pixels is grouped into a plurality of sub-arrays, where each sub-array of the plurality of sub-arrays includes a set of macro-pixels and a local periphery circuit next to the set of macro-pixels. The local periphery circuit includes, for example, a buffer, a repeater, a clock gating circuit for gating an input clock signal to the sub-array, and/or a sub-array decoder for selecting the sub-array.