Chengdu is site for BOE’s US$8.8bil diode unit

CHENGDU: Chinese semiconductor display manufacturer BOE Technology Group Co Ltd says it will invest US$8.8bil to set up a new active-matrix organic light-emitting diode or amoled production line in Chengdu, capital of south-west China’s Sichuan province.

The display giant signed an investment cooperation agreement on an 8.6th generation amoled production line with Chengdu Hi-Tech Industrial Development Zone last Wednesday, mainly to produce high-end touchscreens used in electronic devices like laptops and tablets.

The project will focus on the production of medium-sized amoled panels, with a design capacity of 32,000 glass substrates (at 2,290mm x 2,620mm) per month, and is expected to achieve mass production in the fourth quarter of 2026, said the company.

The first of its kind in China, the new production line will be capable of processing substrate with larger sizes, enhancing the efficiency of slicing medium-sized products and reducing production costs, the company said.

Additionally, by adopting new oled display technology, products from the new production line will have lower energy consumption and longer life span, which could better meet the usage demands of medium-sized IT products, BOE said.

Industry experts said the company’s latest move will further boost the development of flexible oled industrial clusters in Southwest China.

BOE has already invested in a number of oled display projects in the region, including three sixth-generation flexible amoled production lines in Chengdu and Mianyang in Sichuan province, and Chongqing.

Xie Ling, managing director of the south-western China region at CBRE, a US-based commercial real estate company, said the display industry in Sichuan, which is mainly located in the Chengdu Plain Economic Zone, is taking the lead globally. The province produced nearly 20% of the world’s flexible screens in 2022, she said.

Local officials said upon completion, the project, which is the largest single industrial project in terms of investment volume in Sichuan province, is expected to make Chengdu the largest flexible display panel production base in the country.

Official data showed the high-tech zone is home to more than 50 enterprises and over 20,000 professionals in the new display industry.

It has established a complete industry chain covering glass substrates, luminescent materials, photo-masks, optical films, panel manufacturing and terminal applications like mobile phones and automotive displays.

Oled is a relatively new technology and part of the latest innovations in displays. Compared with traditional liquid crystal displays or LCDs, it has a fast response rate, wide viewing angles, super-high-contrast images and richer colours.

Consumer demand for lighter, thinner and more portable laptops and tablets keeps stimulating the development of flexible, foldable and even free-form display panels, bringing vast market prospects for medium-sized oled display products.

Data from market research company Display Supply Chain Consultants showed that shipments of oled screens used in high-end IT markets will increase to 44 million units in 2026, with a compound annual growth rate of 51%. — China Daily/ANN