TCL CSOT has finalised its plans to disrupt the OLED display manufacturing industry, and will start construction of a massive 8.6-generation OLED production line later this year.
That’s according to an exclusive report by FlatpanelsHD, which says the information comes not from TCL CSOT, but from UBI Research, one of the most respected display industry analyst firms.
The report says TCL CSOT, which is one of the world’s leading LCD display manufacturers, having helped to boot LG Display and Samsung Display out of that business, is now looking to scale up its capabilities in OLED and grab a bigger share of that market too.
TCL CSOT has been trying to position its inkjet-printed RGB OLED technology as a superior and lower-cost alternative to LG Display’s WOLED panels and Samsung Display’s QD-OLED technology.
UBI Research says that now the company has perfected its manufacturing technique, it has now created an investment plan to fund the construction of its new OLED factory. It will break ground in October, and the company hopes to install production equipment by the end of next year. If so, that would mean it’s likely to be up and running at full capacity by 2027.
Its capacity will be huge. According to UBI, the company’s T8 facility will house two 8.6G production lines and be able to manufacture 45,000 substrates per month, though initially it will begin with just one line. Those substrates can then be cut into smaller displays for televisions, monitors and mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.
In contrast, Samsung Display’s upcoming A6 production line for QD-OLED will only be able to produce 15,000 substrates per month, while LG Display’s new line, which is being built at its factory in Paju, South Korea, will have a capacity of between 7,500 and 15,000 substrates per month.
Another Chinese display maker, BOE, has previously announced plans for an OLED plant that will eventually be able to manufacture 33,000 OLED substrates per month.
As such, TCL CSOT’s OLED T8 plant will be one of the world’s biggest, and it will reportedly cost less to build than those of its rivals.
The T8 line will be built nearby TCL CSOT’s existing T9 OLED facility in Guangzhou, China, and is expected to cost in the region of 20 billion yuan (around £2.05 billion).
TCL CSOT’s inkjet-printing process is quite different from the method employed by LG Display and Samsung Display. It uses an extremely precise printing mechanism to deposit the OLED pixels onto the panels, whereas the Korean companies spray them on with the aid of a mask, which results in lots of material wastage. Hence, TCL CSOT claims it can dramatically reduce the costs associated with OLED display manufacturing.
The company has been working on this process for years, and first revealed its ambitions way back in 2020, when it said it hoped to gear up for mass production by 2024. It hasn’t quite done that yet, but it has had a limited production operation up and running since last year. In the intervening years, it has shown off numerous inkjet-printed OLED panel concepts. Most recently, in May, it showcased a full slate of devices ranging from televisions to smartphones and laptops, that were fitted with its OLED technology.
Although TCL CSOT has not yet made any announcements, UBI Research believes it will do so soon, perhaps even later this month, though it warns that the company still needs to overcome some technical challenges if it’s to properly compete with LG Display and Samsung Display.
Among the challenges it cites are the need to increase the brightness and lifespan of its panels. There’s also room for improvement in terms of its large-area uniformity and production yields, which suggests the inkjet printing process may not be as reliable as those used by its rivals.
Nonetheless, it seems clear that China is gunning for South Korea’s leadership in the OLED display industry, with TCL CSOT and BOE leading the way, and another Chinese display maker called Visionox also working on its own manufacturing techniques.
