TCL’s display making division has confirmed that it’s moving away from its sole focus on LCD displays, with a massive 29.5 billion yuan (around £3.05 billion) investment into a new inkjet printed OLED manufacturing facility.
The investment has been rumoured for months, and this week’s announcement makes the company’s plans official. TCL CSOT plans to open its new 8.6-generation OLED plant, named T8, in around two years’ time. It’ll be located next to the company’s existing Mini-LED manufacturing facility in Guangzhou, China, according to a report by the South Korean tech news website The Elec.
According to TCL CSOT, the plan is to mass produce OLED panels built on an 8.6G (2,290mm x 2,620mm) process. When it launches, it will have an initial production capacity of around 22,500 substrates per month, which can then be cut into smaller panels.
The T8 line will significantly expand TCL CSOT’s OLED panel manufacturing business, which is currently limited to its existing 5.5G T5 facility. There, it mainly produces smaller OLED substrates for smartphones and tablets.
To begin with, TCL CSOT is looking to manufacture OLED panels for devices such as notebooks, monitors and tablets, but it is eventually planning to use the facility to produce larger panels for televisions, only it hasn’t said when this will happen.
The company believes its inkjet-printing process will be more efficient and affordable than the techniques used by Samsung Display and LG Display, which should make its OLED displays more competitive in terms of pricing. The Korean companies manufacture their OLED panels in vacuum chambers, using a process known as thermal evaporation. It involves spraying the OLED pixel materials onto the displays with a metal mask. Samsung Display uses a similar process to create its QD-OLED panels.
On the other hand, TCL CSOT’s inkjet printing method uses a more precise printer that applies the OLED materials exactly where they need to go. Such a method can significantly reduce waste, lowering production costs, but it’s more difficult to implement. TCL said it will manufacture RGB OLED panels that promise vivid colours, with high resolution and enhanced energy efficiency.
At SID Display Week 2025 in May, TCL CSOT showcased a whole range of inkjet-printed OLED panels, with sizes ranging from 6.5-inches to 65-inches, suggesting it has the ability to make them for just about every kind of modern device.
The most interesting prototype on show was TCL CSOT’s 65-inch OLED display, which is obviously aimed at televisions, but although it did look impressive, with gorgeous colours and high brightness, the company did not reveal the specifications for that panel.
When TCL CSOT starts making OLED TV panels, it could prove to be quite disruptive in a market segment that’s currently dominated by LG Display’s WOLED and Samsung Display’s QD-OLED technologies, especially if it lives up to its promises regarding costs and performance.
The company said it’s planning to break ground on T8 in November, with construction expected to take around 24 months to complete. If so, then it seems that late 2027 will be the earliest date we can expect to see its OLED products hit the market, though given the potential for delays and the need to install and test production equipment, 2028 is more likely.
