Source of this article: Times Weekly Author: Zheng Xutong
[Editor's Note]
Global manufacturing industry is undergoing a new round of industrial transformation and transformation and upgrading. As one of the most developed manufacturing regions in the world, the transformation of manufacturing industry in Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has always been at the forefront of the industry, playing the role of pioneers and pathfinders.
In 2022, the Times Weekly Industry and Economics Department launched the annual special topic of "Bay Area Intelligent Manufacturing Power", which went deep into the Greater Bay Area manufacturing industry belt, recorded the major changes in the manufacturing industry under the new wave, and provided samples and experience for manufacturing enterprises. Since commercial use,
LCD (liquid crystal) technology has experienced several capacity transfer cycles: it was concentrated in Japan before 2000, transferred to South Korea after 2000, and after 2010, Japanese and Korean manufacturers gradually withdrew and transferred production capacity to China.
As a concentration of home appliances and IT companies, the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area is at the forefront of the times and has become one of the most concentrated areas for LCD panel manufacturers.
Now, panel companies located in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area are still undertaking global LCD panel production capacity. According to Omida data, in 2020, more than half of the global LCD panel production capacity comes from China, and this proportion is expected to increase to 60% by 2023.
undertakes LCD panel production capacity. At the same time, panel companies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area such as Shenzhen Tianma A (000050.SZ), TCL Technology (000100.SZ), Huike Co., Ltd. also need to face challenges such as cyclical decline in LCD panel prices and new display technologies such as OLED. Under the new situation, manufacturers must think about the technological improvement and application space of LCD.
Recently, Wang Zui, director of TCL Huaxing MNT development platform, told the Times Weekly reporter that since its establishment, TCL Huaxing has been doing HVA (a VA technology that can achieve liquid crystal molecular alignment) technology, applied to LCD panels. To date, HVA has gradually improved in material systems, process technology, and pixel design.
"In 2019, Huaxing officially entered the MNT (display) field, bringing demand for HVA technology. TCL Huaxing now hopes to build a technology brand around HVA technology." Wang Zui said.
HVA technology and Mini LED backlight solutions are improved technologies for traditional LCDs, helping LCD panel manufacturers to grow to the high-end market. In terms of application, high-end MNT, e-sports screen and other products have become a powerful tool for panel manufacturers to hedge against the decline in overall panel prices of .
Source: Tuchuang Creative
Greater Bay Area Panel Industry Evolution
Most Chinese panel companies have risen in the past 10 years, making the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area a major LCD industry center.
In 2006, Shenzhen Tianma Microelectronics began to build the first 4.5-generation TFT-LCD production line; in 2009, TCL invested in and established Huaxing Optoelectronics in Shenzhen, and then built from the t1 production line to the t10 production line; in 2015, Shenzhen enterprise Huike Co., Ltd. began to invest in the LCD panel production line.
After years of precipitation, according to Qunzhi Consulting data, TCL Huaxing, Huike and BOE became the top 3 Chinese companies with the largest shipment area of LCD TV panels last year. The process of laying out the
LCD production line is also the process of panel manufacturers gradually accumulating core technologies.
Take TCL Huaxing as an example. Technically, in 2010, TCL Huaxing was still building a t1 production line and began to independently develop HVA technology. At that time, MPA and PVA technologies on the market were owned by Japanese and Korean manufacturers and were important technical competitiveness of manufacturers; in 2019, TCL Huaxing developed under-screen fingerprint recognition products suitable for LCD screens. On the
production line, in 2017, TCL Huaxing's first domestic first 6th generation LTPS (low-temperature polycrystalline silicon) liquid crystal panel production line (t3) in the small screen field, mass production; in 2018, the 11th generation TFT-LCD and AMOLED new display device project t6 was put into production, and the 11th generation ultra-high-definition new display device project (t7) began to advance; in 2021, TCL Huaxing built the 6th generation oxide semiconductor new display production line (t9) to produce ultra-high-definition display panels and Micro-LED products.
As several LCD production lines in the Greater Bay Area are rolling out, display materials and technologies in the LCD field are gradually iterating, and application areas are also expanding.
Recently, LCD has begun to evolve towards Mini LED and Micro LED backlight solutions. IT products, display screens such as in-car, e-sports, and large-size high-end TVs have become new growth points for LCD panels.
Times Weekly reporter learned that last year, TCL Huaxing PCT international patent applications amounted to 1,954, and as of the first quarter of this year, its global patent applications totaled 55,007.
10 years of technical accumulation has made panel companies in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area such as TCL Huaxing become LCD leaders. However, facing the recent decline in panel prices and new display technologies such as OLED, technological improvement is still very necessary.
Since the second half of 2021, LCD panel prices have begun to decline, and the price has not stopped falling and rebounded so far. According to Episode data, in early June this year, the prices of LCD TV panels in multiple sizes fell to historical lows, of which 32-inch and 43-inch fell about US$5 to US$6, and the prices of some sizes fell by more than 50% compared with last year's highs.
For this reason, Gao Xiang, director of TCL Huaxing MNT product planning department, told the Times Weekly reporter that the market downturn is a good opportunity for product upgrades and structural adjustments. At this point in time, the upstream and downstream of the industry are unwilling to see price wars. At this time, manufacturers can promote technology upgrades, avoid price competition, and make the ecology more benign.
production capacity continues to be optimized and upgraded
Overall panel demand is sluggish, and product upgrades have become a major theme in the LCD industry this year.
Source: Tuchuang Creative
TCL Huaxing recently decided to focus on promoting HVA technology. Wang Zui told the Times Weekly reporter that VA technology has the characteristics of high contrast and suitable for surface display, while HVA has certain advantages in cost and process efficiency compared to other VA technologies.
Previously, with the expansion of TCL Huaxing's production line and putting higher requirements on technology, HVA technology has experienced years of development and entered the MNT field in 2019. At present, HVA is mainly used in high-end e-sports display and hairpin screen products, and is aimed at e-sports, financial industries and To B business enterprises.
"This year, the MNT market is down. This time node allows HVA technology to combine product application and there are several structural adjustment opportunities. First, high resolution. Under the trend of large-size, users have high requirements for picture quality, and this segment has grown rapidly; second, high refresh rate, high refresh rate synchronous graphics cards and motherboard upgrades can stimulate consumer demand; in addition, higher-end products such as Mini LED also have market demand." Gao Xiang said.
Specifically for the Mini LED backlight panel that has grown rapidly in the past two years, Wang Zui told the Times Weekly reporter that the advantage of Mini LED backlight is that it can display local highlights or darkness, and the picture has a strong sense of layering. However, if the LCD itself does not have enough details, halos and atomization will occur. The application of HVA technology to Mini LED products can solve this problem.
At the same time, facing the OLED panels that are still expensive, LCDs equipped with Mini LED solutions are currently continuously lowered, which can use HVA and other technologies to improve competitiveness.
According to Wang Zui, there is still room for improvement in subsequent HVA technology, and the optimization direction will also explore the development of low-power product in terms of rapid response and penetration.
As of now, manufacturers improve technology and promote product structure optimization are a major strategy to hedge against the downward trend in market demand. For example, in the face of sluggish demand for mid- and low-end TV panels, BOE has two LCD panel production lines acquired from China Electric Panda, which can produce the added value IT panels.
TCL raised funds at the beginning of this year to build a factory for the production of IT monitors, vehicle monitors, and medical professional monitors.
With the transformation and upgrading of enterprises, the panel industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area will usher in a new round of development. While expanding production capacity, it will also continuously optimize production capacity and upgrade technology.
