Chinese suppliers poised to dominate OLED market
Chinese companies are about to catch up with South Korean companies in the global OLED industry. Last year, the former’s market share topped 10 percent for the first time with the government backing. What is going on in the industry is the same as what happened in the LCD industry three years ago.
The Korea Display Industry Association announced on March 14 that China’s share in the global smartphone AMOLED market was 13.2 percent last year. It stood at 1.1 percent in 2016 but jumped to 9.8 percent in 2019.
BOE boosted its market share from 0.1 percent to 8.8 percent from 2017 to last year. In addition, it passed Apple’s meticulous quality tests last year. In the second half of 2020, it began to supply 6.1-inch OLED panels for use in the iPhone 12.
The other Chinese manufacturers including CSOT, Tianma and EDO are rapidly increasing their investments, too. More than 20 OLED production lines are currently under construction or being planned in China.
The investment expansion is exactly the same as what happened in the LCD market three years ago, when the Chinese companies including BOE and CSOT expanded their 10.5th-generation manufacturing facilities to a large extent. They churned out LCD panels and sold them at prices about 30 percent lower than those of South Korean products. Under the circumstances, the average price of 55-inch 4K LCD panels dropped from US$192 to US$100 from August 2017 to December 2019.
In the OLED industry, there is still a gap between the technological strengths of South Korean and Chinese suppliers. However, the latter are increasing their presence in the market with their much cheaper products.
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