Chinese display corporations are accelerating investment in 8.6-generation organic light-emitting diode (OLED) equipment, poised to be the game changer in the global display panel market. In addition to BOE, which has already begun building a factory and is working to stabilize production, CSOT and Visionox are also moving to place equipment orders for large-scale investments.
According to the industry on the 27th, CSOT and Visionox are reviewing orders for OLED deposition equipment from major equipment makers in Korea and Japan, and the orders are expected to be placed in the first half of this year. Earlier, CSOT announced an investment plan for an 8.6-generation OLED factory in September last year and broke ground in Guangzhou in October last year. The line is an 8.6-generation OLED line using inkjet printing, with a total investment of about 29.5 billion yuan (2.8433 trillion won) and a reported monthly capacity of 22,500 sheets on average.
The OLED inkjet printing method is a manufacturing process that forms patterns by spraying OLED materials in the form of liquid ink onto the substrate. Because it uses liquid form, the process is simpler, reducing equipment investment expense and shortening process time, and material utilization is cited as over 90%, reducing material loss compared with deposition.
Visionox is also said to be proceeding with investment in an 8.6-generation OLED production line in Hefei, Anhui Province, China. According to the company, it is envisioning the "world's first 8.6-generation OLED production line based on FMM-free technology." The technology deposits emissive materials at the pixel level without a fine metal mask (FMM), an approach aimed at reducing the complexity and expense burden of the existing FMM process. According to Chinese local media, as of early this year, about 65% of the plant's structural work had been completed, with cleanroom delivery and equipment move-in scheduled for the second quarter.
In particular, the two corporations are reportedly in talks to place orders for key equipment with display equipment corporations in Korea and Japan. The most likely candidates include Sunic System, which is already supplying 8.6-generation deposition equipment to BOE, and Canon Tokki of Japan, a partner of Samsung Display. Officially, both companies say nothing has been finalized, but since the industry sees effectively only the two corporations as capable of supplying 8.6-generation deposition equipment, orders are expected to be placed within the year.
An 8.6-generation OLED production line uses substrates about 2.2 to 2.25 times larger than the mainstream 6th generation, allowing more IT panels to be cut from the same mother glass. Switching from 6th to 8.6th generation increases 14.5-inch laptop panel output by about 2.17 times per mother glass and can reduce total panel manufacturing cost by about 32%. A display industry official said, "This is not just about improving OLED production efficiency; it can streamline production unit costs enough to break the preconception that OLED is too expensive to adopt."
Competition is expected to intensify between Samsung Display in Korea, which will be the first to begin mass production of 8.6-generation OLEDs, and Chinese corporations. Observers say the power struggle between Korea and China will deepen. An official at market research firm UBI Research said, "As with the past LCD supremacy battle, whether China seizes the lead by breaking prices through massive investment, or Korea consolidates its edge through early mass production and Production yield, will be decided in the 8.6-generation OLED production race."