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Gen 10.5 Fabs to Change the Landscape of Large Area Displays
October 17, 2017

With competition in the TV panel market gradually mounting in the 55-inch and greater segment, some makers have been aggressively investing in new 10.5G production lines, including: China's BOE, HKC and CSOT; Japan's Sakai Display Products (SDP); U.S. Foxconn and Korea's LG Display. For their 10.5 production, panel makers are mostly eyeing 65-inch and above 4K-8K applications that will facilitate their competition in the high-end TV panel market.

• BOE's 10.5G line began construction in December 2015 with an investment of CNY40 billion (US$6.25 billion). The facility is planned to be used for manufacturing 65-inch and above Ultra HD panels and will be able to roll out 120,000 glass substrates a month after entering mass production. The plant will start operation in the second quarter of 2018. BOE was one of the earlier developers of 8K panels. The company was chosen by Japan's NHK as an 8K display supplier in 2014 and conducted a nationwide tour in Japan to demonstrate its 8K technology. During the 2016 Rio Summer Olympics, BOE's 98-inch 8K TV did its first 8K live broadcast at Rio's Museum of Tomorrow. At Mobile World Congress (MWC) 2017, BOE also showcased its 110-inch 8K display at Huawei's booth. The display is currently the largest 8K display in the world.

 

• CSOT announced a plan to establish a 10.5G line in November 2016, investing a total of CNY53.8 billion. The facility is designed to process 120,000 glass substrates a month, but will only deliver half of that amount initially. Mass production is planned for the first half of 2019 and the capacity will be used to manufacture 43-, 65- and 75-inch LCD and OLED panels for 8K devices.
• China-based HKC, a newcomer to the LCD panel industry who has already invested in an 8.6G LCD production line, originally planned to build a 10.5G LCD production line, but has aborted the plan because of the failure to acquire government approval.
• SDP, which is indirectly controlled by the Foxconn Group, signed a cooperation framework agreement with the city government of Guangzhou, China in December 2016. The two sides have agreed to invest CNY61 billion to establish a 10.5G production line in Zengcheng district of the city and will construct factories for manufacturing displays, smart TVs and digital whiteboard products as well as develop high-end display technology and applications. SDP's 10.5G facility will use indium gallium zinc oxide (IGZO) technology for its panel production and will start mass production by the end of 2019. The facility is scheduled to manufacture 8K LCD panels and will process 90,000 glass substrates a month. It will supply industrial applications for sectors including industrial Internet of Things (IoT), IoV, entertainment, medical care, education and security. Since Nikon is the only toolmaker capable of supplying manufacturing coater/developer equipment for 10.5G lines, SDP and LGD may see delays in starting 10.5G mass production.
• LG Display announced a plan to establish its 10.5G P10 fab in Paju, South Korea in December 2015. The P10 factory was planned for the production of large-size OLED TV panels and flexible OLED used in products including smartwatch and car-use display. LG Display will invest up to KRW10 trillion (US$9 billion) for the production line and mass production is scheduled for the first half of 2018. The latest information indicates that the P10 factory will give priority to small- to medium-size applications as the LGD strives to get qualified by Apple for its smartphone OLED panels. LGD is the only large-size OLED panel developer in the industry currently. In January 2013, LGD unveiled its 55-inch OLED TV panels that were already capable of being mass-produced. In October 2013, the company announced its 6-inch flexible OLED panel adopting a plastic substrate for smartphones. In September 2014, the panel maker displayed a 1.3-inch round-shape flexible OLED panel for smartwatches. In May 2016, LG Display showcased at SID 2016 a 12.3-inch curved OLED panel with plastic substrate, a 65-inch concaved OLED panel, a 77-inch Ultra HD OLED panel for TV.
• Foxconn is also preparing to build a Gen 10.5 OLED fab in Wisconsin and will use IGZO backplanes.

 
Table 1: Gen 10.5 Fabs by Location

 Source: Digitimes Research, OLED-A
 
Chinese display makers have caught up with Korean companies in terms of the number of large LCD panels. China's No. 1 display maker, BOE is now the leading supplier worldwide. According to market researcher IHS Markit on October 1, BOE was #1 in August with 13.32 million LCD panel (over 9 inches. BOE was followed by LG Display (11,910,000 units), Taiwan’s Innolux (11,022,000 units), Taiwan’s AOU (11,030,000 units) and Samsung Display (5,461,000 units). Overall shipments totaled 62.3 million units, up 6.6 percent from July. LG Display was #1 in the February to June period but was second to BOE for two consecutive months in July and August. BOE recently started MP at its Gen 8.5 fab.  As additional production lines are ready for MP, BOE's #1 position will be further cemented. China rose to the top of the world by outclassing Taiwan for the first time in shipments of large LCD TVs in July. China's share is still expanding mainly in the LCD sector.
China is also expected to add OLED capacity and BOE hopes to ship flexible OLED products for smartphones at its Chengdu plant this month. This is the first time that a Chinese company produces OLED products for smartphones on a full scale.