BOE Board Finalizes New OLED Fab Project
The Board of Directors of China’s BOE (200725.CH) has approved the capitalization of its latest OLED fab project, a $3.98b US project to be constructed in the Beijing Economic & Technological Development Zone. The project is a Gen 6 OLED fab (1500x1850) that will sit on a 420,000 m2 site, and will be oriented toward the development and production of VR devices using micro-OLED technology. The fab will also be capable of producing mini-LED backlight products and will have capabilities for both LTPS and LTPO backplane technologies.
The fab construction is expected to begin next year and be completed in 2025, with mass production scheduled for 2026. BOE will be responsible for 11.5b RMB of the 29b RMB cost, with the remainder coming from a subsidiary of Beijing’s Economic Zone State-owned Asset Investment & Development program. As is typical of such state financed projects, BOE will own 79.31% of the project, despite providing 39.7% of the financing.
This project will give BOE the ability to produce VR oriented micro-displays, a capability it does not presently have, and will further the development of its LTPO backplane technology when it is in operation. LTPO is a key technology in that it combines the best aspects of LTPS and Oxide backplane technologies, but more to the point, is the backplane choice of Apple for OLED displays going forward. Currently Samsung Display (pvt) is the only high volume LTPO provider, with LG Display (LPL) beginning to commercialize the technology, so if BOE is to compete with SDC, they need to spread their LTPO know-how to as many potential Apple projects as possible. While Apple’s first foray into the XR world is expected to be produced by Sony (SNE) using micro-OLED, 2nd generation devices could be micro-OLED or micro-LED, both of which could be produced at the new BOE fab, according to the company, so it seems obvious that BOE is moving ahead with this project to gain ground with Apple. That said, the competition for a 2nd generation VR display out a few years, will be intense and while Samsung Display is the de facto leader in small panel OLED, micro-OLED displays are far more difficult to produce than current smartphone or current VR displays, which are still primarily LCD displays. While this project is an ambitious one, it will not be in production until 2026. A lot can happen in the interim.
The fab construction is expected to begin next year and be completed in 2025, with mass production scheduled for 2026. BOE will be responsible for 11.5b RMB of the 29b RMB cost, with the remainder coming from a subsidiary of Beijing’s Economic Zone State-owned Asset Investment & Development program. As is typical of such state financed projects, BOE will own 79.31% of the project, despite providing 39.7% of the financing.
This project will give BOE the ability to produce VR oriented micro-displays, a capability it does not presently have, and will further the development of its LTPO backplane technology when it is in operation. LTPO is a key technology in that it combines the best aspects of LTPS and Oxide backplane technologies, but more to the point, is the backplane choice of Apple for OLED displays going forward. Currently Samsung Display (pvt) is the only high volume LTPO provider, with LG Display (LPL) beginning to commercialize the technology, so if BOE is to compete with SDC, they need to spread their LTPO know-how to as many potential Apple projects as possible. While Apple’s first foray into the XR world is expected to be produced by Sony (SNE) using micro-OLED, 2nd generation devices could be micro-OLED or micro-LED, both of which could be produced at the new BOE fab, according to the company, so it seems obvious that BOE is moving ahead with this project to gain ground with Apple. That said, the competition for a 2nd generation VR display out a few years, will be intense and while Samsung Display is the de facto leader in small panel OLED, micro-OLED displays are far more difficult to produce than current smartphone or current VR displays, which are still primarily LCD displays. While this project is an ambitious one, it will not be in production until 2026. A lot can happen in the interim.
RSS Feed