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[SID 2023 Keynote] Tianma leaps forward to become one of the top 3 global display makers with the ‘2+1+N’ strategy

SID2023 Tianma Keynote

SID2023 Tianma Keynote

At SID 2023 held in Los Angeles, USA, Charles Peng, chairman of Tianma, delivered a keynote speech under the theme of ‘New Trends and Strategies for the Display Industry’. Chairman Charles Peng predicted that the proportion of LCD applied to smartphone displays will continue to decrease, while the proportion of AMOLED will increase and exceed 50% by 2024.

Chairman Peng said “By 2025, smartphone shipments with LTPO backplanes will reach 50%. Currently, Tianma is sequentially supplying AMOLED with LTPO backplane to flagship and foldable models and LTPS backplane to high-end and mid-range models.”

Chairman Peng continued, “In the current display market, the shipments of products with 150 ppi or more account for only 13%, but account for 60% of the total display market revenue, and products with 150 ppi or less account for 87% of shipments, but the market revenue is 40%. “It is important to capture the outstanding profitability of displays with high added value and high resolution.” Chairman Peng said, “In line with this trend, Tianma is pursuing a ‘2+1+N’ strategy that expands two core businesses such as smartphones and displays for automobiles, one core growth business for IT displays, and value-added businesses such as industries and applications. We will leap forward to become one of the world’s top three display companies.”

▶ 2023 Small OLED Display Annual Report Sample Download

Tianma’s OLED shipments for smartphones were second only to BOE among Chinese makers

TIANMA

TIANMA

It was found that Tianma, a Chinese OLED panel supplier, supplied the second most OLED panels for smartphones after BOE in the first quarter of 2023. In the meantime, among Chinese companies, Visionox has always been in second place after BOE in OLED shipments for smartphones, but it gave way to Tianma for the first time in this first quarter.

Tianma’s major customers include Xiaomi, Vivo, Oppo, Honor, and Lenovo. It is analyzed that one of the reasons for Tianma’s increase in OLED shipments is that it brought some of TCL CSOT’s shipments to Xiaomi.

Thanks to orders from Xiaomi, Tianma’s panel shipments have soared since the fourth quarter of last year. Tianma’s OLED panel shipments for smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2022 increased by about 3 times compared to the previous quarter, and in the first quarter of 2023, OLED panel shipments for smartphones reached 8.5 million units, an increase of 430% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

If this atmosphere continues, it is analyzed that there is a possibility that Tianma will overtake Visionox and produce the second largest number of OLED panels for smartphones after BOE in China for the first time this year.

▶ China Trend Report Inquiry

[UBI Research China Trend Report] Chinese Panel Makers’ Total Shipments of OLED Panels for Smartphones in the Fourth Quarter of 2021 Increased by 26% Compared to the Third Quarter

26% Increase in Total Shipments of Chinese OLED Panels for Smartphones in the Fourth Quarter compared to the Third Quarter

 

According to UBI Research’s ‘February 1st China Trend Report’, total shipments of OLED panels for smartphones by Chinese panel makers in the fourth quarter of 2021 were 44.8 million units, a 26% increase from 35.57 million units in the previous quarter. By company, BOE shipped 20.9 million units and occupied a 46.7% share, followed by Visionox with 9.7 million units, EverDisplay Optronics with 5.5 million units, CSOT with 5.5 million units, and Tianma with 3.1 million units.

 

By substrate, flexible OLED panel shipments were the highest for BOE with 20.9 million units, followed by CSOT with 5.5 million units, Visionox with 4.7 million units, and Tianma with 3 million units. BOE’s panel shipments increased the most compared to the previous quarter with an increase of 5.3 million units, followed by Visionox by 1.9 million units and Tianma by 1 million units. CSOT’s panel shipments decreased by 300,000 units from the previous quarter.

In the field of rigid OLED panel shipments, EverDisplay Optronics shipped 5.54 million units, a decrease of 80,000 units compared to the third quarter, but maintained the No. 1 position in rigid OLED panel shipments with a market share of 52%. Visionox, in second place, shipped 5.04 million units, up 43% QoQ, chasing EverDisplay Optronics. Tianma’s rigid OLED panel shipments were 120,000 units, accounting for only 1%.

The details can be found in the UBI Research China Trend Report, and inquiries can be made on the UBI Research website.

[UBI Research China Trend Report] BOE Dominates OLED Shipments for Smartphones in October

According to the ‘China Trend Report for the 1st week of December’ published by UBI Research recently, Among Chinese companies, BOE maintained the No. 1 position with an overwhelming share in OLED panel shipments for smartphones in October.

According to the report, in the flexible OLED shipments by Chinese companies in October, BOE had the most with 5.2 million units, followed by CSOT with 1.6 million units, Tianma with 1 million units, and Visionox with 940,000 units. In terms of market share, BOE was 59%, followed by CSOT, Tianma, and Visionox with 18%, 12%, and 11%, respectively.

As for Rigid OLED shipments, EverDisplay Optronics had the most with 1.7 million units and Visionox mass-produced 950,000 units. In terms of market share, EverDisplay Optronics accounted for 65% and Visionox 35%. Tianma, which previously mass-produced a small amount of rigid OLED, did not mass-produce rigid OLED panels in October.

Merck’s Blue Ink Material Lifetime Announced 65% Improvement Year-over-Year.

At ‘Display Insight 2021’ held online on November 4th, ‘Joachim Kaiser’, global application manager of Merck, presented ‘Our OLED solutions – livilux®’. When presenting the ink portion of livilux’s OLED materials, Kaiser noted that “Inkjet printing is the only technology that combines RGB parallel pixel layout with scalability for large display sizes”.

Kaiser announced “Maximizing the performance of IJP devices requires a thorough understanding and optimization of state-of-the-art OLED materials, ink formulations optimized for each application, and the entire device stack” and “Merck can get a lot of benefits from IJP performance improvement from its experience in developing materials for deposition”.

Comparing the performance announced by Merck last year and this year, the luminous efficiency (cd/A) of red increased by 46% compared to the previous year, green by 10%, and blue did not change. External quantum efficiency (EQE) was 34.1%, increased by 20% for red, and 28%, increased by 5% for green, and there was no change in blue like the luminous efficiency. In terms of lifespan, 20% for green and 65% for blue were greatly improved. The lifespan of the red is 4,000 hours based on LT95 (last year’s red’s lifespan was 8,300 hours based on LT95), and it is being optimized to increase the lifetime reduced by improving efficiency.

Kaiser emphasized, “At Merck, we are constantly working to provide solutions to the problems of OLED panel design, such as improving the efficiency of Blue OLED, a new kind of emitter, and RGB side-by-side printing technology.”

Wuhan Tianma 6G OLED line installation delay

The Tianma T4 plant in Wuhan has continued to produce even during the corona period, and the core equipment of the ph2 6G OLED line has already been brought in, but the equipment set-up is delayed due to the inability of overseas equipment companies to enter Wuhan.

In recent, as the number of corona virus spreaders in China, including Wuhan, has declined, equipment set-up is expected to resume from the second quarter, and mass production is expected to start after the third quarter.

The ph2 of Tianma T4 was signed on June 1, 2018, and a total of RMB 14.5 billion was invested. When the Ph2 setup is complete, the Tianma T4 plant will have a total of 35K Capa in 6G.

Following OLED, notch design to LCD becomes a marketing trend in 2018?

At the 6th China Information Technology Expo (CITE 2018) held in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China from April 8 to 11, 2018, a number of panel makers and set makers exhibited notch-designed display panels and smart phones.

In CITE 2018, five panel manufacturers exhibited in CITE 2018; BOE, EDO, GVO, Tianma and CSOT. Among them, BOE, Tianma and CSOT exhibited notch-designed display panels.

First, BOE introduced 6.2-inch OLED panels applied with notched design. The OLED panel exhibited by BOE has a resolution of 2992 x 1440 with 537 ppi and 400 nit brightness.

LCD panels also began to adopt Notch Design. Tianma presented a 6.18-inch LCD panel with a notch design. CSOT also exhibited two 6.25-inch LCD panels and a 6.18-inch LCD panel applied with notched design.

<’Notch design’ display panels exhibited in CITE 2018>

Vivo, a Smartphone maker, also exhibited the X21 with a notch design. The X21, released in March, has a resolution of 1080 x 2280 with 6.28 inch screen.

<Vivo X21, OLED Smartphone with notch design>

Since Apple first unveiled its OLED smart phone with the notch design on iPhone X, a number of smart phone makers such as Vivo, Oppo, and Huawei have begun to release OLED smart phones. In this exhibition, many panel makers presented a large number of LCD panels to which Notch Design is applied. Attention is growing whether Notch Design can become a trend in the small and medium sized display market in 2018.

At the 10th CAR-ELE JAPAN, Many Companies Unveiled Automotive OLED Display and Lighting

By Hana Oh (hanaoh@ubiresearch.com)

OLED display and lighting are expected to become increasingly applied to the interior and exterior of automobiles.

At CES 2018, Samsung Electronics introduced the OLED-applied dashboard. LG Electronics unveiled the center fascia with 14-inch OLED, and OLED set makers continue to exhibit their OLED applications for automobiles.

At the 10th CAR-ELE JAPAN held in TOKYO BIG SIGHT(Tokyo International Exhibition Center) on 17th, several companies including Tianma and Truly exhibited automotive OLED displays and lighting.

Tianma exhibited 4.2-inch, 5.46-inch and 5.99-inch OLED panels. The 5.99-inch OLED was a full-screen OLED, and the company official said “The full screen will be applied not only to mobile devices but also to automobiles such as CIDs and navigation systems due to the nature of automotive displays sensitive to visual impacts.” It is said they produced the OLED Panel with high luminance, including 5.46-inch and 4.2-inch OLED with luminance of 650 cd/m2, ensuring good high visibility under sunlight. In addition, they announced that they will manufacture unbreakable flexible type of OLED even though the exhibited OLEDs were all rigid type.

<Tianma’s Automotive OLED Panel>

Truly exhibited 5.5-inch OLED panel. The company’s official mentioned that although they can not disclose detailed specifications, it should be further developed in terms of reliability for the application to the current automotive displays. In addition, they announced that automotive potentials such as autonomous vehicles are so huge that the importance of displays that can provide visual information will become even more important, and therefore they will invest in it.

Lastly, Nippon Electric Glass introduced OLED lighting which was created in collaboration with OLEDWorks. “This was created as interior lights and taillights for vehicles.” and “The OLED lighting substrate uses IEL(internal extraction layer) to improve more efficiency when applied to indoor lights, and better visibility when applied to taillights,” explained the company’s official.”

<OLED Lighting exhibited by Nippon Electric Glass>

Meanwhile, in relation to OLED lighting, OLED light source companies such as LG Display and Osram supplied the OLED lights for tail lights to finished car makers such as Mercedes-Benz and BMW. In particular, it is expected to start the OLED lighting market in earnest, for example LG Display’s announcement of full-scale operation of the Gen5 OLED light source production line in December.

Chinese panel makers BOE and Tianma started small and medium sized AMOLED production, acceleratedly chasing Samsung.

It is the first time for China to produce Gen6 flexible AMOLED; it is expected that BOE’s mass production not significantly affected by yield due to the tremendous support from the Chinese government will cause such impact on the small and medium-sized AMOLED market where Samsung has monopolized so far.

B7 line, which was built in May 2015 with the investment of approx. 465 yuan, is expectedly used in high-end mobile display in China, with 48K- large monthly capacity based on Gen6. In Dec last year, 45K investment was confirmed in Mianyang’s Gen6 flexible AMOLED production line B11 and mass production is expected to operate in 2019.

<5.5 inch FHDfoldable AMOLED launched at CIDC 2016>

In addition, Tianma successfully lighted up the rigid AMOLED panel manufactured in Gen6 LTPS AMOLED production line in Wuhan for the first time in China on April 20th. Tianma has first built the Gen 4.5 AMOLED pilot line in China as well as Gen 5.5 AMOLED production line in Shanghai for mass producing small-medium AMOLED display.

Also CSOT aims to mass-produce in the fourth quarter of 2018 as the investment in Gen6 rigid and flexible AMOLED production lines at Wuhan’s T4 plant has been proceeding. Visionox plans to additionally expand Kunshan’s Gen5.5 line (V1, presently 4K) phase1 11K and Phase2 15K investment is being proceeded. ROYOLE also invested in the Gen 5.5 flexible AMOLED mass production line, and LOI of the SFA deposition equipment was announced last January. The expected capacity is 15K.

In the Korea-dominated AMOLED market, Chinese panel makers are taking up the market share rapidly through the Chinese government support and their huge domestic market. Lee Choong-hoon (chief analyst) at UBI Research specialized in AMOLED market predicts that by 2021, Chinese AMOLED panel makers will record their second largest shipment volume with approx. 16% of the entire market share via full-fledged shipment from 2018, followed by Korea by 2021 “.

<forecast of AMOLED panel shipment by country>

OLED Display Embellished CITE 2017

CITE 2017(China Information Technology Expo) was held in Shenzhen, China from April 9 to 11. As the Asia’s largest electronic and information exhibition hosted by the ministry of industry and information technology of the people’s republic of China and the local government of Shenzhen, the 5th CITE 2017 is the international IT event in which 1,600 companies participate annually, with 160,000 visitors.

At this expo, LG Display, BOE, CSOT, and Tianma exhibited OLED panel on one hand, and Changhong, Hisense, Konka, and Skyworth unveiled OLED-applied products on the other hand. Besides, many companies including Jilin OLED operated a shared exhibition hall under the name of China OLED Industry Alliance(COIA).

<Different Companies’ OLED Products at CITE 2017>

LG Display, the only large-area OLED panel manufacture unveiled its flagship 65-inch UHD Wall Paper OLED with an ultrathin and ultralight design of 3mm thickness and 7Kg weight, and Crystal Sound OLED displaying itself as a speaker. LG has received CES 2017 Innovation Award for its technology of Wallpaper TV OLED panel.

<LG Display’s Wall paper OLED(Left) & Crystal Sound OLED(Right)>

Besides, LG Display showcased various products applying OLED including OLED Pillar with six 77-inch UHD OLED panels and Dual-view flat with two 77-inich UHD OLED panels, while unveiling a 12.3-inch curved OLED for automobiles, two kinds of smartphones, and two kinds of plastic OLEDs for watches.

<LG Display’s OLED Pillar>

A Chinese OLED panel company, BOE boasted of its technology, demonstrating a 7.9-inch foldable OLED, a 5.5-inch edge bended OLED, and a 1.39-inch rounded OLED.

<BOE’s Foldable OLED(Left), Edge Bended OLED(Middle), Round OLED(Right)>

The other OLED TV set companies are all Chinese companies such as Changhong, Hisense, and Skyworth. They exhibited its flagship 65-inch OLED TV, a key size of premium TVs. Hisense exhibited the smartphone with OLED panel and e-ink panel on its both sides as well as OLED TV.

<Changhong(Left), Hisense(Middle), Skyworth’s OLED TV(Right)>

AMOLED panel for smart phones, just around the corner of 100million-unit shipment in a quarter

According to UBI Research, the shipment amount of AMOLED panel for smart phones in the 3rd quarter of 2016 was announced to be counted as 96million units.

It is the figure increased for 103% compared with the last quarter, and increased for 148% compared with the same period of last year, and it renewed the quarterly highest shipment amount once again, after the last quarter.

The person in charge of UBI Research mentioned that “The output of flexible AMOLED panels for Galaxy Note 7 was reduced compared to the plan due to the discontinuation of the production of Galaxy Note 7, however, the increase in shipments of AMOLED panels for China and Galaxy s7 series is seemed to play a important role in the increase of shipments in the third quarter.”

Currently, Samsung Display occupies more than 91% of the AMOLED panel market for smart phones, and Chinese panel makers such as BOE, EDO, Tianma, and Visionox are conducting mass production with small quantities.

In addition, Apple is expected to apply the flexible AMOLED panel to some models of the iPhone to be launched in 2017, therefore, future AMOLED panel market for smart phones will be increased continuously.

UBI Research expects that the annual shipment amount of AMOLED panel will form the market volume as about 1.4billion units by 2020 with the average annual growth rate of 41%, and flexible AMOLED panel among them will account for about 61%.

Smart Phone AMOLED Panel Shipment Forecast, Source : UBI research

BY HYUNJUN JANG, HANA OH

Not Only Samsung and LG, but BOE and JDI Also Shows OLED Surge in SID

a Flexible OLED Display at BOE Booth (San Francisco = OLEDNET)

During the SID 2016, not only Samsung Display and LG Display, but other companies including BOE, Japan Display (JDI), and Tianma also presented OLED. The extent of OLED by Korea, China, and Japan drew much attention.

In SID 2016 (22-27 May), these companies exhibited many new OLED panels for diverse devices such as smartphone, VR, and TV.

Samsung Display revealed rollable panel, diverse 5 inch level OLED panel products such as VR panel with 806 ppi, the highest value within the industry, and Bio Blue, a VR panel which minimized harmful blue light.

LG Display showed 77 inch UHD OLED panel for TV, 55 inch dual side panel for signage, 65 inch concave OLED, and demonstrated their strength as the leader in large size OLED panel.

a Flexible OLED Display at JDI Booth (San Francisco = OLEDNET)

At this exhibition, BOE revealed flexible OLED display for mobile device. Particularly, the 4.35 inch foldable panel is BOE’s first. The product’s bending radius of 5 mm and has the brightness of 350 nits.  

Tianma displayed 55 inch on-cell touch equipped TFT-HD AMOLED panel. The flexible display has 270 ppi and bending radius of 20 mm.

JDI exhibited flexible plastic OLED (POLED). The 5.2 inch product has 423 ppi with the resolution of 1080 x 1920.

an OLED Display for Mobile at Tianma Booth (San Francisco = OLEDNET)

Quantum dot sector also presented a strong front against OLED in SID 2016. Nanosys and QD Vision exhibited OLED TV and quantum dot TV next to each other and presented merits of quantum dot.

According to QD Vision, quantum dot could consume 50% less power compared to OLED. Nanosys explained that while white OLED panel TV shows brightness of only up to 500 nits, their own quantum dot TV can actualize 1,200 nits of brightness.

[MWC 2016] Tianma Reveals Their First Flexible AMOLED Panel

In MWC 2016 (Feb 27 – Mar 2), Tianma, a Chinese AMOLED panel company, revealed 5.46 inch flexible AMOLED panel for the first time. This panel has HD resolution (720 x 1280) with the curvature radius of 20 mm. Additionally, Tinama also exhibited 5.5 inch and 5 inch FHD AMOLED panel, and 5 inch HD AMOLED panel.

 

Tianma added that the 5 inch HD AMOLED panel is expected to be actively mass produced in the first half of this year and it is being produced in smaller quantity and that additional investment will soon be carried out for Gen5.5.

 

Tianma is currently carrying out small volume of mass production using Ulvac Gen4.5 manufacturing equipment. Although Tianma continued presenting their products in display related exhibitions, it is their first time in a set exhibition such as MWC. This activity is analyzed to be a part of Tianma’s effort to further their client base before active AMOLED panel mass production.

 

Tianma’s5.46 inch Flexible AMOLED Panel

Looking Ahead to 2016 OLED Industry through Keywords

  1. Flexible AMOLED Investment

In 2016, flexible AMOLED mass production line investment is expected to be actively carried out by Samsung Display, LG Display, BOE, and Japan Display. For Samsung Display to apply flexible AMOLED panel to the new Galaxy model, the mass production line investment is necessary. If they supply flexible AMOLED panel to Apple, volume of the flexible AMOLED mass production to be invested in 2016 is estimated to be grow significantly. LG Display also is expected to actively carry out flexible AMOLED line manufacturing equipment order for Gumi’s P6 line, as well as additional flexible AMOLED mass production line investment following Apple’s demand. BOE is estimated to seriously begin orders for Chengdu’s Gen6 45K flexible AMOLED mass production line.

 

  1. P10

With the announcement of new factory establishment and 1.84 billion KRW investment for part of facilities in Q4 2015, as the first step of the investment, LG Display began site construction for P10 line factory that can produce large area panel. However, the investment direction has not yet been decided. P10 could be directed to only producing large area LCD panel, large area OLED panel, small-to-medium size OLED panel, or large area and small-to-medium size OLED panel simultaneously. China’s Gen8 LCD facilities investment is quite advanced and BOE’s Gen10.5 LCD line investment has also been confirmed. As such how much LG Display’s large area LCD can bring profit has to be carefully considered. Additionally, with the increase of OLED TV consumption and the supply of OLED panel to Apple practically confirmed, OLED investment is essential. P10, Gen11 line, is the world’s largest factory site, and depending on the investment direction in 2016, it is estimated to affect OLED market’s opening time.

 

  1. Chinese OLED

Everdisplay is supplying AMOLED panel to some several Chinese set companies, and Visionox is also expected to actively supply AMOLED panel from 2016. As such, most of Chinese OLED panel companies’ OLED mass production preparation is anticipated to conclude in 2016. Accordingly, second investment by companies including Everdisplay, Visionox, and Tianma is analyzed to be possible and serious movement by China’s OLED industry could occur.

 

  1. Evaporation Equipment

Flexible AMOLED mass production line investment by Samsung Display, LG Display, Japan Display, and BOE, and other Chinese OLED panel companies’ additional installation are expected to be actively carried out from 2016. Amidst this, order of evaporation equipment, OLED production’s essential component, is expected to be an issue.

 

Evaporation equipment currently being used in mass production is mostly Japanese Canon Tokki’s. As this evaporation equipment has been verified in mass production, it is estimated that most companies, including Samsung Display, LG Display, BOE, and JDI, will want to order Canon Tokki’s evaporation equipment. However, as the production capa. of Canon Tokki’s evaporation equipment is limited, the issue is expected to be which panel company will be able to order early. At the same time, this could be a new opportunity for Korean evaporation equipment companies.

 

  1. Samsung OLED TV

At present, the TV industry trend is moving to OLED from LCD. Accordingly, Samsung Display is continuing research to resume their large area OLED for TV panel business. It is analyzed that Samsung Display possesses RGB OLED technology that uses SMS evaporation method, white OLED, and solution process OLED technology. However, as each technology has its drawbacks, they are carefully considering future directions. First, RGB OLED technology is estimated to lack Gen8 mother glass substrate evaporation equipment at present. Solution process OLED method has low material performance. For white OLED, as the key patents are owned by LG Display, technology that avoids these has to be first developed. Therefore, much attention is focused on which technology Samsung Display will use and invest in production line to enter the TV market.

[SID 2014] Latecomers catching up aggressively

AMOLED latecomers; BOE, AUO and Tianma are rapidly catching up the AMOLED development of Samsung Display (SDC) and LG Display (LGD) at SID 2014.

BOE expressed possibility of investing in TV following mobiles by displaying 55” FHD AMOLED panel. In terms of technology readiness level, it is incompatibly lower than panels of LGD and SDC though, it is considerably fast that it was developed in six months and produced in a pilot line in Hefei.

AUO showed that its AMOLED technology had reached at certain level by unveiling 5.7” WQHD (513ppi) ultra-high resolution AMOLED panel. More attention drew towards AUO’s panel because its production method is RGB+FMM as SDC uses and the high resolution is realized with real RGB strip type rather pentile. AUO also expressed its will on AMOLED business by showing 5” HD flexible AMOLED panel and 1.6” AMOLED panel for a smart watch.

Tianma also unveiled 5.5” HD AMOLED panel. Its performance lags behind the current AMOLED panel, but it ai    ms to supply middle-end and low-end panel targeting mass-production of 5.5” FHD AMOLED through continuous R&D.

Challenges of Chinese and Taiwanese makers become serious in the AMOLED market, where Korean makers, SDC and LGD, are dominant, and the latecomers are about to invest in the sector. Thus, it is expected that the AMOLED industry will constantly grow.

<BOE’s55ich FHD OLED panel>

 <AUO’s 5.7inch FHD AMOLED panel>

<AUO’s 5inch HD flexible AMOLED panel>

<Tianma’s 5.5inch HD AMOLED panel>