China’s Fierce Chase
Chinese manufacturers are increasing their LCD panel supply and global market share in the industry on the back of the government’s support and consistent manufacturing facility expansion. Under the circumstances, the presence of Korea, which has dominated the global display market for over 10 years, is increasingly threatened.
According to industry sources, Chinese companies’ combined market share in the large TFT-LCD panel market increased from 10.8 percent to 15.0 percent between 2012 and last year. In addition, the share is estimated to reach 21.3 percent by the end of this year, as they are planning to expand their 8.5-generation LCD panel manufacturing capacity. At the same time, the ratio of Chinese-made TVs using domestically-produced LCD panels is expected to go up from close to 40 percent to at least 50 percent between 2014 and 2015.
In contrast, Korean companies’ share in the market is on the decline, from 50.7 percent to 44.3 percent between 2012 and 2014. If they fail to create new demand by means of OLED panels, quantum dot panels, and the like, they might be caught up by their Chinese rivals.
At present, LG Display is the only display panel manufacturer in the world that produces large OLED panels for TV use. It sold 200,000 sheets of that type of panel last year. A quantum dot panel, which is an LCD panel to which a quantum dot film is attached, will be used in quantum dot TVs that Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are to manufacture from the first half of this year.
Chinese companies are procuring more and more LCD panel components from inside China, too. Last year, Chinese companies relied on imports for 80 percent of key display materials and components. Specifically, the self-sufficiency rate was just 20.4 percent for glass substrates, 23.2 percent for polarizing plates, 19.1 percent for TFT LCD liquid crystal mixtures, and 8.2 percent for drive ICs. However, the percentage for drive ICs is estimated to reach 40 percent by 2018 according to CINNOR Research.