On December 20th, BOE Hefei's 10.5-generation LCD panel production line with a total investment of 45.8 billion yuan was put into production in advance. This is the world's first 10.5-generation line and is currently the highest generation line. BOE 10.5 line design capacity of 120,000 glass substrates per month, its production for the development of the LCD industry has a landmark significance.

Unlike CRTs, LCD panels are highly standardized products, and there is little difference in product performance between different manufacturers. In the popularization of LCD TVs, the main performance difference of LCD is the size. Compared to the 8.5-generation line, the 10.5-generation mother glass substrate area reached 9.9 square meters, which is 1.8 times that of the 8.5-generation line 5.5 square meter, and the 10.5 generation mother glass substrate can cut 8 65-inch or 6 75-inch, and Cutting efficiency reached 95%.

According to data from AVC Display Devices and Systems Division, with the BOE 10.5 generation line lighting up and gradually entering the climbing stage, it is expected that 65-inch shipments in 2018 will increase by 68% year-on-year, with 75-inch shipments. With an increase of 86% year-on-year, under the lead of the 10.5 generation line, the global TV panel market will gradually shift from the large-size market headed by 55-inch to the ultra-large size market of 65/75 inches in 2018, and when the price of 65/75 inches and 55 inches shrinks To some extent, the 65/75-inch market will usher in an outbreak.

In addition, according to the IHS Markit data, BOE won the largest market share in the full quarter for the first time in the third quarter of 2017 with a market share of 21.7% (more than 9-inch tablets, notebooks, monitors, and TVs). The seats for the remaining companies are LG Display, Innolux, AU Optronics, and Samsung Electronics, with market share of 19.3%, 16.1%, 15.8%, and 8.9%, respectively.

According to Cui Jilong, deputy director of cloud display devices and systems at Ove Cloud, “Even though BOE’s large-size market share has been ranked first, it only accounts for 20%. In a short period of time, the production of the 10.5-generation line will not immediately affect color TV. The price will have an impact, but in the long run, the production of the 10.5 generation line led by BOE will not only affect the prices of large-screen TVs, but will also drive changes in the prices of small-size TVs."

For the impact of the price of small-screen TVs, Cui Jilong believes that it will be divided into two phases. First, the mainland's production of the 10.5 generation line will cause some Taiwanese panel companies to lose the price advantage of large-size products and switch to the production of small-size LCD panels; The increase in the supply of LCD panels has led to a drop in overall prices, and this effect will be reflected in two or three years.

Although QLED and OLED screens are considered to be alternatives to LCD technology, judging from the expansion of major companies to senior generations, Cui Jilong believes that liquid crystal displays will still be the mainstream for some time to come. In addition, with the launch of the 10.5 line, the application of the 8K display will also enter the next stage. The IHS data show that the compound growth rate of the 8K panel market will reach 111% in the next five years. In the large-size panel market of 60 inches or more, 8K penetration The rate will reach 25%.

With the advancement and development of liquid crystal display technology, liquid crystals have the same "liquid crystal cycle" as Moore's Law. It is understood that the performance of the liquid crystal cycle is when some of the pioneering enterprises have opened up the application of liquid crystal display products, creating a market demand for liquid crystal display, and then the situation that the market is in short supply has arisen. This has caused existing companies to make new investments and emerge a number of new ones. The entrants, the rapid expansion of new production capacity brought about by the new investment led to overproduction, the price dropped, causing the industry to decline; but the price reduction led to the expansion of demand, so the re-emergence of production capacity, triggering a new round of investment and entry, so reciprocating It is the "liquid crystal cycle."

Just as the birth of the 6th generation line made the 5th generation line lose its economic cutting ability, every change of the liquid crystal cycle is closely related to the replacement of the liquid crystal production line for generations. With the rapid “blush” of 55-inch TVs, the market’s demand for large screens has gradually surfaced, and the production of larger-size displays has exceeded the production capacity of 8.5-generation lines, standing at the perspective of market prospects, and laying out the 10.5-generation line. It is imperative, but this kind of prejudgment is often accompanied by many risks and uncertain market prospects.

Since the second half of 2008, due to the impact of the financial tsunami, European and American market demand fell sharply, the liquid crystal cycle suddenly entered a recession phase, and the global major LCD panel companies experienced temporary overcapacity. From a global perspective, in addition to the 10.5-generation line of BOE Hefei, which has just been put into operation, there will be seven 10.5-generation/11-generation lines that will gradually enter volume production in the future, including BOE Wuhan 10.5 generation line and CSOT Shenzhen two 11 Substitution line, SDP Guangzhou 10.5 generation line, SDP US 10.5 generation line, LGD Pao 10.5 generation line and CEE Mianyang 10.5 generation line, many companies expand to 10.5 generation line, is there any possibility of surplus production capacity in the future?

Cui Jilong told reporters that there is indeed such a risk. According to him, the current global television demand is stable at about 220 million units. This total is constant, while the global TV mainstream size is still mainly 32 inches, so if the average consumption The increase in size did not meet expectations, and there is indeed a risk of overcapacity.

However, the reporter also learned that "overcapacity" is only a static concept, and the development of the industry is always in a dynamic state. It is precisely because there is "excess capacity" that there will be liquid crystal cycle. This cyclical cycle makes the application of liquid crystal display Continuously expanding, and behind the replacement of the high generation line is the evolution of lower LCD panel prices and larger screen sizes. In the long run, overcapacity is just a stage in the process of innovation and industrial upgrading.

The official news of BOE's launch on the 10.5 line was first from the announcement issued on July 12, 2015. The announcement stated that BOE strives to start construction of the project in the fourth quarter of 2015 (the latest by March 31, 2016), 2018 The third quarter was formally put into production, but in fact, BOE 10.5 generation line production rate is far faster than expected, which also shows that China's panel manufacturers to grasp and control the global liquid crystal market is faster than expected.

According to Cui Jilong, BOE 10.5 line production has milestone significance in two aspects. From the industry point of view, this is the world's first production line of the 10.5 generation, is also the world's highest generation line, with the BOE 10.5 generation line The production line, the global new production line will officially enter the era of 10.5 generation line; the other is the perspective of industrial development, the production line of the 10.5 generation line means that the Chinese mainland panel is showing an overtaking trend towards Taiwan and South Korea, and the industrial center shifts to the mainland.