China’s BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. became the world’s number one producer of LCD TV Panels in terms of panel area shipment last year, according to new data from IHS Markit.
BOE has been leading the industry in terms of overall panels shipped since 2018, but this is the first time it has taken the lead in area shipments, the analyst firm said.
The milestone comes at a time when Chinese panel suppliers are increasingly taking bigger market shares in the industry, with South Korean firms LG Display and Samsung Display both in the process of downsizing LCD production.
Chinese firms have taken advantage of the Korean’s focus on newer display technologies such as OLED and QLED to take the lead in traditional LCD displays, IHS Markit said. Last year, BOE saw its LCD area shipment grow by 23.8% to 30.1 million square metres. LG Display came in second with 28,300 square metres, down 10.3% from a year ago, while Samsung Display was third with 2,179 square metres, down 19%. Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd., better known as CSOT, was fourth, with 2,120 square metres of LCD panels shipped, up 19.4% from a year ago.
LG Display did at least hold its lead in the 4K LCD panel market with a 14.7% market share, followed by BOE in second with 16.4% and Samsung Display in third with 15.1%. However, in December, CSOT led the way in terms of 4K LCD panel production, with a 16.7% share of the market in that month.
The 4K LCD panel segment is important as it makes up 45.2% of all LCD panels produced in the last year, IHS Markit said, up from 39.1% a year ago. The analyst firm expects this figure to climb again this year. And it predicts that Chinese panel makers will continue to grow their market share as their South Korean counterparts slowly phase out LCD altogether.
