How far is the domestic OLED screen from leading the field?

In 2015, on the eve of the release of the Xiaomi 5, the supply of the core AMOLED screens was cut off by Samsung due to "intense disputes" between the two teams. Subsequently, Lei Jun flew overnight from Beijing to Shenzhen. At a dinner, he drank five bottles of red wine to apologize to Samsung's Chinese executives in an attempt to resume the screen supply.

This scene is a true portrayal of China's display industry in its early days. In the past, Samsung and LG had long monopolized the global OLED market. Core materials and equipment were firmly controlled by Japanese and South Korean companies, and China's domestic display industry had long been in a passive position in the high - end sector.

Today, this pattern has been completely rewritten. According to the prediction of the China Commercial Industry Research Institute, the shipment volume of China's OLED display panels will reach 5.71 million square meters in 2025. BOE, Visionox, Tianma Microelectronics, and TCL CSOT have even made it into the top five global OLED panel manufacturers. "Chinese screens" have transformed from "chasers" to "parallel runners" and are now sprinting towards the "leader" position on multiple fronts.

01

Difficult Start

The rise of any industry depends on early accumulation and exploration, and the development of domestic OLED screens is no exception. In the 1990s, the OLED technology was still in its infancy globally, and relevant domestic research was almost non - existent. Against this backdrop, Tsinghua University took the lead in establishing an OLED project team (the predecessor of Visionox) in 1996, initiating systematic research on domestic OLED technology. This laid an important theoretical and technical foundation for the development of domestic OLED technology and became a key driving force for the development of the domestic OLED screen industry.

In 2001, domestic OLED screens transitioned from laboratory research to industrialization attempts. Visionox was established in Beijing, focusing on spacer technology, a crucial part of OLED screen production that directly affects core indicators such as display uniformity and lifespan of OLED screens, and accumulating valuable experience for the subsequent development of flexible OLED screens.

Image source: Visionox

In 2005, Oride Technology was established in Changchun. Initially relying on the technical resources of Jilin University's laboratory, it focused on the R & D of OLED organic light - emitting materials. After establishing a foothold in the materials field, Oride Technology formed a special R & D team in 2012 to research evaporation sources (the core components used for evaporating organic light - emitting materials in OLED manufacturing), filling the domestic research gap in this crucial area.

In 2011, BOE built a 5.5 - generation AMOLED production line in Ordos, officially entering the AMOLED field.

However, the start of the domestic OLED industry was not smooth. On the one hand, the domestic technical accumulation was weak. There was a generational gap compared with Japanese and South Korean companies, and the industrial chain supporting was almost non - existent. Most links relied on imports, and the evaporation source equipment was completely monopolized by Japan's Tokki. Domestic panel manufacturers had difficulty purchasing high - quality evaporation machines and evaporation sources, directly resulting in difficulty in improving the panel production yield.

On the other hand, the market had low trust in domestic OLED screens. Take Xiaomi as an example. The Redmi Pro mobile phone launched in 2016 using OLED screens from BOE and Hehui Optoelectronics caused controversy. Many users reported that the screens were too warm, giving the illusion of having the "yellow - screen" eye - protection mode turned on even in the default mode, and the picture fineness was not enough, not as good as Samsung's screens.

Image source: IT Home

Enterprises had to bear high R & D costs and face the challenges of market development. They urgently needed an opportunity to break the deadlock.

02

From Following to Running in Parallel

The opportunity came.

In 2017, the global display market witnessed a technological revolution, and the yield of OLED screens was significantly improved. The yield of LG Display's OLED had exceeded 85%, and the yield of Samsung's small and medium - sized OLED production line A3 had exceeded 80%. OLED technology began to move from the laboratory to large - scale commercialization.

On September 13, 2017, the iPhone X was released, further accelerating the mainstreaming process of OLED screens. It was the first to use a flexible OLED screen, achieving an almost full - screen visual effect through the "notch screen" design. Once launched, it detonated the market. Subsequently, major mobile phone manufacturers quickly followed suit, applying OLED screens to their flagship and even mid - range models.

Image source: apple

Meanwhile, policies and capital also played their roles. The state included the localization of AMOLED technology in the "13th Five - Year Plan". Local governments supported BOE and Visionox in setting up production lines through land concessions and special funds. Social capital also increased investment in upstream material and equipment enterprises, providing a foundation for domestic OLED to meet market demand and break through the production capacity bottleneck.

In 2017, BOE's 6th - generation flexible AMOLED production line in Chengdu achieved mass production, opening a new era of flexible display. Visionox set a record in production line construction. Its 5.5 - generation flexible AMOLED production line in Kunshan achieved mass production in only 98 days.

While achieving technological breakthroughs, domestic enterprises began to gradually gain the right to speak. In May 2017, the international standard "IEC62715 - 6 - 2 Environmental test methods for flexible display devices" led by Visionox was officially released. This was China's first international standard project and release in the field of flexible display, marking that Chinese enterprises had for the first time gained the right to formulate global rules in the core field of OLED technology.

To avoid supply - chain risks, domestic mobile phone manufacturers began to actively cooperate with domestic panel manufacturers, further promoting the development of the industry. Xiaomi established a strategic cooperation with TCL CSOT and jointly built a joint laboratory. Tianma and OPPO jointly launched an eye - protecting OLED screen with a brightness as low as 1 nit and reduced harmful blue light through technical cooperation. The refresh rate of its flexible OLED screen can reach 240Hz.

Image source: CSOT

Meanwhile, domestic enterprises actively explored, broke through international technological barriers, and gradually built their own unique advantages. Hefei Xin Yihua, relying on years of R & D and design experience, overcame the technical problems of film thickness uniformity, stability, and micron - level high - precision positioning of OLED evaporation machines, and successfully developed OLED evaporation machines, significantly reducing the procurement costs of domestic panel manufacturers.

Image source: Xin Yihua

Visionox's independently developed ViP technology uses semiconductor lithography technology to replace the traditional fine metal mask (FMM). It can not only achieve an ultra - high pixel density of 1700PPI, meeting the clarity requirements of high - end folding screens, VR/AR devices, but also through technologies such as the Tandem stacked device structure, it can achieve a 6 - fold increase in lifespan or a 4 - fold increase in brightness compared with traditional AMOLED. It has now entered the mass - production stage.

Image source: Visionox

In addition, domestic OLED manufacturers are constantly exploring new application scenarios. In the field of in - vehicle display, domestic panel manufacturers cooperate with automobile brands to develop in - vehicle screens that can withstand high and low temperatures, resist aging, and meet international standards. In the field of medical display, in November 2024, TCL CSOT officially announced the mass production of its 21.6 - inch 4K printed OLED medical display, becoming the world's first enterprise to commercialize this technology.

From small and medium - sized smartphones to extra - large - sized TVs, from consumer electronics to professional displays, domestic OLED screens are building a more complete ecological chain and playing an increasingly important role in the global display industry pattern.

03

How Far Is It from Leading?

After running in parallel, a longer track has just begun.

The "last mile" of core materials and equipment has not been completed. Currently, core materials such as OLED organic light - emitting materials and high - precision metal masks (FMM) still mainly rely on imports. Especially in high - performance red, green, and blue materials that determine the lifespan and efficiency of panels, domestic enterprises still need to rely on supplies from companies such as Japan's Idemitsu Kosan and the US UDC.

According to the statistical data of CINNO Research, the overall coverage ratio of domestic equipment suppliers in the OLED manufacturing process is only 39%. The localization rate of front - end core processes such as evaporation and exposure is even lower than 20%. Evaporation equipment is still dominated by Japan's Tokki; exposure equipment is mainly in the hands of Japanese companies such as Canon and Nikon; and in the field of chemical vapor deposition (CVD)/physical vapor deposition (PVD) and other vapor deposition equipment, it is controlled by companies such as the US Applied Materials (AMAT) and Japan's Tokyo Electron (TEL).

Image source: Comprehensive from the investment community

Collaborative innovation in the industrial chain needs to be strengthened. The collaborative innovation mechanism between upstream material and equipment enterprises and downstream panel and terminal application enterprises in the domestic display industry is not yet perfect, resulting in a situation where "good materials are not dared to be used and no one wants to use them". Take OLED terminal materials as an example. It usually takes about 2 years for a product to go from verification to mass - production import. Even if upstream material and equipment enterprises develop qualified products, downstream enterprises are not very willing to use them due to long verification periods, risk considerations, or inertial dependence. This directly leads to the difficulty for upstream enterprises to recover their R & D investment. The process of domestic display industry's self - sufficiency in core materials has fallen into a vicious circle, further relying on external mature products, and ultimately weakening the self - controllability and core competitiveness of the entire industrial chain.

Although domestic OLED manufacturers have occupied more than 45% of the market share, there is still a large gap with companies such as Samsung and LG in the high - end field. Samsung has long supplied OLED screens for Apple's Pro series. In contrast, although BOE has entered Apple's supply chain, it mainly supplied screens for the standard - version iPhones before. It was only this year that it first supplied some screens for the iPhone 17 Pro model.

Most importantly, except for Samsung, the entire industry is still in a pressured stage of transitioning from the technology introduction period to the large - scale maturity period. The OLED industry is characterized by "long cycle, high leverage, and high R & D investment", resulting in the industry generally facing the dilemma of "revenue growth but profit pressure".

Take Visionox as an example. Its main business is the R & D, production, sales, and technical services of AMOLED new - type display products. Currently, its market share is the second in the country, only after BOE. However, in the AMOLED field, the company has suffered huge losses for four consecutive years. From 2021 to 2024, the company's net profit attributable to the parent company was - 1.519 billion yuan, - 2.066 billion yuan, - 3.726 billion yuan, and - 2.505 billion yuan respectively, with a cumulative loss of nearly 10 billion yuan in four years.

Image source: Visionox's "2024 Annual Report"

Next, domestic OLED enterprises should aim for the high - end and profitability. Focus on high - value - added and high - growth - potential niche markets, such as high - end laptops, in - vehicle displays, and innovative form products like folding screens, to avoid over - consumption in the red - ocean market where price wars have broken out; plan in advance for patents on next - generation display technologies, form R & D teams in cooperation with universities and research institutes in key fields such as MicroLED mass transfer and quantum dot light - emitting materials, and gain the right to speak in core technologies; strengthen the collaborative innovation ability of the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, and promote industrial upgrading through resource sharing and risk - sharing.

04

Conclusion

Looking back on the breakthrough path of domestic OLEDs, from the difficult start of domestic enterprises, to seizing the opportunity to achieve an over - take in production capacity, and then to enterprises such as BOE and Visionox making it into the global top five. This is not only a path of industrial counter - attack but also a path of breakthrough for China's display industry to break the monopoly of Japanese and South Korean companies and build a self - controllable industrial chain.

Today, the shipment volume of domestic OLEDs is constantly increasing, covering diverse scenarios from consumer electronics to in - vehicle displays. Domestic mobile phone manufacturers no longer have to worry about supply - cut risks. "Chinese screens" are no longer synonymous with followers but have become the core force in defining technological directions and reshaping market rules.

However, running in parallel and partial leading are not the end. True leading is not a numbers game of shipment volume but mastering the right to formulate standards, patent barriers, and the dominance of the industrial chain in the next - generation display technology.