China-based BOE Technology Group announced that its factory in Chengdu, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, started mass production of the sixth generation of flexible active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) panel displays on Thursday, news website 163.com reported over the weekend.
It is China's first fully flexible AMOLED production line and the site of the world's second mass production of sixth-generation flexible AMOLED displays, a milestone in the domestic AMOLED panel industry as it breaks South Korea-based technology giant Samsung's monopoly in the sector, said the report.
The construction of the Chengdu plant kicked off in May 2015 with a total investment of 46.5 billion yuan ($6.99 billion). It has a monthly production capacity of 48,000 glass substrates, digitimes.com reported over the weekend. A new production line for sixth-generation flexible AMOLED panel displays is also under construction in Mianyang, Sichuan, and is scheduled to go into operation in 2019.
BOE will ship the AMOLED panels to its first batch of users, which include more than 10 domestic smartphone vendors such as Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo and ZTE, said the 163.com report.
AMOLED is a display technology that involves an evaporation process and a flexible packaging technology, so that it can produce a bending or folding display screen. Such screens are mainly used on high-end small and medium-sized smartphones and wearable devices.
Market demand for AMOLED panels is surging as more companies roll out devices with bending screens. Although Samsung dominates the supply of AMOLED panels in the global market, BOE, with its two production lines, is expected to catch up with its South Korea rival by 2020. It is forecast to hold 28 percent of the global capacity market, said the 163.com report, citing a report by Haitong Securities.
The Shenzhen-listed firm saw its share prices rose by 2.78 percent to close at 5.92 yuan per share on Friday. The company's share price is at its highest level since July 2016.
