Industry chain analysis and development trend of China's display panel industry

In the current mainstream display market, common display technologies include LCD, OLED, and the emerging Micro LED display technology, etc. All display technologies have unique characteristics and application fields. Micro LED display technology still needs to be improved. According to the different types of panels, the overall composition and materials are different. As far as the current mainstream LCD panel structure is concerned, it mainly includes polarizers, glass substrates, liquid crystal materials, filters and optical films.

1. The concept of LCD and OLED

The LCD screen is a liquid crystal layer sandwiched between two glass substrates, a thin film transistor is placed on the lower substrate, and a color filter is placed on the upper substrate glass. kind of screen.

OLEDs are self-luminous, with a very thin coating of organic material, and these light-emitting diodes alone emit light when an electric current is passed through them.

2. Overview of the industrial chain

The semiconductor display panel industry has high technical barriers, complex processes, many key technical points in production processes and processes, and high difficulty. It has a long industrial chain, including raw materials, semiconductor equipment, optoelectronic devices and many other sub-industries. The upstream and downstream industries have strong driving force.

Specifically, the upstream of the semiconductor display panel industry is mainly equipment manufacturing, raw materials and component industries; the midstream is mainly the production of semiconductor display panels, supporting electronic devices and modules; the downstream includes TVs, monitors, notebook computers, tablet computers, Mobile phones and other display terminal applications.

The overall industry chain of the display panel industry is relatively long. The key upstream supporting materials include glass substrates, optical films, liquid crystal materials, polarizers, filters and other materials. Among them, the localization rate of glass substrates and polarizers is less than 20%, and there is room for domestic alternatives. Broad; the midstream is mainly domestic and foreign panel manufacturers. At present, domestic BOE and CSOT have occupied the major global markets and are the global panel leaders; downstream applications are mainly in TVs, computers, mobile phones, and car monitors, etc., and the overall demand continues to expand.

3. Industrial chain equipment and materials

The upstream of the LCD industry chain mainly includes liquid crystal materials, glass substrates, polarizers, backlights, automation equipment, photoresist materials, film materials, target materials, chemical materials, etc. The midstream is mainly processing and manufacturing mainly by panel manufacturers. The main processes include cleaning, coating, exposure, etching, electroplating and so on. Subsequent processes include inspection, cutting, patch, module, boxing, etc.

The upstream of the OLED industry chain is manufacturing equipment, material manufacturing and parts assembly, the midstream is OLED panel manufacturing, panel assembly, and module assembly, and the downstream is the display terminal and other application markets.

In the semiconductor display industry chain, the upstream raw materials are occupied by Japanese and South Korean giants. The domestic start is late, and the upstream layout of the industry chain is relatively weak. At present, core equipment and high-end raw materials still need to be purchased from foreign companies.

In terms of process equipment, sputtering equipment, plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition systems, exposure machines, etc. are the most critical core equipment in the production of semiconductor display panels. Currently, companies from Europe, America, Japan, and South Korea dominate.

4. The overall profit analysis of the industrial chain

As far as the profit of the overall industry chain of the panel industry is concerned, taking LCD as an example, the current distribution of gross profit margins in the upstream, mid-stream and downstream industries of the LCD panel industry chain is quite uneven, and the overall profit of upstream raw materials and downstream sales is relatively high. Influenced by the overall barriers, the overall profit is relatively high, around 40%. From the perspective of the gross profit margin of the leader in the past two years, the actual gross profit of polarizers is above 25%; the overall glass technology and equipment barriers are deeply superimposed on the blocking technology of Japanese and Korean companies, and the profit margin Compared with polarizers, it is higher; the overall profit of the downstream sales end is also higher than that of panel integrators.

5. The overall development trend of the panel industry chain

South Korea has been the main supplier of global panels until 2020. With the gradual development of OLED, QNED, Micro LED and other technologies, South Korean companies have begun to gradually launch LCD-related production capacity, including raw materials such as panels and upstream polarizers, and domestic companies will fill the gap. There is a shortage of LCD in the market. For example, the production capacity that should be launched by Samsung and other companies in 2020 was affected by the epidemic. The company turned from losses to profits, resulting in the suspension of production capacity withdrawals. Since the second half of 2020, panel prices have continued to rise, until the second half of 2021. Gradually stopped and began to enter a downward cycle. With the downward trend of panel prices in this round, the plan of Korean companies to close related production lines may be put on the agenda again, indicating that the industrial chain will enter a period of adjustment again, and the relationship between the TV panel supply chain will be accelerated. plastic. In the future, the panel industry will continue to shift to mainland China, and the integration progress of domestic panel manufacturers will be further accelerated. Although the overall domestic panel industry is improving all the way, and leaders such as BOE occupy major global markets, in the long run, the deployment of new technologies such as OLED, QNED, and Micro LED is still the key to future industrial competition. Taking BOE as an example, sales in 2021 It is 836,000 square meters, an increase of 66.9% year-on-year in 2020. On the whole, core technology is still the core of the future development of enterprises and industries.