BOE set to make investment into its fourth flexible OLED plant

BOE is planning to start construction of its fourth 6th generation flexible OLED plant soon. It is hoping to secure monthly production capacity of 48,000 panels by investing $6.91 billion (7.9 trillion KRW). Although display market has been stagnant and demands for flexible OLEDs for Smartphones have not met initial expectation, BOE is being more aggressive in its investments and is speeding up the process of increasing its production capacity.

According to Chinese media, BOE is planning to start construction of its fourth flexible OLED plant ‘B15’ in Fuzhou. It is heard that it is going to hold an event soon and officially start making investments into B15.

Global display market has been stagnant due to LCD price drop and lack of demands for flexible OLEDs for Smartphones. Although screening for corporate investment has become stricter due to rise in debt ratio of local governments, BOE is continuing to be aggressive with its investments.

South Korea’s display industry has been paying careful attention on BOE on whether it will actually carry out investments after making several announcements about its upcoming investments into flexible OLED. BOE held a groundbreaking ceremony for its third flexible OLED plant ‘B12’ in December of last year. In just six month after it held a groundbreaking ceremony for its third flexible OLED plant, it is making another investment into its fourth flexible OLED plant.

By investing into B15 plant, it has become certain that BOE will have the highest production capacity of 6th generation flexible OLED by surpassing Samsung Display.

Currently, Samsung Display has monthly production capacity of 165,000 panels by combining production capacities from A3 and A4 plants. BOE will have monthly production capacity of 192,000 panels by 2023 when production capacities from its four plants are combined. Although there is still a big gap between Samsung Display and BOE when it comes to actual numbers of shipments, BOE has prepared a stepping stone that will allow it to quickly catch up to Samsung Display.

South Korea’s display industry predicts that there will be continuous investments centered on top Chinese manufacturers such as BOE and CSOT.
“Possibility of investments has decreased and there is not much business for our Chinese partners as major investments are already finished.” said a representative who is familiar with current situation in China’s display industry. “However, it seems that local governments are still trying to make investments into promoting relevant businesses and industries for purpose of local development and accumulation of achievements.”