South Korean media Thelec reported on April 6, through industry sources, China Boe plans to build the 8.6 generation (2250x2600mm) organic light-emitting diode (OLED) production line for IT at its B16 plant in Chengdu, Sichuan province, with a monthly capacity of 15,000 (15K) pieces, set for mass production by the end of 2024.
In response to investors' questions, BOE said today (April 6), "Our plan in this respect is based on full communication with customers on the basis of pre-research, the project team is currently carrying out strategic, market, technical, financial and other aspects of the evaluation, is still in active discussion. Also, the design capacity is definitely not 15K/ month, which is uneconomical."
As Apple plans to apply OLED to IT products such as iPad (tablet computer) and MacBook (laptop computer), the 8th-generation (8.5/8.6 generation) OLED technology for IT has emerged as a next-generation battleground. IT is more economical to produce 10-inch or larger IT OLED with 8G wire than the existing 6g (1500x1850mm) wire. For 13.3-inch panels, the sixth generation can make 48 pieces, but the 8.5 generation (2200x2500mm) can make 96 pieces, doubling the capacity.
Samsung Display and LG Display are both currently planning to produce the first iPad OLED in the 6th generation line, but they are already working on the 8.5 generation OLED technology for Apple'S IT products, with mass production expected around 2024.
Boe plans to use semi-cut horizontal deposition as the 8.6 generation of OLED deposition technology, the report said. The existing 6th generation OLED technology, which is mainly used for smartphone OLED production, also uses the half-cut horizontal deposition method.
LG Display is developing the 8.5-gen half-cut horizontal deposition technology and Samsung Display is developing the 8.5-gen full-cut/vertical deposition technology, but the development of the 8.5-gen half-cut/horizontal deposition technology as a dual-track technology is more influential.
Boe is said to be in contact with Japan's Canon Tokki, but has not yet asked Cannon to secure slots for the evaporator. (Slot is a verbal request prior to the signing of a Letter of Intent to purchase (LOI) and a formal order (PO))
Boe plans to take the lead in testing OLED technologies for IT products in other production lines before building the 8.6 generation OLED line. For example, the realization of the "double stack series" structure is to stack the red (R) green (G) blue (B) luminous layer into two layers, compared with RGB luminous layer stacked in one layer of the "single stack" mode, two stack series makes the screen brightness increase twice, product life extension four times. Apple prefers two-layer oleds in series for IT.
At the end of last year, BOE changed the application of chongqing B12 plant phase III to OLED for smartphone, IT and vehicle. Initially, like phases 1 and 2, the phase 3 production line aims to produce the 6th generation of flexible OLeds, mainly for smartphones. However, in order to produce a 10-inch iPad OLED, a different technology is needed than the existing 6.1-inch iPhone OLED, because processes such as organic material deposition inevitably become more difficult as the area increases.
Power consumption can also be reduced by applying two-layer series OLED to smartphones. Boe also plans to produce dual-laminated series OLED for smartphones in the second half of the third year at its B7 plant in Chengdu, sources said. B7 used to produce OLED for Apple's iPhone, but utilization of B7 declined as BOE's B11 line in Mianyang, which had planned to be dedicated to the iPhone, began normal operation.
However, Samsung Display and LG Display are likely to build 8.5-generation OLED lines for IT as soon as possible. Samsung Display has been evaluating 8.5-generation full-cut vertical deposition with Japan's Ulvac last year, and LG Display has been evaluating 8.5-generation OLED deposition for IT since December at partner Sunic System's Paju plant in Gyeonggi Province.
