Chinese display manufacturing company BOE aims to capture 40-percent of the flexible OLED market by 2024. The company revealed its ambitions at a local display event in the Sichuan Province in China. Its market share for the first eight months of this year stands at 20.3-percent.
If BOE manages to reach anywhere near its target over the next five years, then it may well overthrow Samsung as the global leader in the flexible OLED market. The South Korean behemoth currently dominates the market heavily. It reportedly captured 63.3-percent of the global market in Q2 2020. The figures for the first quarter are even more assuring, with Samsung reportedly controlling 81.1-percent of the flexible OLED market.
On the other hand, BOE’s market share for the same periods stands at 24.4-percent and 8.5-percent respectively. The Chinese display maker has seen substantial growth in Q2 and it’s now looking to build on that momentum. It has shipped 20 million flexible OLED panels over the first eight months of this year. 16 million of those shipments occurred during the period between January to June 2020, while the months of July and August added 4 million more units.
BOE is now looking to double that number to 40 million by the end of this year. The number will still account for only one-fourth of Samsung Display’s estimated production volume for the year, The Elec reports.
BOE aims big growth in the flexible OLED market
BOE currently operates two flexible OLED production lines, named B7 and B11, in Sichuan Province. The company is also constructing a new, B12 line in Chongqing with plans to make it operational in the second half of 2021. Once all three lines start operating at full capacity, BOE will have a production rate of 144,000 substrates per month, the company said.
It hopes the output from these factories will account for half or at least a third of the global flexible OLED market within the next three to five years. BOE is also planning a fourth OLED line called B15 in Fuqing. The company estimates the value of the flexible OLED market at around $49.7 billion in 2024.
BOE’s growth has been hampered by the US-imposed trade restrictions on Huawei. The Chinese giant is struggling to keep together its smartphone business because of the US sanctions. It is expecting to produce only about 50 million smartphones next year. That’s just about one-fourth of its 2020 estimates of 190 million units.
With Huawei seemingly dropping out of the picture, BOE is now looking to secure big orders from Apple and has supplied samples in the past. Its B11 line has reportedly given up on securing OLED orders from the Cupertino-based iPhone maker this year. However, the B7 line is still hopeful of getting approval.
Whether BOE manages to secure flexible OLED orders from Apple remains to be seen. If the company strikes a long term deal with the American electronics giant, then it may have a good shot at its ambitions of overthrowing Samsung from the top spot in the global flexible OLED market.