On September 23, 2024, the Electronic Glass Branch of the Chinese Ceramic Society held a new election in Hefei, known as the "Global Capital of Display."
Zhang Chong, the Chief Expert at the China Building Materials Academy of Glass New Materials Research, was elected as the new chairman of the branch.
At the Photoelectric Glass Industry Development Seminar held on September 24, the newly elected Zhang Chong stated that with significant breakthroughs in China's high-end electronic glass technology, the industry has benefited from the widespread application of electronic glass in smartphones, tablet computers, new energy vehicles, and flexible foldable display screens.
From 2018 to 2023, the market size of China's electronic glass industry grew from 30.8 billion to 50.2 billion, with an average annual compound growth rate of 10.25%.
He predicted that this year, the market size of China's electronic glass industry will reach 55 billion yuan.
Traditional glass was originally mainly used in the construction field, but the rise of information display technology, especially the emergence of the LCD TV, mobile phone, and laptop markets, has driven the explosive growth of the electronic glass industry.
Electronic glass is a raw material in the upstream of the display industry chain, which can be roughly divided into glass substrate (upstream) - liquid crystal panel (midstream) - electronic display screen (downstream).
Downstream market applications include LCD TVs, mobile phones, monitors, laptops, tablet computers, automotive displays, and other fields.
Recently, the launch of Huawei's triple-folding screen phone has attracted public attention to this industry.
Zhang Chong introduced that before 2020, the advantage of China's electronic display industry was only in the midstream liquid crystal panel, with major manufacturers including BOE, TCL, CSOT, and downstream application fields.
The glass substrate at the upstream could only rely on imports, mainly supplied by three companies from the United States and Japan.
In recent years, Chinese companies have broken through the glass substrate technology and achieved mass production.
Zhang Chong believes that China's electronic glass industry should be close to the international advanced level, and some varieties have reached a world-leading level.
The enterprise that Zhang Chong said is the world's fourth and China's first to have the ability to stably produce and supply high-generation substrate glass is Rainbow Display Devices Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Rainbow Shares", 600707.sh).
Xu Jian, the general manager of Rainbow Shares, introduced that there is still a large space for the domestic substitution of China's substrate glass, and in recent years, the enterprise has been continuously investing in new production lines and expanding new capacity.
Xu Jian listed that in 2019, Rainbow Shares produced the first 8.5-generation substrate glass.
To date, the company has built 10 production lines in its Hefei base, of which 4 are for 7.5-generation production lines and 6 are for 8.5-generation production lines.
In the Xianyang base, Rainbow Shares planned to build 8 production lines in the first phase, of which 3 have been completed, and the fourth line will be put into operation next month, with plans to complete all 8 production lines next year.
According to the plan, in the future, Rainbow Shares will also actively layout and deeply develop in cutting-edge fields such as flexible glass, pharmaceutical glass, microcrystalline glass, and chip packaging glass.
Han Gaorong, a professor at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, said that the breakthrough in the core technology of high-generation substrate glass has greatly reduced the product cost of the entire electronic display industry.
The so-called high-generation means "large size."
Han Gaorong gave an example that three to five years ago, the price of large-screen LCD TVs was tens of thousands of yuan.
Now, the price of large-screen LCD TVs is getting lower and lower, and has dropped to a few thousand yuan.
In contrast, the price of small-screen mobile phones is getting higher and higher.
The breakthrough in the core technology of the upstream substrate glass will support the benign development of the entire Chinese electronic display industry.
Currently, China's liquid crystal panel capacity accounts for 70% of the world.
This means that China has a certain say in the upstream and midstream of the electronic display industry.
Currently, Chinese LCD TV companies are competing with South Korea's Samsung at the market terminal for the title of the world's first.
Liang Xinqing, the executive vice chairman and secretary-general of the Liquid Crystal Branch of the China Optoelectronic Industry Association, believes that China's strength in the upstream and midstream of this industry chain can support downstream manufacturers to compete for the world's first.
In the research report published by authoritative institutions, Hefei ranks first in the "Top Ten Cities for China's New Display" and is focusing on building a "Global Capital of Display."
Within a radius of 15 kilometers in the new station area of Hefei, there are all electronic display companies.
Jiang Changhuan, a member of the Party Working Committee and deputy director of the Management Committee of the New Station District of Hefei, said that with the continuous emergence of new application scenarios such as 5G communication, intelligent vehicles, and smart smart cities, China's electronic glass industry is facing unprecedented development opportunities.
The New Station High-tech Zone is building a 300 billion industry cluster of new display and integrated circuits.
Speaking of the development direction of China's electronic glass industry, Zhang Chong believes that the entire electronic glass industry is still in the growth stage, and the market size will continue to grow in the future.
The development of this industry will shift towards large size, ultra-high definition, lightweight, and high strength.
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