In the third quarter of 2021, China’s deep Tianma, Japan JDI and China Taiwan auto reached the top three in the vehicle market, and the market share exceeded 40% Chinese mainland. Although the on-board screen has a high entry threshold, a new variable of market pattern is brewing.
As the car screen ushers in a good development opportunity, Tcl Technology Group Corporation(000100) , BOE and other panel manufacturers increase investment in the field of car screen. Tcl Technology Group Corporation(000100) although it started late, it has the core technology of high generation line LTPS advantageous production capacity and independent intellectual property rights, and has the foundation for leapfrog development in the vehicle business.
LTPS become a competitive tool for vehicle screen
The rising sales of new energy vehicles stimulate the demand for on-board screens. Once a small number of on-board screens have quietly become the third largest small and medium-sized panel Market after mobile phones and tablets. According to the survey data of qunxi consulting, in the third quarter of 2021, the global shipment of on-board display panels was about 41.85 million (front mounted only), with a year-on-year increase of about 25.6%. In the first three quarters, the cumulative shipment of on-board display panels was about 120 million (front mounted only), with a year-on-year increase of about 30.4%.
At present, the mainstream technology of vehicle screen is a-Si, followed by LTPS. In terms of stability, under the same specification conditions, a-Si fluctuates greatly and LTPS is more stable. Moreover, LTPS will not cause product performance failure with the change of temperature or aging conditions. Since the operating temperature of on-board display is – 30-85, more and more on-board screens adopt LTPS technology.
Qunzhi consulting predicts that in 2021, the global shipment of LTPS on-board display panels will be about 19 million, with a year-on-year increase of about 83.4%, and the penetration rate will increase to about 12%, showing a rapid growth trend on the whole. In the next five years, the global LTPS LCD on-board display panel shipment penetration will increase by 12 percentage points. Among them, the permeability will increase to about 16% in 2022, 20% in 2023, 22% in 2024 and 24% in 2025.
Accordingly, the shipment penetration rate of a-Si on-board display panel will decrease year by year. The penetration rate will be about 92% in 2020, 88% in 2021, 84% in 2022, 80% in 2023, 77% in 2024 and 75% in 2025.
At present, many panel manufacturers have produced on-board panels in LTPS factories. It has the 4th generation LTPS production line, including Youda (l4b), qunchuang (T3) and JDI (D1). The 5th generation LTPS production line includes BOE (B6), shentianma (TM10) and Xinli International (fty. #4).
With LTPS capacity, these panel manufacturers have an advantage in the market competition of on-board display panel. According to the survey data of Qunzhi consulting, the shipment scale of on-board display in the third quarter of 2021, the shipment volume of shentianma was about 6.59 million pieces, with a year-on-year increase of about 9.3%, and continued to rank first in the front loading market with a market share of 15.8%. JDI is about 5.65 million pieces, ranking second in the front loading market. Youda has about 5.62 million pieces, with a year-on-year increase of about 19.8%, ranking third with a global market share of 13.4%. In the vehicle screen market, the total market share of shentianma, JDI and Youda exceeds 40%.
new variables of vehicle screen market pattern
Because the reliability of on-board display is very important, panel manufacturers usually need to carry out 2-3 years of research and development together with automobile manufacturers. The entry threshold of vehicle screen market is high, and it is difficult for late panel manufacturers to catch up with existing panel manufacturers. Even so, many late development panel manufacturers have increased their catch-up pace.
On December 3, 2021, Tcl Technology Group Corporation(000100) announced that it would invest 15 billion yuan to expand a 6th generation LTPS LCD display panel production line (T5) that processes 45000 glass panels a month in Wuhan to produce small and medium-sized high-end display products such as vehicle mounted display.
On October 28, 2021, BOE announced that it would invest 2.5 billion yuan to build an on-board display base in Chengdu. The main products are TFT-LCD on-board display modules, with product sizes ranging from 5 inches to 35 inches. It will strive to start production by the end of 2022, with an annual output of about 14.4 million on-board displays.
The late developing panel manufacturers who increase the pace of catching up see the development prospect of this segment market. The trend of on-board multi screen is obvious, mainly including driving instrument panel, central control display, CO driver display, rear row display, head up display and rear-view mirror display. Compared with a single display screen, multi screen provides a larger display area. With the help of multiple screens, the vehicle screen market has great development potential. Global market insights predicts that by 2025, the global automotive display market will double from the current US $15 billion to US $30 billion.
In order to catch up with existing panel manufacturers in the vehicle market, late developing panel manufacturers must have advantageous production capacity and R & D reserves.
In terms of advantageous production capacity, since Tesla Model s, large screen has become the selling point of the new generation of vehicles. According to omdia data, in the second quarter of 2021, the proportion of vehicle panel shipments above 10 inches in the Chinese market reached 34%, which doubled compared with the second quarter of 2019 two years ago. The demand for large screens in the on-board market forces the production of on-board display panels to gradually integrate factories and transfer to high-generation factories.
The higher the generation line algebra of the panel, the larger the maximum size of the economically cut vehicle screen, the higher the utilization rate of the substrate and the lower the cost. The 6th generation line is the highest generation line for mass production application of LTPS LCD technology. The 6th generation LTPS on-board production line includes Youda (l6k), TCL Huaxing (T3), qunchuang (T6), JDI (J1), LGD (AP3) and sharp (K1).
With the LTPS high generation production line, TCL Huaxing, Youda, JDI and other panel manufacturers have obvious capacity advantages in the vehicle field. In particular, TCL Huaxing launched the production expansion plan of the 6th generation LTPS production line in 2021, which will increase the monthly production capacity of LTPS to 45k through the investment and construction of T5 project based on the monthly production capacity of 53k in T3. At that time, TCL Huaxing’s LTPS capacity will become one of the most competitive manufacturers in the world.
TCL Huaxing not only meets the needs of the vehicle market in terms of production capacity, but also prepares in advance in terms of technology and products to cope with the growth of demand in the vehicle field. The 15.6-inch FHD (Full HD) product developed by TCL Huaxing has been mass produced on Byd Company Limited(002594) · Han automobile. It also creates a 48 Inch oversized vehicle display across the whole A-pillar, integrating the functions of instrument, central control and co driver entertainment. Combined with r4200 (curvature) surface design, it can be better integrated with the interior design of the automobile.
It is understood that TCL Huaxing has established in-depth cooperation with Chinese and foreign automobile manufacturers. As the main product of the T5 project in the future, the on-board display panel is aimed at Chinese Tier1 car enterprises, European and American head car manufacturers and Japanese and Korean customers.
(Qingdao finance and Economics Network)
