China to be a top display maker in 2019

China is expected to become the world’s biggest producer of semiconductor display panels around 2019, according to Li Dongsheng, chairman and CEO of TCL Corp.

“As a major manufacturer of televisions and cellphones, we have a large demand for semiconductor display panels, which will be a big boost to the industry’s development,” Li told China Daily.

“The government is also encouraging companies to invest more on technological research in this sector so as to catch up with the world’s leaders like Samsung Electronics Co Ltd,” he said.

Li added that the 53.8 billion yuan ($7.8 billion) new project of CSOT Corp, a major TCL subsidiary, showed the electronics giant’s confidence in the market potential for the panels.

Aiming to strengthen TCL’s competitiveness in high-end large-screen products, the Shenzhen-based project will have the world’s latest 11th-generation production line for liquid crystal display panels and will also manufacture AMOLED (active matrix/organic light-emitting diode) displays.

It began construction in November and is expected to achieve full production levels in 2019.

Samsung is currently the world’s biggest provider of AMOLED displays, the new trend for cellphone screens, but Chinese companies would expand to be strong competitors in two or three years, Li said.

Besides semiconductor displays, TCL has also invested in two chip designers.

“Although China has risen to be a major provider of consumer electronics products, it still needs more capital investment and technical research to develop the semiconductor industry,” Li said.

Li, who is a deputy to the National People’s Congress, proposed tax reductions on enterprises in the semiconductor industry to the fifth session of the 12th National People’s Congress.