This is the best of times, and it is the worst of times. Recently, TCL's founder and chairman, Li Dongsheng, stated that TCL will continue to invest in the display industry. TCL currently owns nine panel production lines (T1, T2, T3, T4, T5, T6, T7, T9, T10), and future capacity expansion is planned. TCL's display business is expected to grow from 70-80 billion yuan to 200-300 billion yuan!

As it is well known, there has been an oversupply of global LCD panel capacity for many years. To achieve a healthy development of the global display industry chain, mainland China's official authorities have ceased approving new large-scale LCD investment projects.

In terms of the supply chain, it is reported that the last approved LCD panel line in mainland China is Tianma Microelectronics' 8.6th generation line (TM19) for IT products. Donghai Securities stated that in the next three years, the expected increase in LCD panel industry capacity will mainly come from TCL's Guangzhou T9 line and Shentianma's TM19 line.

As early as 2019, Chairman of BOE, Chen Yanshun, stated that BOE would cease investing in LCD production lines and focus more on OLED and emerging technologies such as MLED.

On the investor interaction platform, TCL Technology's secretary to the board of directors also mentioned that the LCD industry has entered the final stage of investment, and the company has established a capacity layout that aligns with the market. In terms of printing OLED, the company has continued to invest in research and development and has taken the lead in establishing the National Printing and Flexible Display Innovation Center, aiming to improve its layout and capacity in new display technologies such as printing OLED.

In the past, to reduce depreciation and expand market share, enterprises have engaged in "price wars" with the mindset of full production and full sales in the LCD panel industry. However, with LCD panel capacity highly concentrated in mainland China and rumors circulating about the official announcement of no longer approving new line construction, leading companies have reached a consensus to pursue operating profits.

TCL will no longer invest in new LCD panel production lines in the future. However, TCL's founder and chairman, Li Dongsheng, stated that TCL will continue to invest in the display industry, possibly focusing on the relatively unexplored field of inkjet-printed OLED (IJP OLED) technology.

In recent years, the OLED panel market has mainly used the vapor deposition process, while TCL Huaxing has been focusing on the development of inkjet-printed OLED.

Zhao Jun, Senior Vice President of TCL Technology and CEO of TCL Huaxing, has stated that they expect to achieve small-scale production of IJP OLED by 2024, surpassing the advanced technologies of Japan and South Korea, and helping China gain a competitive edge in the digital economy era.

Zhao further pointed out that TCL Huaxing has been deeply involved in inkjet-printed OLED for many years and now sees the dawn of industrialization. "During this process, TCL Huaxing has done a lot of thinking. The inkjet-printed OLED technology is basically mature, but there are still commercial choices to be made between technological maturity and commercialization. After all, the performance, specifications, and cost of large-sized display products, represented by TVs, need to be balanced."

If mass production goes smoothly next year, inkjet-printed OLED technology will compete head-to-head with traditional vapor deposition technology and FMM lithography technology, creating another significant milestone in the history of the display industry.

It is worth mentioning that TCL's planned T8 project in Guangzhou has been postponed. According to my understanding, TCL Huaxing's T8 project involves the construction of a high-generation 8.X inkjet-printed OLED production line, but it has been delayed due to factors such as technological maturity and investment scale.