(Yicai Global) Oct. 31 -- BOE Technology Group is planning to spend CNY29 billion (USD4 billion) to build its first virtual-reality display screen factory so as to enrich the Chinese display panel giant’s product portfolio and cement its lead in the semiconductor display sector.

The new plant will manufacture high-end display panels, the majority of which will be VR screens as well as mini light-emitting diode backplanes, with a monthly output of 50,000 pieces, BOE said at the weekend. The products will include glass substrates that are 1,500 millimeter by 1,850 mm in size.

The new project will help BOE achieve mass production of VR displays, allow it to seize market share and ensure the firm stays ahead of the competition, it added. The Beijing-based company ships 26 percent of the world’s display screens and accounts for 28 percent of global market share.

Construction should start next year and mass production is expected to begin by 2025 and be in full swing by 2026, it said.

The VR facility will be managed by Beijing BOE Chuangyuan Technology, a unit in which BOE holds an 80 percent stake, the display screen maker said. The subsidiary will be in charge of the investment, construction and operation of the project in the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.

The use of VR displays in consumer electronics is expected to surge. The compound annual growth rate of its application in laptops from this year to 2027 is forecast to reach 19 percent, according to UK market research institute Omdia. Growth in in-car applications should hit 20 percent and that in tablet computers, 8 percent.

Unmoved by the news, BOE’s share price [SHE:000725] was trading down 2.27 percent at CNY3.43 (USD0.47) as of 1 p.m. China time today.

Editor: Kim Taylor