(Yicai) Nov. 29 -- Chinese display panel giant BOE Technology Group plans to set up a joint venture with two state-owned enterprises to build a CNY63 billion (USD8.9 billion) organic light-emitting diode plant.

BOE will invest nearly CNY20 billion in the JV for a 52.6 percent stake, while its partners Chengdu Major Industrialization Project Phase I Equity Investment Fund and Chengdu Hi-Tech Zone Electronic Information Industry Development will invest about CNY9 billion (USD1.3 billion) each for stakes of 23.7 percent, the Beijing-based display panel maker announced yesterday.

The JV will then raise another CNY25 billion from external channels to fund the plant, which will be located in Chengdu, China’s southwestern Sichuan province, BOE added.

The plant, which will cover an area of 925,200 square meters, will have a monthly capacity of 32,000 8.6th-generation active matrix OLED panels, BOE said, noting that it will hire about 8,200 employees.

BOE’s board of directors approved the investment, but it will still be subject to the approval of the company’s extraordinary general shareholders meeting on Dec. 14, the firm pointed out.

BOE’s shares [SHE: 000725] were trading up 0.5 percent at CNY3.94 (56 US cents) as of 1.10 p.m. in Shenzhen today.

OLED laptop panel shipments totaled about six million pieces last year, up 19 percent from 2021, according to data from market research institute Omdia.

Laptop makers have begun to use OLED screens, said Xie Qinyi, senior research director at Omdia. Apple is expected to launch personal computers equipped with OLED screens next April, while South Korean companies are already using OLED screens in PCs.

OLED panel shipments in the high-end information technology market may grow to 44 million pieces in 2026, accounting for 75 percent of the total market share, with a compound annual growth rate of 51 percent, Display Supply Chain Consultants predicted.

Editor: Futura Costaglione