(Yicai) Oct. 22 -- TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology, a leading maker of liquid crystal displays, has kicked off construction of the world's first large-scale 8.6-generation printed organic light-emitting diode display panel plant.

Located in Guangzhou, the factory is the first in the world that can mass-produce 8.6-gen printed OLED panels, Yicai learned at the groundbreaking ceremony yesterday. Construction is expected to last 24 months.

TCL CSOT announced in mid-September that it would invest CNY29.5 billion (USD4.1 billion) to build an 8.6-gen printed OLED panel plant with a monthly processing capacity of about 22,500 glass substrates with a specification of 2,290 x 2,620 millimeters.

Mass production at the factory will start in the second half of 2027, with the first products expected to be applied in the mid-sized high-end OLED panel field, TCL CSOT's Chief Executive Officer Zhao Jun told Yicai. Some terminal customers have already included the factory's products in their future product designs, he added.

The normal payback period of high-generation display projects is five to seven years, but based on the competitiveness of these products, the plant will likely recover the investment cost in a shorter period, Zhao explained.

"This project will accelerate the agglomeration of upstream and downstream enterprises, such as suppliers of key raw materials, core equipment, and components for printed OLED products, in Guangzhou," Zhao pointed out. "Several world-leading material and equipment suppliers have already said they will cooperate with TCL CSOT to promote the construction of a domestic supporting supply chain system."

Zhao expects the overall production equipment localization rate of the first phase of the project to reach 50 percent, and that of the second phase to be further improved in the future to form a whole supply chain ecology around this factory.

Compared with conventional OLED, printed OLED panels boast advantages, such as higher color performance, resolution, and material utilization rate, and lower energy consumption, investment, and manufacturing costs. Moreover, printed OLED panels are also suitable for the large-scale commercial application of full-size OLED products.

As the global liquid crystal display panel production capacity has been highly concentrated among Chinese manufacturers, TCL CSOT and its peers are focusing on improving the production capacity of OLED panels.

According to data from Omdia, Chinese OLED panel makers seized a 46 percent share of the global market, with South Korean ones taking the remaining 54 percent.

TCL CSOT is a joint venture controlled by China's TCL Technology, with a nearly 82 percent stake. Samsung Display owns just over 10 percent of the company.

TCL CSOT has 11 display panel production lines and six display module production bases in five Chinese cities, India, and Vietnam, including a 5.5-gen printed OLED panel production line in Wuhan has already begun production.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Futura Costaglione