China's central government is now centralizing efforts to foster development in the nation's panel component and materials segments in an effort to develop more comprehensive supply chains in the nation following issued subsidies to local panel makers over the last few years, according to market observers.
Panel makers in China witnessed upward of CNY1 billion from the China government while others have received CNY500-600 million a year over several years as the nation aims to push forth its own industries and decrease reliance on outside makers, the observers said.
Such developments have allowed makers such as BOE to expand production capacity and even create new facilities including 8.5G fabs. The makers plan to not only weigh in on TV panel opportunities from local vendors but also on international handset panel orders as well, including that for HD and Full HD units.
China makers currently provide 40% of overall TV panel demand in China and aim to increase that percentage to over 50% in 2015, the observers added. Additionally, China makers aim to supply Full HD panels for use in smartphones in 2015 below US$21, down 11.5% on year. Digitimes Research also found the makers will provide HD panels as low as US$11 and WVGA panels at US$3, down 10% and 25% on year, respectively.
Seeing that the local panel industry in China has began to take a stronger footing in the market, the central government is now shifting its focus to local component and material makers, including TFT polarizer makers, which currently only supply about 23% of overall demand in China.
Moreover, in terms of TFT LCD core materials upstream makers in China currently supply about 20% of overall demand, relying mostly on supply from makers in Taiwan.
The observers noted that China aims to increase reliance on local upstream makers over the next few years through the subsidies and expects to heavily decrease the amount given to panel makers in order to bring about a more balanced and complete panel supply chain in the nation.
