Recently, the foundation stone laying ceremony of China's first metal mask panel production-study-comprehensive production line invested by SDAL Electronic Technology Co., Ltd. was held in Rizhao. After the completion of the third phase, the annual output value is expected to reach 2 billion yuan. In the same period, the high-precision metal mask (FMM) production line of NBHC Technology (Ningbo) was also put into operation in Ningbo, with an annual output value of 3.5 billion yuan after full production. The two companies will start mass production after trial production is completed and verified this year.
Metal masks are consumable core components required for OLED production and have long been monopolized by Japanese and Korean companies. Experts in the industry believe that the mass production of metal masks means that breakthroughs have been made in core components of the OLED industry, which will change the situation of China's OLED industry being controlled by others.
Changing the situation where the OLED industry is subject to people
"If evaporation is the heart of OLED, then metal masks are the root of evaporation." Sui Xin, president of SDOL Electronics, told the China Electronics News reporter, "After 5 years of research and development, Ole Electronics broke through the metal cover. The core key technology of membrane plates is expected to break the monopoly of Japan and South Korea and fill the gap in the domestic industry. "
It is reported that the metal mask (Mask) is a consumable core component required for OLED production. It is thinner than paper and needs to be replaced regularly, and the production cost is large. OLED metal masks are divided into CMMs and high-precision metal masks (FMMs). The former is mainly used for the production of large-sized OLED panels, while the latter is mainly used for small and medium-sized OLED panels.
The development pattern of FMM
From the perspective of the industrial chain formed by the current FMM, only upstream materials INVAR (1020 μm thick) can be produced by Hitachi Metals. The midstream is mainly Japan and South Korea and Taiwan Province of China. According to Liu Ye, a senior consultant of CCID Consulting, China involves metals There are very few companies producing masks, and most of them are mainly producing CMMs. High-precision metal masks (FMMs) have been in the test and development stage, and there are no companies that can mass-produce. "China's high-end masks have long relied on imports, but China is the market with the highest demand." Liu Ye believes that the mass production of Shandong Aolai Electronics and Huan Caixing Technology metal masks will change the situation of China's OLED industry being controlled by others .
In an interview with "China Electronics News" reporter, BOE technical expert Zhu Haibin said that if the metal mask plate is localized, for domestic panel manufacturers, the delivery time will be greatly shortened, and technical exchange will be more convenient.
The reporter learned that at present China's metal masks are basically from Japanese and Korean enterprises. Due to the limited production capacity of Japanese manufacturers and the priority to supply South Korea, the demand in the Chinese market has not been guaranteed. At present, the delivery time of metal masks in South Korea is at least 4 weeks. After the mass production of metal masks in China, the delivery cycle can be shortened to 7-10 days. Can be delivered within 7 days, which is not possible for foreign manufacturers, and transportation and production costs will be greatly reduced.
Demand for metal masks continues to be strong
Related reports show that the global high-precision metal mask (FMM) market capacity gap will reach 50% by 2022.
With the rapid replacement of OLED displays in smartphones by OLED displays, in the future, the market for OLED small and medium-sized panels will increase rapidly with the increase in the proportion of Chinese smartphone manufacturers equipped with OLED panels, the release of foldable phones, and the expansion of 5G communication services. The rapid growth in application demand has increased the industry's demand for OLED panels.
In addition to the mass-produced OLED production lines, domestic panel manufacturers continue to accelerate the pace of building OLED production lines. BOE, Visionox, Rouyu, Tianma and other companies have successively started several OLED production lines, lighting up production and mass production shipments. As OLED panel companies accelerate the mass production of their production lines, the demand for metal masks will also increase in the future.
According to IHS, the high-precision metal mask (FMM) market will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38% from US $ 234 million in 2017 to US $ 1.2 billion in 2022.
"Each 6th generation line is estimated to require 200 sets of metal masks per year. Assuming that it can occupy the market share of 6 lines, it will create no less than 200 million yuan in output value. The localization opportunity of OLED metal masks is very large." Sui Xin said.
Shows that the upstream development of the industry is still slow
In the past two years, the accelerated display industrialization process in China and the rapid growth of terminal demand have driven the rapid expansion of the OLED industry chain. According to IHS data, China ’s annual smartphone shipments are calculated at 400-500 million units. If OLED screens completely replace LCD screens, the size of the OLED material market will reach 20 billion yuan.
Since last year, China's upstream raw materials and production equipment companies have begun to increase their layout.
On April 1, 2019, the Wanwei Group's annual output of 7 million square meters of polarizer project started, with a project investment of 350 million yuan, which is expected to be completed in 2020. On May 28th, the first phase of Sichuan Agri's OLED new material project was capped. The project has a total investment of 1 billion yuan and will build a production base of 30 tons of OLED high-purity materials. On June 18, Bengbu Zhongguang Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. The TFT-LCD glass substrate production line was successfully ignited. The total investment of the project is 2.5 billion yuan. The planned annual production capacity is 1.5 million TFT-LCD glass substrates.
In this regard, Liu Ye believes that although China's upstream companies have continued to make efforts, their development rate is still slow and they have not achieved an overall breakthrough. Many core processes, materials and technologies in the display field are still monopolized by foreign countries, which severely restricts the development of display technology and high-end products in China.
Liu Wenqiang, deputy director of China Electronics and Information Industry Development Research Institute, pointed out that one of the problems facing China's new display industry today is the weak supporting capacity of the industrial chain and the incomplete ecosystem. He suggested opening up the supply chain of materials, equipment and components to the terminal, encouraging panel companies as the leader and adopting marketization methods to promote the development of upstream enterprises, and carrying out a multi-level and comprehensive industrial ecosystem construction to create an internationally competitive Industrial clusters.
Sui Xin emphasized that if you want to fundamentally improve the development of the display industry, you must achieve the "Four in One", that is, the market terminal, screen production side, secondary manufacturing side, and raw material side must have a complete set of "ventilation." system. "Enterprises cannot build cars behind closed doors. They must actively connect with the market. Living with subsidies will not last long."
Zhu Haibin believes that upstream material companies should establish deep cooperation with downstream companies to integrate China's OLED industry. In addition, enterprises need to learn from advanced technologies and management models at home and abroad. For example, to establish strategic cooperation with Japanese and Korean companies, and from the beginning of production line layout and equipment selection, build a production line that meets the company's own development, thereby improving product stability and yield.