BOE has long been transitioning from LTPS technology to LTPO technology in its B7, B11, and B12 factory production lines. It may now have the confirmation that it will be giving Samsung a run for its money with Apple committing to production from B11 in Mianyang. Mass production isn’t expected until 2024. BOE has already achieved mass production of f-OLED LTPO inverter displays and has supplied these to Honor.
Apple first introduced LTPO OLED displays in their Apple Watch Series 4 in 2018, and have since incorporated LTPO OLED displays in several of their products, in Pro series lines, from the iPhone 13 Pro and Pro Max onwards. Apple has also developed its own custom display driver integrated circuit (IC) to help optimize the performance of LTPO displays in their devices. Samsung Display and LG Display are two of the major manufacturers of LTPO backplane technology, but Apple doesn’t really like Samsung, and doesn’t want to be beholden to just one or two suppliers for what is a relatively important display technology to the company.
The production of LTPO displays presents significant technical challenges due to the complexity of the manufacturing process and the use of advanced materials. LTPO displays require more complex manufacturing processes than traditional backplane technologies, such as amorphous silicon (a-Si) and low-temperature polysilicon (LTPS) technologies. The use of oxide TFTs, for example, requires high temperature and vacuum conditions to deposit the oxide material, which can be challenging to achieve and maintain.
Moreover, the manufacturing process of LTPO displays is more complex and requires more steps, including the use of additional layers of metal and dielectric material, which can increase the likelihood of defects, lower yield rates, and increase production costs. There is also a challenge of material compatibility in the manufacturing process, as LTPO technology requires the use of specific materials that may not be compatible with other materials used in the process.
Seeding Conversations on China’s Stock Exchange
There is a vibrant conversation hub around China’s 科创板 (kēchuàngbǎn), the science and technology innovation board of the Shanghai Stock Exchange. The Chinese government set up the board in 2019 to make it easier for tech companies to list on the Shanghai and Shenzhen main boards because, traditionally, you only got to list on the main boards if you were making profits. In other words, it favored established companies. The kechuangban board is still highly regulated but it is important to the display manufacturers, reliant as they are on capital investment. The chatter around BOE on this issue, feeding into the usual round of gossip and rumor that swirls around China’s technology sector, helps the company to tell the market that it is okay with Apple, it is going to get the high-end display business that drives so much of its bottom line, despite geopolitical pressures delaying the shipment of vital machinery and materials for its production lines.
