The entry of multiple giants has continued to heat up the polarizer industry in mainland China, and the production capacity will continue to grow at a high speed in the next few years.

　　 Strong demand, rapid growth in the mainland

　　 In recent years, almost all of the newly built LCD panel production lines around the world have been concentrated in mainland China. The pace of construction in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan has been slowed or even stagnated.

　　 Mainland Chinese panel companies, such as BOE, China Star Optoelectronics, CLP Panda, Tianma, etc., are continuing to invest in the construction of new LCD panel lines. In the next two to three years, more than 8 new production lines will start production capacity.

　　It is estimated that by 2017, China will have more than 28 LCD panel lines of 4.5 and above, and there will be 11 lines of 8.5 generation alone, and several OLED production lines will also be put into production.

　　 Large-scale, high-speed and intensive construction of new production lines will bring greater market space, and the demand for polarizers will also show a higher growth rate. According to statistics from Σintell, the demand for polarizers from panel makers in mainland China in 2014 was approximately 65 million square meters. It is estimated that by 2018, the annual demand for all panel production lines (including LCD and AMOLED production lines) will be As much as 140 million to 180 million square meters, the average annual growth rate is close to 30%.

　　 Get together and settle down nearby supporting facilities

　　 China's position in the global market can be said to be more and more important. The demand for raw materials is also growing rapidly. Coupled with the consideration of tariffs and other aspects, many upstream raw material companies have entered China one after another to support LCD panel companies nearby.

　　 In terms of polarizer industry, Chinese local companies mainly include Shengbo and Sanlipu. Due to the background of state-owned capital, Shengbo's investment plan is relatively conservative, while the three-profit spectrum of another private capital is much more radical.

　　 On December 29, 2013, Sanlipu and Hefei Xinzhan District formally signed a cooperation agreement with a total investment of 2 billion yuan to invest in the construction of a polarizer production base in Hefei Xinzhan District. The project plans to expand 6 wide-format TFT polarizer production lines within 10 years. The first phase of the project is planned to be completed by 2018, with an investment of 1 billion yuan, and three wide-format TFT-type polarizer production lines will be built within four years. By then, the total annual output will reach 35 million square meters.

　　Kunshan Chimei Materials Polarizer Project was signed in March 2014. The first phase of the project plans to build 2 production lines with an annual output of 12 million square meters of polarizers. The project will eventually plan to build 12 production lines.

　　 The expansion project of LG Chemical's Nanjing plant started in April and is scheduled to be completed in the first half of 2016. The new production line will produce 2300mm wide polarizers, which can be applied to the 8th generation LCD panels. The expansion will increase LG Chemical's Nanjing plant from its current annual production capacity of 40 million square meters to 64 million square meters.

　　 On May 25th, Samsung SDI and Wuxi Municipal Government signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a polarizer factory. Samsung SDI plans to invest more than 200 billion won to build an 8th-generation polarizer factory in Wuxi, with an annual production scale of 30-40 million square meters.

　　According to the statistical data of Intell Consulting (Σintell), the annual production capacity of polarizers in mainland China in 2014 was about 40 million square meters. It is estimated that by 2018, the annual production capacity will exceed 140 million square meters, which can meet most of the localization needs.

　　Intensified competition, the profit of national enterprises is worrying

　　 The polarizer industry has a high technical threshold. As early as the 1930s, the United States invented the preparation method of polarizers, and began to realize industrial production in Japan in the 1960s.

　　 Beginning in 1963, SANRITZ began the production of polarizers. Nitto (NITTO) and Sumitomo (SUMITOMO) entered the polarizer industry in 1975 and 1988, respectively.

　　 At the end of the 1980s, South Korea began to produce polarizers. At the end of the 1990s, my country's mainland and Taiwan also joined the polarizer production camp.

　　 The production of polarizer is the crystallization of the development of petrochemical industry and mechanical processing industry, and the preparation of optical grade products is quite difficult. And in the supply of base film, almost all domestic enterprises rely on imports.

　　 Generally speaking, foreign giants have more core technologies, patents and the supply of raw materials. Therefore, domestic companies are still far behind in the development of the polarizer industry. In the next few years, with the entry of giants such as LG Chem, Samsung SDI, and Chi Mei Materials, it can be foreseen that the profitability of Shengbo and Sanlipu will be more difficult.

Taking the operating situation in 2014 as an example, the financial report of Shenzhen Textile, a listed company of Shengbo Optoelectronics, showed that the operating loss of Shengbo Optoelectronics polarizer business in 2014 reached more than 18 million yuan. The board of directors described the reason as "insufficient orders and yield Instability and large losses."

　　In order to rapidly develop the polarizer business, domestic companies have been seeking breakthroughs in many ways, including the introduction of external technology, but the effect is not very obvious. At the beginning of 2014, Shengbo and Nitto reached a strategic cooperation framework agreement, intending to cooperate in the polarizer business, but there was no progress after a year, and the plan came to an end in early 2015.

　　Experience tells us that excessive reliance on foreign power may not necessarily achieve the long-term development of the polarizer business. After all, they are not willing to give us the core technologies, patents, and equipment.

　　 Therefore, only independent innovation can domestic enterprises break through. We must strive to improve the level of technology, increase the yield rate, and ensure the consistency of performance of each batch of products. Domestic companies must also strengthen cooperation, unite as one, it will be extremely difficult to fight alone.