Chinese display giant BOE is planning to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for its new Gen 8 OLED production line, B16, on March 27th, TheElec has learned.
The company has sent invitations to both Canon Tokki and Sunic System, which make deposition equipment, for the event, sources said.
This likely means that BOE has yet to decide on a preferred supplier for deposition equipment to use in B16 between the two.
The company is likely also in no hurry to expand its Gen 8 OLED production capacity, which will be manufacturing OLED panels aimed at tablets and notebooks.
The overall shipment of OLED sporting products besides smartphones is still low, and the key customer to win over, Apple, is yet to launch its OLED iPads.
BOE said in November last year that it plans to spend 63 billion yuan on Gen 8 OLED production with a capacity of 32,000 substrates per month.
This means it needs four units of deposition equipment to meet that monthly capacity.
Meanwhile, Canon Tokki and Sunic System can only manufacture two units of Gen 8 deposition equipment per year.
Samsung Display has also announced the construction of new Gen 8 OLED production lines, and it has designated Canon Tokki as its supplier for deposition equipment.
LG Display is yet to go ahead with Gen 8 OLED production but if it decides to invest in the area it will most likely use Sunic System as its vendor.
