BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., or Jingdongfang (Chinese: 京东方科技集团股份有限公司), is a Chinese electronic components producer founded in April 1993. Its core businesses are interface devices, smart IoT systems and smart medicine and engineering integration.[3] BOE is one of the world's largest manufacturers of LCD, OLEDs and flexible displays.[4][5][6][7] It is also one of the world's largest manufacturers of semiconductor products for telecommunications.

BOE Technology Group
Native name
京东方科技集团股份有限公司
FormerlyBeijing Oriental Electronics Group (1993–2001)
Company typePublic
Industry
FoundedApril 1993; 31 years ago (1993-04)
FounderWang Dongsheng
Headquarters,
China
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
  • Wang Dongsheng
  • (Founder & Chairman)
  • Liu Xiaodong
  • (President & COO)
  • Chen Yanshun
  • (CEO)
Products
RevenueIncrease CNY219.442 billion (US$34.57 billion) (2021)[1]
Increase CNY25.826 billion (US$4.04 billion) (2021)[2]
Total assetsIncrease US$44.28 billion (2018)
Total equityIncrease US$12.50 billion (2018)
Number of employees
68,175
SubsidiariesSES-imagotag
Varitronix
Websitewww.boe.com Edit this at Wikidata
BOE Technology
Simplified Chinese京东方科技集团股份有限公司
Traditional Chinese京東方科技集團股份有限公司
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinJīngdōngfāng Kējì Jítuán Gǔfèn Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī

History

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The company's predecessor was a state-owned enterprise, Beijing Electron Tube Factory.[8]: 127  In April 1993, Beijing Oriental Electronics Group Co., Ltd was founded by Wang Dongsheng. In 1997, it listed B shares on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange. In 2001, Beijing Oriental Electronics was renamed BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. BOE acquired SK Hynix's STN-LCD and OLED businesses for US$22.5 million.[9] Issued additional A shares in Shenzhen Stock Exchange. In 2003, BOE acquired SK Hynix's Hydis flat-panel display businesses for US$380 million.[10]

BOE built China's second 5th generation LCD production line in Beijing's Yizhuang Special Development Zone.[8]: 127–128  The production line was technologically advanced for the time and costly.[8]: 128  China Development Bank and the Beijing city government assembled a group of nine banks to loan BOE US$740 million.[8]: 128  The Beijing City government provided a further loan of 280 RMB, which it converted to shares of the company and sold for a substantial profit.[8]: 128 

In 2008, Hefei's local government spent US$3.5 billion for a controlling ownership stake in BOE.[11]: 185 

In 2009, BOE Energy Technology Co., Ltd was founded to enter the photovoltaics industry. In 2010, BOE acquired Suzhou Gaochuang Electronics' Taipei Display Research Center and AIO Manufacturing Plant.[3] BOE also acquired K-Tronics for an undisclosed amount.[citation needed]

In 2011, BOE established a Japan branch and R&D center in Tokyo. In 2012, BOE established an American branch and R&D center in Santa Clara in Silicon Valley, California. In 2014, BOE established a subsidiary in Frankfurt, Germany. In 2015, BOE acquired OASIS International Hospital.[12]

In 2016, BOE acquired automotive displays maker Varitronix for RMB60.1 million.[13][14] It set up a subsidiary in New Delhi, India.

In 2017, BOE established its Middle East Branch in Dubai and set up a subsidiary based in São Paulo, Brazil. BOE also announced its plan to build a hospital in Chengdu which will be opened in late 2020. BOE announced a long-term agreement with Universal Display Corporation, UDC will supply phosphorescent OLED materials to BOE.[15] According to IHS Markit, BOE became shipped the most displays larger-than-9-inch for tablets, notebook PCs and monitors. However LG Display still lead in terms of area shipment.[4]

In 2018, BOE acquired SES-imagotag for €200 million.[16] BOE formed a joint venture with Kopin Corporation and Olightek for OLED micro-displays manufacturing.[17] BOE established subsidiares in Jakarta, Indonesia and Johannesburg, South Africa. According to Sigmaintell Consulting, BOE overtook LG Display as the world's largest LCD TV and monitor producer with 54.3 million TV panels and 37.3 million monitor panels shipped.[5] The Huawei Mate 20 Pro is the first flagship tier smartphone with an AMOLED sourced from BOE (also sourced from LG Display).[18]

In 2019, BOE formed a joint venture with Rohinni for MicroLED and mini LED backlighting manufacturing.[19] Hisense announced its U9E TVs featuring dual LCD panels which Hisense said exceeds OLED TVs in brightness, color gamut and color accuracy. Its panels are produced by BOE.[20] The Huawei Mate X scheduled for release in Q4 2019 reportly has a foldable OLED from BOE.[21] According to IHS Markets, BOE had the second highest marketshare of the smartphone OLED panel market at 5.9%, only behind Samsung Displays.[6] BOE will also surpass LG Display as the world's largest flat-panel display producer.[7] And BOE has partnered with Huawei to research cameras under OLEDs.[22] BOE is reportedly in talks to replace LG Display and Tianma as OLED supplier for LG Electronics smartphones in 2020.[23][24] BOE also became an OLED supplier for Apple beginning in 2021 for the iPhone.[25][26]

On February 1, 2022, the company announced they had developed the world's fastest gaming monitor with a 500 Hz refresh rate. The prototype 27-inch monitor has a resolution of 1080p.[27] In 2023, the company was reportedly predicted to become the largest supplier of OLED display panels for the Apple iPhone 15 series according to Ming-Chi Kuo, a Taiwanese Apple analyst at TF International Security.[28]

Competitive position

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In the 2020s, China became the largest manufacturer of LCDs and Chinese firms had a 40% share of the global market.[8]: 126  BOE is among the leading Chinese firms during this period.[8]: 126  Local governments had a significant role in this growth, including as a result of their investments in LCD manufacturers via state-owned investment companies.[8]: 126  As of the third quarter of 2020, BOE's six largest investors were state-owned companies from Beijing, Chongqing, and Hefei, which together owned a combined 23.8% share of BOE.[8]: 126 

In 2023, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)’s Annual PCT Review ranked BOE Technology's number of patent applications published under the PCT System as 5th in the world, with 2,152 patent applications being published during 2023.[29]

BOE Technology is one of the world's leading manufacturers of semiconductor products for telecommunications.[11]: 185  It is also the world's largest manufacturer of liquid crystal displays, organic light-emitting diodes, and flexible displays, as of at least 2023.[30]: 128 

Operations

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Factory of BOE in Beijing

BOE has manufacturing facilities located in Beijing, Hefei, Chengdu, Chongqing, Fuzhou, Mianyang, Wuhan, Kunming, Suzhou, Ordos and Gu'an. BOE has global marketing and R&D centers in 19 countries, such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Switzerland, India, Russia, Brazil and Dubai.[3]

In Hefei, BOE has three production lines as of at least 2024.[8]: 141  These production lines have helped the city attract further business in the electronics supply chain and have contributed to the city becoming one of China's main centers in the optoelectronic display industry.[8]: 141 

BOE fabrication plants[31][3]
Code Gen Location Technology Current status Ramp-up year
B1 5 Beijing a-Si Mass production 2005
B2 4 Chengdu a-Si Mass production 2009
B3 6 Hefei a-Si/oxide Mass production 2010
B4 8 Beijing a-Si Mass production 2011
B5 8 Hefei a-Si/oxide/OLED Mass production 2014
B6 5.5 Ordos City LTPS/AMOLED Mass production 2014
B7 6 Chengdu AMOLED Mass production 2018
B8 8 Chongqing a-Si/oxide Mass production 2015
B9 10.5 Hefei a-Si/oxide Mass production 2018
B10 8 Fuqing a-Si Under ramping up 2017
B11 6 Mianyang LTPS/AMOLED Mass production 2019
B12 8 Dalian a-Si Planning BOE also considering second Gen 10.5 fab
B13 8 Chongqing LTPS/AMOLED Under construction

References

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  1. ^ "BOE, Tianma, TCL see strong profits in 2021". 18 March 2022.
  2. ^ "BOE, Tianma, TCL see strong profits in 2021". 18 March 2022.
  3. ^ a b c d "Company Profile". BOE. Archived from the original on 2020-10-24. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
  4. ^ a b "BOE Takes First Spot in Large Display Unit Shipment, IHS Markit Says". IHS Technology. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  5. ^ a b "BOE unseats LG Display to become largest LCD TV, monitor panel supplier". DIGITIMES. 13 February 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  6. ^ a b "Japan's Sharp to Withdraw from Smartphone OLED Panel Business". 비즈니스코리아 - BusinessKorea (in Korean). 2019-08-02. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
  7. ^ a b "BOE to unseat LGD as top FPD supplier in 2019, says IHS". DIGITIMES. 5 June 2019. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Lan, Xiaohuan (2024). How China Works: An Introduction to China's State-led Economic Development. Translated by Topp, Gary. Palgrave Macmillan. doi:10.1007/978-981-97-0080-6. ISBN 978-981-97-0079-0.
  9. ^ "Beijing Orient Electronics shareholders approve Hynix STN LCD production line acquisition". DIGITIMES. 16 January 2002. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  10. ^ Newswires, Yun-Hee KimDow Jones (2003-01-23). "BOE Technology Completes Buy of Hynix Flat-Panel Unit". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  11. ^ a b Marquis, Christopher; Qiao, Kunyuan (2022). Mao and Markets: The Communist Roots of Chinese Enterprise. New Haven: Yale University Press. doi:10.2307/j.ctv3006z6k. ISBN 978-0-300-26883-6. JSTOR j.ctv3006z6k. OCLC 1348572572. S2CID 253067190.
  12. ^ "Chinese Electrical Appliance Firms Branch Out Into Medical Business". Yicai Global. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  13. ^ "Varitronix becomes a subsidiary of BOE". www.electronicspecifier.com. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  14. ^ "BRIEF-Varitronix International entered into acquisition agreement". Reuters. 2017-02-20. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  15. ^ "Business Wire". www.businesswire.com. 7 December 2017. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  16. ^ "Completion of the acquisition of a majority stake by BOE Technology Group along with the management of SES-imagotag". SES-imagotag. 2017-12-21. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  17. ^ "Kopin Enters Into Partnership Agreements to Meet the Coming Demand for OLED Micro-Displays for Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality". www.pressviewer.com. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  18. ^ Frumusanu, Andrei. "The Mate 20 & Mate 20 Pro Review: Kirin 980 Powering Two Contrasting Devices". www.anandtech.com. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  19. ^ "BOE AND ROHINNI FORMING JOINT VENTURE". Rohinni. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  20. ^ Alekseenko, Artem (2019-07-17). "UDE Shanghai Highlights Hisense Dual Cell TV U9E". DisplayDaily. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  21. ^ Amadeo, Ron (2019-02-24). "Move over Samsung, Huawei's foldable smartphone is an absolute stunner". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  22. ^ "08-05: Apple's 2021 iPhones will allegedly come with Face ID and on-screen fingerprint sensors; Huawei is allegedly busy testing its smartphone armed with self-developed HongMeng OS; etc". IF / News. 2019-08-05. Retrieved 2019-08-17.
  23. ^ Ikoba, Jed John (July 5, 2019). "LG turns to China's BOE for smartphone OLED displays as it falls behind Samsung".
  24. ^ "LGE may switch to China's BOE for next smartphones". THE ELEC, Korea Electronics Industry Media (in Korean). 2019-07-03. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  25. ^ Kubota, Yoko (22 July 2018). "China Targets Apple With Push Into Advanced Smartphone Screens". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2019-08-19.
  26. ^ "Apple taps China's BOE for premium displays for iPhone 13". Nikkei Asia.
  27. ^ Dudeja, Siddharth (2022-02-01). "This 500Hz Monitor Is The World's Highest Refresh Rate Display". Fossbytes. Retrieved 2022-02-01.
  28. ^ "Apple Analyst Says BOE Will Become Largest Display Supplier for iPhone 15". Businesskorea (in Korean). 2023-01-06. Retrieved 2023-01-07.
  29. ^ "PCT Yearly Review 2024" (PDF). p. 39.
  30. ^ Hu, Richard (2023). Reinventing the Chinese City. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 978-0-231-21101-7.
  31. ^ "China's BOE to have world's largest TFT-LCD+AMOLED capacity in 2019". ihsmarkit.com. 2017-03-22. Retrieved 2019-08-16.
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