Three display makers in China (BOE, Tianma and Visionox) reported their preliminary financial results for the first half of 2023. It seems as if all companies are facing a sluggish economy and lower demand for displays - but the OLED business is actually seeing increased demand.
We'll start with BOE, that expects an operating profit of around 700-800 million Yuan ($97-110 million USD) in the first half of 2023, a decrease of around 90% from last year. BOE says that it is starting to see demand increasing as the year progresses.
For its OLED business, BOE says that even though smartphone shipments is still slow, the penetration of OLED displays into the smartphone industry is increasing. It says it shipped over 50 million AMOLED displays in the first half of 2023, this is a company record, and an increase of almost 80% compared to 2022. The profitability of its AMOLED business is improving - but still under pressure as there's strong price competition.
China-based display maker Tianma expects a loss of around 1.4 billion yuan (almost $200 million USD), compared to a profit of 371 million Yuan (around $52 million) in the first of 2022. Tianma also reports a sluggish economy and a lower demand for displays.
The company's OLED business, though, had a good period. Its flexible AMOLED panel shipments increased by more than 400% compared to 2022 as Tianma signed up new smartphone customers. Tianma reports that its profit margins in its OLED business, though, is lower as there's continued price pressure - the same as was reported by BOE.
Visionox, a pure-play AMOLED display maker, said that it expects its revenues in Q2 2023 to reach 1.6-1.9 billion yuan ( $220-$260 million USD), an increase of 115-150% from Q1 2023. For the first half year, it expects a net loss of around 1.6-1.8 billion yuan ($220-$250 million USD), a larger loss compared to the same period last year.
Visionox, like BOE and Tianma, reports an acceleration in OLED production, coupled with lower prices on the market. Visionox says it adjusted its product strategy, focusing on OLED display products of high-end models for its top customers.
