The core technology of liquid crystal materials is monopolized by foreign companies, and local products are expected to make breakthroughs

Liquid crystal materials usually refer to a type of organic compound that has both the fluidity of a liquid and the anisotropy of a crystal under certain conditions. Liquid crystal material is one of the key optoelectronic materials for the production of liquid crystal displays (LCDs). The quality of its products directly affects the performance of the entire LCD machine, including key indicators such as response time, viewing angle, brightness, resolution, and operating temperature.

In recent years, the Chinese government has attached great importance to the development of the LCD industry and has issued a series of industrial policies to encourage the development of LCD panels and related raw material supporting industries. In 2016, the State Council stipulated in the “Administrative Measures for the Recognition of High-tech Enterprises” that chemicals for displays and chemicals for color LCD displays were recognized as high-tech fields supported by the state; in March 2019, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the State Administration of Broadcasting and the Central Broadcasting Corporation In the “Ultra-HD Video Industry Development Action Plan” issued by the China Television Station, it was mentioned that the development of the domestic ultra-high-definition video industry should be vigorously promoted in accordance with the overall technical route of “4K first, taking into account 8K”. The introduction and implementation of the above policies have provided a good policy environment for my country’s LCD industry, and also promoted the development of the LCD material industry to a large extent.

As far as the competitive landscape is concerned, due to the complex production process of liquid crystal materials and relatively high technical barriers, the key production technologies and core patents of liquid crystal materials are mainly controlled by large companies in Japan and Germany. The main companies include Merck of Germany and CHISSO of Japan. ,DIC. In recent years, thanks to the expansion of the domestic liquid crystal material market, China’s liquid crystal material industry has continued to develop, and many liquid crystal material production companies have emerged. There are two main types of these companies, one is Hecheng Display, Chengzhi Yonghua and other companies , this type of enterprise produces hybrid liquid crystal materials through its own production capacity, and then provides products to the market in batches. The main users of its products are LCD panel manufacturers such as BOE and Tianma; the second type mainly includes Yongtai Technology, Wanrun Co., Ltd., Ruilianxin Represented by the company, this type of company mainly manufactures and sells liquid crystal monomers, and its product users are large international liquid crystal material companies such as Merck and DIC. According to the released “2021-2025 China Liquid Crystal Materials Industry Market Supply and Demand Research Consultation Report“, in 2020, global liquid crystal material output Less than a thousand tons.

Analysts believe that China is a major producer of LCD panels, but as the main raw material for LCD panels, the localized production capacity of LCD materials is insufficient. , the domestic LCD panel industry relies on imported liquid crystal materials for production, especially high-end liquid crystal materials with good penetration, fast response, and high reliability. Due to the lack of relevant technology patents and production process accumulation in China, the production capacity of domestic high-end liquid crystal materials has been reduced. Scarcity makes it difficult to meet domestic market demand. In the future, with the encouragement and support of national policies, the global proportion of domestic LCD panel production capacity will continue to increase, which is expected to stimulate the growth of domestic demand for liquid crystal materials, provide a market foundation for the improvement of the technical level of local liquid crystal materials companies, and then comprehensively promote the liquid crystal materials industry improvement.