In-depth Analysis of the Current Situation in the LCD Display Industry

I. Current Situation of the LCD Display Industry

After a long period of development, the LCD industry has now entered a relatively mature yet constantly changing stage. From the market landscape perspective, Chinese mainland manufacturers have dominated the global LCD market, with the market concentration continuously increasing. Taking the LCD TV panel market as an example, with the gradual withdrawal of Japanese and Korean manufacturers, the market share of Chinese mainland panel manufacturers such as BOE and TCL Huazhong has continued to rise. In 2024, the share of LCD TV panel shipments in the global market by Chinese mainland manufacturers has exceeded 70%, and it is expected that this proportion may further increase by the end of 2025.

In terms of production capacity, although the overall LCD production capacity has grown relatively slowly in recent years, in the large-size and high-end product fields, production capacity is still continuously optimized and expanded. The continuous commissioning of high-generation production lines has further highlighted the production efficiency and cost advantages of large-size panels. At the same time, with the advancement of technology, and the overall production capacity structure of the industry has been optimized.

The demand side shows a diversified characteristic. In the consumer electronics sector, the demand for LCD panels for products such as televisions, computer monitors, and laptops still dominates. Among them, the demand for large-size TV panels has grown significantly, and consumers' preference for large-screen, high-definition TVs has driven the continuous increase in the shipment volume of 55-inch and above size TV panels. In the commercial and industrial sectors, LCD displays are increasingly widely used in scenarios such as intelligent retail, medical equipment, and traffic displays, and the demand is steadily increasing.

In terms of price, LCD panel prices have experienced significant fluctuations in the past few years, but have gradually stabilized recently. Due to the improvement of market supply and demand relations and the increase in industry concentration, panel manufacturers have more say in price setting. Since 2024, the prices of mainstream size LCD TV panels have started to rise since January 2025, and it is expected that the upward trend will continue in March. However, the stability of prices is still affected by various factors, such as fluctuations in raw material prices and changes in terminal market demand.
II. Driving Factors of the LCD Display Industry

2.1 Technological Upgrade Boosts Product Competitiveness

The continuous upgrading of LCD technology is an important internal driving force for industry development. In terms of backlight technology, the maturity and application of Mini LED backlight technology have brought higher brightness, contrast, and more precise local dimming effects to LCD displays, making them closer to OLED screens in display quality while being relatively lower in cost. For example, LCD TVs using Mini LED backlight can present more vivid colors and more detailed picture details, meeting consumers' pursuit of high-quality visual experiences.

Improvements in panel manufacturing processes have also enhanced the performance and production efficiency of LCD displays. The production technologies for high-resolution and high-refresh-rate panels have gradually matured, enabling LCD displays to compete with other display technologies such as OLED in fields with high display performance requirements, such as gaming monitors and high-end laptops. For example, 4K and 8K resolution LCD displays are becoming increasingly popular in the market, and 144Hz and higher refresh rate gaming LCD displays have become popular products in the market.
2.2 Diversified Growth of Terminal Market Demand

There is still significant growth in specific sectors. With the improvement of people's living standards, the demand for large-screen televisions remains strong. In some developed countries and regions, the average size of household living room TVs is constantly increasing, and the sales of 85-inch and larger ultra-large-screen TVs are growing rapidly. At the same time, driven by remote working and online entertainment, the demand for computer monitors and laptops has remained stable. Some consumers choose to purchase larger-sized, higher-resolution monitors and lightweight, portable laptops with good display effects to enhance their office and entertainment experiences.

In the commercial and industrial fields, the application scenarios of LCD displays are constantly expanding. In the smart retail sector, LCD electronic price tags, advertising displays, etc. are widely used to display product prices and promote sales information, improving the operational efficiency and customer shopping experience of retail stores. In the medical equipment sector, high-definition and stable LCD displays are important components of medical imaging equipment such as ultrasound diagnostic machines and X-ray machines, used by doctors for accurate diagnosis of diseases. In the transportation sector, LCD displays are used for vehicle displays and information displays at transportation hubs, providing convenient information services for travelers. These emerging application scenarios have brought new market opportunities and growth momentum to the LCD display industry.

2.3 Policy Support and Industry Synergy Promote Development

The policy support from governments of various countries for the electronic information industry has created a favorable external environment for the development of the LCD display industry. In China, the government has introduced a series of policies to encourage the research and development and industrialization of new display technologies, such as providing financial support for technological innovation projects in the LCD industry and offering land, tax, and other preferential policies to enterprises building high-generation panel production lines. These policies not only promoted the technological upgrading and capacity expansion of domestic LCD enterprises but also attracted more upstream and downstream enterprises to cluster, improving the layout of the industry chain.

In terms of industry synergy, the upstream and downstream enterprises in the LCD display industry have become increasingly closely cooperative. Panel manufacturing enterprises, raw material suppliers, and equipment manufacturers establish long-term stable cooperative relationships to jointly carry out technological research and product innovation. For example, glass substrate suppliers continuously develop thinner and stronger glass substrate materials to meet the requirements of LCD panel thinning and high resolution; liquid crystal material suppliers develop new liquid crystal materials to improve the response speed and color performance of LCD displays. At the same time, panel manufacturing enterprises and terminal product manufacturers also strengthen cooperation, customizing and developing LCD displays suitable for different application scenarios based on the demands of the terminal market, achieving all-round coordinated development from raw material supply to terminal product application, and enhancing the competitiveness of the entire LCD display industry.

III. Pain Points of the LCD Display Industry

3.1 Technological Innovation Bottlenecks

Although LCD technology has made significant progress in the past, it is currently facing some technological innovation bottlenecks. Compared with OLED and other emerging display technologies, LCD has inherent deficiencies in contrast, black display, and flexible display. In the high-end market that pursues ultimate display effects, OLED, with its self-illuminating characteristics, can achieve true black and infinite contrast, attracting many high-end consumers. Even though LCD adopts advanced backlight technologies, such as Mini LED, it still struggles to match OLED in black display and contrast.

In terms of flexible display, OLED has achieved large-scale flexible applications, such as foldable mobile phones and tablets. LCD, due to the limitations of its liquid crystal materials and structure, faces many technical challenges in the process of flexibility and progresses slowly. Currently, although there are some studies on flexible LCD, there is still a long way to go before achieving commercialization and large-scale application. This makes LCD less competitive in some emerging application fields that have high requirements for display technology, such as wearable devices and foldable screen products.

3.2 Intense market competition leads to compressed profit margins

The LCD display industry is highly competitive, and situations of oversupply in the market occur frequently, which severely compresses the profit margins of enterprises. As Chinese mainland manufacturers' share in the global LCD market continues to expand, industry production capacity has rapidly increased. However, the growth rate of terminal market demand is relatively slow, resulting in extremely intense market competition. Each panel manufacturer, in order to compete for market share, has adopted price competition strategies, causing frequent fluctuations in panel prices and keeping them at a low level for a long time.

For example, in the LCD TV panel market, when market supply exceeds demand, panel prices may drop significantly, and the company's gross profit margin will decline accordingly. Some small and medium-sized enterprises, due to their lack of obvious technological and cost advantages, even face the predicament of losses in the fierce market competition. Even the leading enterprises in the industry need to continuously optimize costs, improve production efficiency, and innovate to maintain a certain profit level. This intense market competition environment poses challenges to the healthy development of the entire LCD display industry, and enterprises are also constrained to a certain extent in terms of R&D investment and long-term development strategies.

3.3 Fluctuations in raw material prices and supply chain risks

The production of LCD displays is highly dependent on multiple raw materials, such as glass substrates, liquid crystal materials, and polarizing films. Fluctuations in raw material prices have a significant impact on industry costs. The glass substrate, as an important component of LCD panels, is affected by various factors such as raw material supply, production processes, and market demand. When the supply of glass substrate raw materials is tight or production capacity of manufacturers is adjusted, the price of glass substrate may increase significantly, thereby increasing the production cost of LCD panels.
Supply chain risks are also an important issue faced by the industry. The LCD display industry has a high degree of global supply chain integration. Any problem in any link may affect the normal operation of the entire industry chain. For example, geopolitical factors, natural disasters, and public health events may lead to raw material supply disruptions or logistics blockages. During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, global logistics were disrupted, and some raw material supplies were interrupted, causing LCD panel manufacturers to face a shortage of raw materials and severe impacts on their production plans. Moreover, the industry has a high dependence on the import of some key raw materials and equipment. Once the international situation changes, supply chain security will face severe challenges.

Four. Trends of the LCD display industry

4.1 Technological integration and innovation breakthroughs

In the future, LCD display technology will develop towards integration with other emerging technologies to achieve innovation breakthroughs. On one hand, the combination of LCD and quantum dot technology will further enhance display effects. Quantum dot technology can precisely control the color of light emission and, when combined with LCD, can enable displays to present a wider color gamut, brighter colors, and higher brightness. This integrated technology has broad application prospects in high-end TVs and displays and is expected to further enhance LCD's competitiveness in the high-end market.

On the other hand, as Micro LED technology gradually matures, the hybrid technology of LCD and Micro LED also becomes a development trend. Micro LED has the advantages of self-illumination, high brightness, and high contrast, and its application as a backlight source or as a pixel light-emitting unit in LCD can improve LCD display performance while reducing costs. For instance, some enterprises are developing technologies that use Micro LED as the local dimming backlight for LCD screens. By precisely controlling the brightness of Micro LED, higher contrast and more precise local dimming effects can be achieved.
4.2 Expansion of application fields and emerging market opportunities

The application fields of LCD display technology will continue to expand, bringing new growth opportunities to the industry. In the automotive display field, with the development of automotive intelligence, the demand for automotive display screens is growing rapidly. LCD display screens, with their cost advantages and mature technology, are widely used in automotive central control screens, dashboards, rear-seat entertainment screens, etc. In the future, as autonomous driving technology becomes more widespread, automotive display screens will undertake more information display and interaction functions, and the requirements for display effect, reliability and safety will also increase, which will drive the continuous innovation of LCD automotive display technology and the expansion of market scale.

In the smart home field, LCD display screens will also play an important role. Smart appliances such as smart refrigerators and smart air conditioners are equipped with LCD display screens to display device status, operation information and provide human-computer interaction interfaces. In addition, smart home control centers often adopt LCD display screens to facilitate centralized control and management of various smart devices in the home. With the rapid development of the smart home market, the application prospects of LCD display screens in this field are very broad.

The economic development and consumption upgrading in emerging market countries and regions have also brought huge market opportunities to the LCD display industry. In some developing countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, with the increase in residents' income levels and the acceleration of urbanization, the demand for consumer electronic products such as televisions and computers is growing rapidly. These markets have great potential and will become important growth drivers for the LCD display industry in the future.

4.3 Green environmental protection and sustainable development become the mainstream

With the continuous improvement of global environmental awareness, green environmental protection and sustainable development will become the mainstream development trend of the LCD display industry. In the production process, enterprises will pay more attention to energy conservation and emission reduction, adopt more environmentally friendly production processes and equipment. For example, by optimizing production processes, reducing energy consumption and wastewater, waste gas and waste residue emissions; using new environmentally friendly materials to reduce environmental pollution.
In product design, LCD display screens will develop in a direction of being lighter and thinner, more energy-efficient. Light and thin display screens can not only reduce the use of raw materials, lower energy consumption during transportation and installation, but also enhance the portability and aesthetics of the product. At the same time, by improving backlight technology and driving circuits, the energy efficiency of LCD display screens can be improved, reducing energy consumption during use, and meeting the requirements of green environmental protection.

In addition, the recycling and reuse of products will also receive more attention. Enterprises will establish a complete product recycling system to effectively recycle and process discarded LCD display screens, extract useful materials, achieve resource recycling, reduce the harm of electronic waste to the environment, and promote the entire industry to move towards a sustainable development direction.