Established in 1982, TCL was one of first 13 joint venture enterprises in
China. Previously known as TTK Home Appliances (Huizhou) Co., Ltd., the company
was originally engaged in manufacturing audio tapes. Subsequently, business
operations were expanded to phones, television sets, mobile phones,
refrigerators, washing machines, air conditioners, small household appliances,
LCD panels, and etc.
In recent years, TCL has been focusing on fostering technical competence as
one of its core competitive strengths. In order to develop an edge in efficiency
and product technology, the company has actively been concentrating on new
semiconductor display technologies, as well as new processes and materials.
In 2009, TCL invested in Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co.,
Ltd (CSOT), which developed China’s first high-generation panel line through
independent research and innovation. This development broke the long-term
monopoly of Japanese and Korean enterprises in semiconductor panel
manufacturing, and provided a solution to the lack of domestically-produced
microchips and LCD panels in China. Today, CSOT has six production lines that
have been built or are under construction. The total investment in these
production lines amount to nearly 200 billion yuan, which helps to build the
competiveness in the domestic LCD panel industry. Of these six production lines,
four have been built (t1, t2, t3, t6) and the products cover everything from
small and medium-sized mobile phones to large television display panels.
Together, these four lines comprehensively cover the production of small, medium
and large display products. Line t4 has been under construction since June 2017,
and is expected to realize mass production in 2020. It is set to be China’s
first flexible and foldable production line for display products.
CSOT's new 11th generation TFT-LCD and AMOLED display device production line
(known in short as the “t6 project”) was put into production since November
2018, and the new 11th generation ultra-high-definition display device
production line project (also known as the “t7 project”) is officially under
construction. It is the most competitive project in terms of production of these
new, large display panels, and is expected to realize mass production in 2021.
In the same year, TCL established an industrial park in India as part of its
active push to enter the overseas semiconductor display business. In the future,
CSOT also aims to consolidate its core competitiveness in the global display
panel industry by venturing into new applications of display technology. These
include touch modules, electronic whiteboards, splicing video walls, automotive,
e-sports and other high-end dedicated displays.
After 10 years of innovation and hard work, TCL’s core patented technologies
are among the world’s best. As of the third quarter of 2018, TCL has 34,941
patent applications in China and 8,057 applications in the US. Of these, CSOT’s
patent applications comprise 13,624 in China and 7,388 in the US. In the
important field of quantum dots, 648 patent applications were published in the
first half of the year, ranking second in the world.
As a pioneer of the globalization drive among Chinese enterprises, TCL took
the lead in focusing on the Vietnamese market as early as 2000. Today, TCL has
already undergone the four stages of early exploration, cross-border mergers and
acquisitions, steady growth, and globalization. As of 2018, TCL has 28 R&D
centers, sales offices in more than 80 countries and regions, and operations in
more than 160 countries and regions.
