According to IHS Markit, China topped shipments in both mobile panels and LCD panels in 2019. However, China still heavily relies on importing the key components – display driver ICs – from South Korea.
Huawei filed earlier in 2020 an organizational change, indicating the new set-up of display driver ICs department under the terminal chipset division. The company’s entrant to the research and design of display driver ICs on the one hand signs a current technology shortage in China’s self-developed display chipsets. On the other, it shows the company's aspiration to fully develop China-made core electronic components.
The performance of display driver ICs is the key determinant of the quality of LED or LCD presented images, especially for small, mini and micro-LED displays. The technology requirements of HD images and large current for LED display application scenarios also depend on the performance of the driver IC.
In China, Galaxycore and Goodix (603160:SH) are capable of providing touch screen ICs, yet the market share of display ICs supplied by Chinese vendors is less than 5%. The major players are Samsung Display, MagnaChip (MX:NYSE) and Silicon Works (108320:KOSDAQ), which together attract USD 8 million orders from the display manufacturer BOE (000725:SZ).