Smartphones lift flat-panel sector

A stand markets TCL Corp at an exhibition in Beijing. CSOT Corp, a major TCL subsidiary that produces liquid crystal display panels, on Monday announced plans for a high-end panel plant in Wuhan, capital of Hubei province. WU CHANGQING/CHINA DAILY

China's growing appetite for portable smart devices will accelerate domestic innovation and could shorten the product life cycle across the entire production chain, according to industry insiders.

Flat panel display manufacturers will reap more orders as the global smartphone fever continues to attract Chinese technology companies.

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"Surging market demand for high-resolution smartphone screens is lifting the sector, to the point where it's become the biggest vertical segment in the panel manufacturing industry, overtaking television panels," said Bo Lianming, executive director and chief operating officer of home appliance maker TCL Corp.

CSOT Corp, a major TCL subsidiary that produces liquid crystal display panels, on Monday announced plans for a high-end panel plant costing 16 billion yuan ($2.6 billion) in Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province. The facility will open in 2016 with an annual production capacity of 88 million units, according to a company statement.

Bo hopes the company's ambitious LCD project will offer a technological edge to the Guangdong-based multinational as it goes up against market leaders from Japan and South Korea.

TCL's new Wuhan factory will be near Lenovo Group Ltd's largest mobile device assembly plant. The world's largest personal computer producer is targeting 100 million mobile device shipments annually.

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