BOE plans to transform

A woman tries watching BOE Technology Group Co Ltd's 3D TV, presented at a science and technology expo in Beijing. [Photo provided to China Daily]

BOE Technology Group Co Ltd, a leading supplier of semiconductor display products, plans to invest more than 100 billion yuan ($14.8 billion) and open at least 5,000 cooperative projects with partners in the next five years in order to transform itself into an internet of things technology developer.

"We have entered into an era of the IoT, with the continuous development of information technology. It is estimated that the market scale of IoT, artificial intelligence and big data will reach $14.2 trillion by 2030, accounting for 10 percent of GDP from the current level of less than one percent," said Chen Yanshun, CEO of BOE.

Chen said: "we will speed up the layout in IoT, expanding our applications from the traditional fields such as TV, display devices, PCs, tablets and smartphones to new products like transparent displays, vehicle displays, virtual displays, wearables and sensors."

BOE now has three major business sectors, including display devices, smart systems and healthcare services.

"We will continue to invest in the three major sectors, open at least 5,000 projects to partners and offer at least 5 billion IoT ports," said Chen, estimating the company's turnover will surpass 180 billion yuan by 2020.

Wang Dongsheng, BOE chairman, said they will work together with enterprises and professionals in the IoT field to promote hardware innovation, software and applications, and the development of displays, sensors and artificial intelligence.

BOE has stepped up its efforts developing and producing AMOLED (active matrix organic light emitting diode) displays. Recently, it announced it will invest 46.5 billion yuan in its 6-generation AMOLED production line in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

It is the second company to master flexible display technology and go into mass production, following Samsung Electronics Co Ltd.

Moreover, the company is building three smart factories to provide customized tailor-made services for consumers to tap into the intelligent manufacturing field, thus seeking to overturn the existing OEM model. It is also developing online-to-offline medical services and cutting-edge mobile health intelligent products.