Analysis of the market space and competition pattern of dimming glass: domestic manufacturers break through bottlenecks and prices drop

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01 .

Dimming glass: The demand side increases with the penetration of skylight glass.

Domestic manufacturers on the supply side break through technology and price bottlenecks

Dimming glass refers to a glass product that has a membrane structure installed in the middle of the car glass and then controls the glass by applying voltage to achieve intelligent adjustment of light.

Traditional double-layer glass usually has a layer of film between the glass, which is called laminated glass interlayer. The materials are mostly PVB, EVA, SGP, EVA, etc. Film products are the core components of dimming glass. The technical barriers of film products are high and involve multiple processes.

The double-layer glass of dimming glass mostly adopts a three-layer film structure, in which the middle film plays the core function of dimming, and the other two layers of film serve as the connection between the middle film and the glass. If the core film in the middle is further disassembled, the internal structure of the film under different technical paths also has different compositions.

The application scenarios of dimming glass are mainly in the construction industry and the automotive industry. In the construction industry, dimming glass is used in scenes such as the glass facade of the building and the glass of the conference room.

In the automotive industry, dimming glass is currently mainly used in sunroofs or skylight glass to provide heat insulation . It can also be used in rear glass to provide privacy glass, or for human-computer interaction and entertainment functions. It can also be used in windshields, combined with AR HUD functions, and in rearview mirrors to provide anti-glare functions.

On June 21, 2024, Fuyao Group held a new product launch conference for the new generation of intelligent heat-insulating panoramic skylights, "Duo Tiangong·Xinjing", including shading series, light filtering series and light-protecting series. Shading and light filtering represent integrated sunshade products and silver-coated glass products respectively, and the light-protecting series is the dimming glass product introduced in this report. The products introduced by Fuyao Group this time are products of PDLC and EC paths. As an influential automotive glass manufacturer, Fuyao Glass has made systematic publicity for dimming glass, which will further accelerate the speed at which automakers install dimming glass.

The positioning of light-shielding, light-filtering and light-protecting products covers all price ranges from low to high. The light-protecting series (dimming glass) represents the high-end product form of automotive glass at this stage. With the increase in demand and the improvement of the supply capacity of domestic manufacturers, the penetration rate of this high-end configuration of dimming glass is expected to accelerate.

The core logic of the development of dimming glass track:

The dimming glass industry has reached an upward turning point, due to two reasons: supply and demand:

In terms of demand, the increase in the penetration rate of skylight glass has led to an increase in the demand for dimming glass. Skylight glass has many advantages such as beautiful appearance and high cost performance, but it also brings problems such as excessive light and poor heat insulation. Therefore, the demand for heat insulation by automakers continues to increase with the increase in the penetration rate of skylight glass, which also translates into an increase in the demand for dimming glass.

On the supply side, domestic suppliers have broken through technical bottlenecks and helped dimming glass prices drop. Previously, dimming glass technology was not fully mature. In the past one to two years, domestic suppliers have made technical breakthroughs, reached mass production standards, and overcome previous technical difficulties. Previously, dimming glass was relatively expensive and only appeared in the configuration of million-dollar luxury cars. Currently, domestic manufacturers have lowered the supply price to a reasonable range, and there is still room for optimization.

The market has a poor understanding of dimming glass:

1. Price comparison between dimming film and glass

What is beyond market cognition is that the value of film products is also much higher than that of glass itself. Taking the car sunroof as an example, the price of the dimming film in the middle of the glass is several times that of the sunroof glass of the same area. Therefore, the dimming film belongs to the track of high value-added components.

2. The position of dimming film in the industry chain

In the market's previous understanding of the dimming glass industry, Fuyao Glass, Saint-Gobain, etc. were sometimes confused with Guangyi Technology, Haiyou New Materials, etc. as suppliers.

We believe that from the perspective of the smart dimming glass industry chain, the upstream is mainly engaged in the production of related dimming material films, glass substrates, PVB, etc., the midstream is responsible for the integration of dimming glass, which is applied to various OEMs and after-sales markets, and the downstream is the vehicle manufacturers.

Fuyao Glass, Saint-Gobain, Asahi Glass, Sheet Glass, etc. belong to tier 1, and are not manufacturers of dimming films. These automotive glass manufacturers are mainly responsible for integration and direct connection with car manufacturers, while Guangyi Technology, Haiyou New Materials, Jingyi Technology, BOE, etc. belong to tier 2, and are mainly connected with tier 1 automotive glass manufacturers, and will also directly communicate with vehicle manufacturers about products. If the industrial chain is further differentiated, then ITO conductive film suppliers such as Rijiu Optoelectronics can also be considered as the upstream of the above tier 2.

Differences between our views and those of the market on dimming glass:

1. The market believes that dimming glass is not a new technology, but why are we optimistic about it at this point in time?

Smart glass is not a technology that has only appeared in the past two years, but the past year is the time when domestic suppliers have achieved technological breakthroughs, passed factory inspections and tests, and have even been installed in vehicles for mass production. Domestic suppliers have solved the two major problems of low installation rates of smart glass in the past two years:

First, there were many technical defects in the application of dimming glass in automobiles before, but now in various technical paths, we have seen that domestic solutions have broken through technical bottlenecks and overcome difficulties. Here are just a few aspects to prove it, such as color, haze, etc. Color seems to be a very simple indicator, but in the automotive-grade mass production scenario, consumers are very sensitive to it. Some dimming films will appear white (PDLC) and blue (EC), while most consumers want the dimming film to appear black. Color change is also one of the technical difficulties for suppliers. At present, domestic suppliers of PDLC paths have achieved black PDLC dimming glass through the development of dyes, and suppliers of EC paths have also met terminal needs by making blue dark blue to achieve "black" visually. The SPD path was also blue before, and it is now breaking through to gray-black; haze is another common technical indicator. The previous solution had a high haze (especially PDLC), and the current domestic PDLC manufacturers have also reduced the haze by reducing the volume of liquid crystal particles and optimizing particle arrangement.

Second, the price of dimming glass was too high before, and domestic suppliers helped to lower the price and increase the installation rate. The origins of various technical paths of dimming glass basically come from the United States, Japan and other countries, but the degree of commercialization and industrialization has always been low. The reason is that the price is too high. Therefore, dimming glass is only installed in luxury cars, and most consumers lack contact with dimming glass. In the past two years, domestic manufacturers have optimized the price to a reasonable position, and with the mass production of products and the release of scale effects, there is still room for prices to fall. As the unit price of dimming glass decreases, the logic of increasing penetration will continue to emerge.

We also briefly reviewed the price evolution of dimming glass. Here we selected the price of dimming glass sold by some car companies to consumers.

In 2021, the optional price of the 1.9m2 light-sensitive vast skylight of the Aion S Plus is 9,600 yuan. When the Zeekr 001 was first launched in 2021, it had the EC light-sensitive skylight as an option, priced at 10,000 yuan (discounted price of 6,000 yuan before December 31, 2021);

The optional price of BYD Seal's light-sensing skylight in 2022 is 8,600 yuan;

The optional price of BYD Haibao is adjusted to 6,600 yuan in 2023. The optional price of NIO EC6, ET5T and other models is 9,500 yuan;

The 2024 Zeekr 001, after the technical solution changes, comes standard with LV zone dimming skylight in the YOU version, and optional LV zone dimming skylight in the WE and ME versions, with an optional price of 16,000 yuan. The optional price of EC dimming glass for the 24 NIO ET7 is the same as the optional price of other NIO models in 23, which is 9,500 yuan.

It can be seen that the current optional price of dimming skylight glass for consumers is basically in the order of several thousand yuan, and some prices are already around 6,000 yuan. We predict that as the scale effect is released, the subsequent optional price on the consumer side is expected to approach 3,000 yuan.

2. The market believes that skylight glass has indeed brought about a large demand, but sunshades, silver-coated glass, etc. can also achieve heat insulation effects and are cheaper than dimming glass. Will dimming glass grow as expected?

Sunshades are the most traditional way of heat insulation. The disadvantage is that the design of the sunshade and the sunroof is a bit abrupt, and it will take up some head-high space. This is particularly sensitive for cars with insufficient height in the car (especially new energy vehicles with relatively high chassis). In addition, the shape of the sunshade will appear inappropriate for fastback cars.

Silver-coated glass is also a new heat insulation method in recent years. The disadvantage of silver-coated glass is that it sacrifices light transmittance in order to achieve heat insulation effect. The sunshade effect of dimming glass is better than that of silver-coated glass. Dimming glass can also allow people in the car to enjoy the scenery outside the car while blocking the sunlight. In addition, silver-coated glass mainly solves the heat problem in the infrared region of light, and has limited absorption of heat in the visible light region. EC and SPD can solve the heat problem in the visible light region. In other words, the heat insulation effect of dimming glass is better than that of silver-coated glass.

We believe that if we do not consider the cost issue and only consider the effect, dimming glass should be the best insulation solution, but the main factor hindering its penetration rate at this stage is price. At present, we can see that the breakthrough of domestic manufacturers in supply capacity has helped the price of dimming glass to drop, and the downward trend is relatively certain. At present, the stock penetration rate of dimming glass is not high, but we predict that the upward turning point has arrived. With the continuous mass production of dimming glass, the subsequent price is expected to drop and the penetration rate is expected to increase.

From the new product launch of Fuyao Group's new generation of intelligent heat-insulating panoramic skylights, it can be seen that Fuyao Group has positioned sunshade products, silver-coated glass products, and dimming glass products from the bottom up, and named them the shading series, filter series, and Yuguang series respectively. According to the official website of Fuyao Glass, the Yuguang series (i.e. dimming glass) has high sun protection and heat insulation performance. The cooling effect under the 2.5H standard exposure condition is 2-5℃ cooler than Fuyao Group's filter series glass, and the heat insulation efficiency is better. Therefore, we judge that among the heat insulation products of skylight glass, dimming glass is positioned as the highest-end product by automotive glass manufacturers.

02 .

Technical path: multiple paths go hand in hand

There are many technical paths for dimming glass, and currently, there are still multiple paths running side by side. Each technical path also has its own advantages and disadvantages. The four technical paths are PDLC, EC, SPD, and LC/Dye LC.

2.1. PDLC

PDLC is the earliest dimming glass technology. In the late 1980s, PDLC technology was invented by Kent University in Texas, USA, and authorized to Polytronix, Inc. of the United States to commercialize liquid crystal film products. The earliest liquid crystal film products were mainly used in the production of liquid crystal dimming glass in the interlayer, and were first used in NASA projects in the early 1990s. This is the earliest known application case of PDLC liquid crystal dimming glass. As a global pioneer in the production of PDLC liquid crystal dimming film and liquid crystal dimming glass, Polytronix, Inc.'s brand Polyvision Privacy Glass is also regarded as a synonym for liquid crystal dimming glass at that time. Therefore, Europe and the United States also call dimming glass Polyvision glass or privacy glass (a literal translation of Privacy Glass). Later, manufacturers such as South Korea and Japan began to intervene in this field in the mid-1990s, and domestic manufacturers in China also invested in this production field more than a decade after the advent of PDLC liquid crystal film.

PDLC (polymer dispersed liquid crystal) refers to polymer dispersed liquid crystal, which is a flexible material. The principle of PDLC dimming film is that the polymer in the liquid crystal film will be arranged in an orderly manner when electricity is applied, and the glass will become transparent accordingly. When electricity is not applied, the glass will appear to be translucent but opaque.

The advantages of PDLC are: It is relatively mature, low cost (according to the official website of Longsheng Optoelectronics, the price of PDLC dimming film is currently 40-50% of the price of EC dimming film), fast color change response speed, and can achieve zone color adjustment.

The disadvantages of traditional PDLC solutions are limited thermal insulation effect, generally white color, relatively high haze, and most of them can only achieve two-gear adjustment of switches, etc. However, some suppliers have also made targeted optimizations to the shortcomings of PDLC.

The dimming glass has a zoned color adjustment function. In 2022, Porsche launched the Taycan Sport Turismo, which offers a variable light-controlled panoramic sunroof as an optional option for all Taycan models. The Porsche Taycan dimming skylight glass surface is divided into nine individually controllable areas, which can achieve five dimming effects: transparent, matte, translucent, bright, and custom .

2.2. LC

LC, or DLC (Dye Liquid Crystal), refers to dye liquid crystal. Dye molecules are added to liquid crystal molecules to provide more color options. The dichroic dye liquid crystal is injected between two layers of glass or plastic substrates coated with transparent conductive oxides to form a liquid crystal dimming function layer. By applying an AC voltage (<24V), the liquid crystal rotation angle can be adjusted to control the light flux, achieving fine control of the glass transmittance.

The advantages of LC are color and haze. LC further optimizes the visual effect based on PDLC. Compared with the whiter color of traditional PDLC and the bluish color of EC, LC has better color control ability. In addition, LC has lower haze than traditional PDLC.

The disadvantages of LC are that it is difficult to integrate with large-curved glass (such as sunroof glass) and it is expensive. Although the principles of LC and PDLC are both based on liquid crystal, there are differences if you look closely. Taking the medium as an example, PDLC is similar to EC, SPD, etc., and can act on flexible media, while LC itself acts on relatively flat glass. Therefore, LC is difficult to integrate with automotive glass with a large curvature. Therefore, the current mass-produced LC solutions are used for side window glass on Zeekr 009 Brilliance and Hongqi H9, rather than curved sunroof glass. In addition, the current LC price solution is higher than PDLC and other solutions.

BOE has certain technical accumulation in the LC field. In 2021, BOE's LC dimming glass has been installed on the suspension train. In 2024, the Zeekr 0009 Guanghui is also equipped with BOE's LC dimming glass products.

2.3. EC

The EC film has a total of seven layers. The EC device substrate plays the role of wrapping all materials. The transparent conductive layer has good conductivity and transparency, which makes the EC color change stable and basically does not affect the color of the device. The ion storage layer releases ions to achieve color change. The electrolyte layer is the movement channel of ions. The EC layer is the core part, which affects the color and color change speed of the device.

The essence of EC color change is that under the action of voltage, the optical properties of the material (transmittance, reflectivity, absorptivity, etc.) undergo stable and reversible changes. When an electric field is applied on both sides of the EC film, a redox reaction occurs inside the EC device, and ions begin to move to the EC layer, causing the EC layer to change color; when the positive and negative electrodes are switched and a reverse electric field is applied, ions move to the ion storage layer, causing the EC layer to change from dark to transparent, thus achieving fading.

The first generation of EC technology uses gel technology, and an example of its application is the dimmable smart window used in the Boeing 787 in 2008. This technology uses violet as the main EC material, which reacts to turn blue when powered on. Since it is difficult to control the flatness and curvature of large-area glass, the gel distribution is uneven, resulting in uneven color change. Therefore, the disadvantages of the first generation of EC technology are uneven color change and small area.

The second generation EC technology is an inorganic solid-state EC technology, which solves the problem of limited use of gel EC products. The application example of the second generation EC technology is the color-changing sunroof of the Ferrari 575M sports car. Unlike the first generation of gel technology, the second generation uses inorganic materials, the most representative of which is the transition metal oxide tungsten trioxide, which turns blue when powered. The second generation technology uses magnetron sputtering technology to impact the surface of the material with huge energy, so that the atoms in the solid material are deposited on the plated glass, allowing the solid material and the glass to fit perfectly.

The inorganic solid-state technology used in the second-generation products broke through the area limitation of gel technology products, allowing EC technology to be mass-produced into large-area products and widely used in buildings. However, this inorganic solid-state technology based on glass is only suitable for EC material coating on flat substrates, and the curved surface is prone to uneven coating, so it is impossible to make large curved products. In addition, magnetron sputtering requires strict production conditions, which indirectly increases the cost of EC glass, so the application of large-area EC products is also limited.

Guangyi Technology has led the third generation of EC technology, which is flexible solid-state EC film technology. Guangyi Technology uses a new polymer EC material and a self-developed roll-to-roll coating process to produce EC film. The polymer material is first evenly dispersed into a solution, and the EC solution is coated on the film with an instrument. The coated film is then dried at high temperature to make an EC composite film.

The efficient roll-to-roll coating process improves the cost-effectiveness of EC products. At the same time, the use of film as a substrate breaks the limitations of traditional glass substrates, making EC products of different areas and arbitrary shapes possible. The third-generation EC technology further solves previous problems and can be applied to automotive skylight glass.

For Guangyi Technology, there are several main product barriers: 1. Material selection. The materials of the first two generations of technology have certain limitations. Guangyi Technology uses new materials with strong material stability, excellent color change performance, and can be used for roll-to-roll coating production; 2. Flexible film substrate. After many tests, Guangyi Technology finally chose a micron-level PET film with a thickness equivalent to 2-3 strands of hair; 3. Roll-to-roll coating process. In order to maintain uniform discoloration of the film, the solution used for coating must ensure uniform dispersion, and a nano-level material coating is applied on the micron-level film. The thickness of the composite film after coating needs to be consistent, and the error is controlled within a few hundred nanometers. After coating, the solution is dried, and the solution volatilization also needs to be consistent, otherwise it will also affect the performance of the diaphragm.

In December 2020, Guangyi Technology and OPPO jointly launched the OPPO Reno5 Pro+, the world's first mass-produced EC color-changing mobile phone, which represents that EC technology is beginning to accelerate into people's lives. Since then, Guangyi Technology's EC products have obtained multiple mass production projects in the automotive field.

Compared with other paths such as PDLC and SPD, the advantage of the EC solution is that it can achieve continuous dynamic dimming, and it can remember the state when the power is off, and it only needs low voltage to operate; the disadvantages of the EC solution are that the color is blue, it cannot achieve zone dimming, and the dimming response time is not as good as the other technical paths.

2.4. SPD

The principle of SPD dimming glass is to disperse particles with oriented light absorption characteristics in a suspension. When no electricity is applied, the particles in Brownian motion are randomly arranged and can absorb more than 99% of visible light. When an AC voltage of 110V is applied, the particles are oriented and arranged, allowing light to pass through.

The advantage of SPD is that it can be adjusted infinitely: the transparency of the glass can be freely controlled as needed, achieving a smooth transition from transparent to translucent or completely blackout, providing appropriate lighting and visual effects.

The disadvantages of SPD are cost and voltage. The cost of SPD is higher than PDLC; the driving voltage of SPD is higher than other solutions, and SPD uses 110V voltage. In the past, only high-end models in the automotive industry used this type of glass, such as McLaren GT and Mercedes-Benz third-generation SLK. Now, with the technological breakthroughs of domestic suppliers, the cost of SPD is expected to decrease, and we believe that the price range of models equipped with SPD will also move down.

03 .

Market space and competition landscape

3.1. Market space

Calculate the market space of dimming glass:

The first step is to calculate the proportion of car sales below 100,000 yuan in the Chinese market. According to public data, the sales of cars below 100,000 yuan in the Chinese market are mainly contributed by joint venture brands and independent brands. The sales of joint venture brands below 100,000 yuan will gradually decrease from 7.5% in 2019 to only 1.48% in 2023, and the sales of independent brands below 100,000 yuan will decrease from 25% in 2019 to 19.71% in 2023. The sales of cars below 100,000 yuan in the entire Chinese market will decrease from 32.5% in 2019 to 21.19% in 2023.

We estimate that in steady state, the sales volume of cars below RMB 100,000 will account for about 20% of the Chinese market. Since skylight glass is generally installed on models above RMB 100,000, it is equivalent to our estimate that in steady state, the sales volume of cars above RMB 100,000 will account for about 80% of the Chinese market.

The second step is the distribution of the proportion of traditional fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles. We expect that in steady state, the proportion of traditional fuel vehicles and new energy vehicles will be half each (i.e., in steady state in the Chinese market, traditional fuel vehicles above 100,000 yuan account for 40%, and new energy vehicles above 100,000 yuan account for 40%). It is predicted that 30% of traditional fuel vehicles will be equipped with skylight glass in steady state, and 70% of new energy vehicles will be equipped with skylight glass in steady state.

In the third step, the two market segments are added together, and the conclusion is: under steady state, the predicted value of the penetration rate of skylight glass in the Chinese market is 40%.

The fourth step is to make a prediction of the dimming glass penetration rate based on the predicted value of the skylight glass penetration rate. We predict that in a steady state, the proportion of cars equipped with skylight glass that are equipped with dimming glass is expected to reach 25%-30%, that is, in a steady state, the penetration rate of dimming glass in the Chinese market is expected to reach 10%-12%.

According to Zoss Automotive Research data, the installation volume of panoramic sunroofs for new passenger cars in China in 2022 will be 1.6369 million, of which smart dimming sunroofs account for 0.5%. We believe that dimming glass is at the stage of breaking through from 0 to 1, and its growth elasticity is relatively large.

3.2. Competition landscape

As mentioned earlier in this report, the industry chain of smart glass is rich in upstream and downstream. Here we mainly list the market participants of smart film.

PDLC:

PDLC technology originated overseas, with American and Japanese companies making early moves. Currently, domestic manufacturers are rising, driving up penetration rates.

Polytronix, Inc. of the United States: In the late 1980s, PDLC technology was invented by the University of Kent in Texas, USA and authorized to Polytronix, Inc. of the United States to commercialize and mass-produce liquid crystal film products.

Toppan Printing Co., Ltd.: Toppan Printing Co., Ltd. launched the dimming film "LC MAGICTM" in 2016 and expanded into the construction and automotive industries. In 2022, Toppan developed a new grade of "LC MAGICTM" "Normal Black", which turns black when the power is turned off, with a visible light transmittance of 5%. So far, Toppan's product lineup includes "Normal White" (transparent when powered on, turbid when powered off), "Reverse White" (turbid when powered on, transparent when powered off), and "Normal Black".

Israeli company Gauzy: Listed on the Nasdaq in the United States in 2024 (stock code: GAUZ). Gauzy has product layouts in both PDLC and SPD technology paths.

隆晟光电：隆晟光电是全球为数不多的车规级PDLC生产厂商，合作的客户有AGP、福耀集团、耀皮玻璃、圣戈班、Webasto、inalfa 等。产品性能通过了 AGP 和福耀集团汽车玻璃产品的 5000 小时测试和VDA6.3 认证。公司2023 年完成B+轮融资。隆昇光电已经与多家一级供应商和知名车企建立合作关系，获得国内外客户的订单认证，具有较强的商业化能力。公司已与福耀玻璃、AGP、圣戈班全球五大玻璃厂等下游汽车玻璃、天窗巨头企业达成合作，并量产进入宝马、奥迪、大众、路特斯等多款主流汽车供应链，产品已累计导入国内外 40 余个定点车型和 10 个量产车型。公司生产的调光膜产品已成功应用于宝马 IX 系列、岚图 FREE 等一批新能源汽车的天窗、天幕、侧窗等。

Haiyou New Materials: Haiyou New Materials will launch a product named PDCLC dimming film Lightfeel™. Different from the conventional PDLC on the market, Haiyou New Materials adds dyes to the liquid crystal, and the black dimming film is more advanced and suitable for use in more scenarios.

Haiyouwei's PDCLC intelligent color dimming film is the world's first dark PDLC product. Relying on Haiyouwei's own core technology, the product can achieve the conversion of glass between transparent and opaque by adjusting the voltage. The haze of the opaque state is >95%. It is applied to car skylights to achieve super privacy protection.

The product can completely reduce the entry of ultraviolet and infrared rays by adding dyes to the liquid crystal, and the ultraviolet ultraviolet isolation rate is as high as 99%. When applied to the car skylight, it has excellent sun protection and heat insulation performance, and the cooling effect under 2.5 hours of standard exposure conditions is 7~10° cooler than ordinary skylight glass. In addition, the product also supports zone customization and personalized design, which can realize zone dimming and meet users' needs for different dimming methods.

On June 21, at the "New World of Intelligent Heat-insulating Panoramic Skylights" new product launch conference held by Fuyao Group, Haiyouwei and Fuyao Group launched a new intelligent dimming panoramic car skylight. The official launch of this product means that Haiyouwei's PDCLC (polymer dispersed dye liquid crystal) dimming film Lightfeel™ has officially achieved market commercialization.

LC：

BOE: On April 19, 2024, BOE's LC dimming glass products were officially launched with Zeekr 009 Brilliance. In addition to being equipped with BOE's 8-inch rear control screen assembly, Zeekr 009 Brilliance also became the world's first mass-produced new energy vehicle equipped with BOE's LC smart light curtain.

The LC smart light curtain adopts BOE's dye liquid crystal dimming technology. The rear side windows and rear corner windows of the four-seat ultra-luxury flagship Zeekr 009 Brilliance released this time are all wrapped by BOE's LC smart light curtain, so that the glass that accounts for nearly 40% of the body surface area can be adjusted according to user needs, and 10 levels of brightness and darkness can be adjusted from the brightest to the darkest in just 1.5 seconds. It can support a wide temperature adjustment from -20℃ to 85℃. The higher the temperature, the faster the adjustment speed, which is leading in the dimming technology of the same industry. Compared with the white, blue and other colors of other dimming technologies, BOE LC smart light curtain presents a natural gray-black color, which is not only consistent with the gray glass on the car, but can also present pure black at the darkest time. At the same time, it solves the problem of center diffusion of traditional dimming technology and has higher uniformity. In terms of privacy and anti-glare, BOE LC smart light curtain has the advantage of one-way transmittance, which can protect the privacy in the car to the greatest extent. Through precise adjustment of different gray levels, it can avoid damage to passengers' eyes caused by direct strong light or building reflections and prevent glare.

In terms of heat insulation and protection, BOE LC smart light curtain can block 99.9% of ultraviolet rays, 99.5% of visible light in the darkest state, and 90% of sunlight shielding rate. Compared with the 110V voltage of other dimming technologies, BOE LC smart light curtain uses 12V safe low voltage, which not only has lower power consumption but is also safer.

LC smart light curtain is an innovative project incubated by BOE's sensing business. At present, BOE has more than 150 patents in the field of smart windows. In 2023, BOE took the lead in formulating and issuing national standards and vehicle-mounted group standards for smart window dye liquid crystal dimming glass, providing technical standards for the popularization of smart windows in building curtain walls, smart cars, rail trains and other fields.

EC：

Guangyi Technology: Guangyi Technology was established in Shenzhen, Silicon Valley, and Indiana in 2017. It is the only national high-tech enterprise that has achieved mass production of large-area curved electrochromic products. Guangyi Technology is a representative of domestic manufacturers in EC technology and has led the third-generation EC technology. According to the official website, Guangyi Technology is installed in the following models currently on the market: 2024 NIO ET7, NIO EC7, NIO ET5T, NIO EC6, BYD Song L, BYD Seal, Avita 12, Nezha S, 2021 Zeekr 001, AIONS Plus.

SPD：

Research Frontiers: Listed on NASDAQ in the United States (stock code: REFR). Owns many patents in the SPD field.

Israeli company Gauzy: Listed on the Nasdaq in the United States in 2024 (stock code: GAUZ). Gauzy has product layouts in both PDLC and SPD technology paths.

Jingyi Technology: A domestic manufacturer with some layout in the SPD field.

Previously, SPC dimming glass technology has always been monopolized by American companies, and most of the products rely on imports and have extremely high technical barriers. Jingyi Technology has broken the US monopoly on smart nano dimming technology with its technological advantages and filled the gap in the domestic market. At present, the company has obtained 79 invention patents in America, Europe, Asia, etc., 19 utility model patents and more than 10 patents are being applied for. Among them, J1AiGlass ink-colored film series products and large arch high smart dimming glass are the world's first. At present, Jingyi Technology's products have been installed in the 2024 Zeekr 001YOU version.

3.3. Model sorting

Dimming glass was first installed in cars at the beginning of this century, but the penetration rate has not increased for many years. Previously, it was basically exclusive to luxury cars worth millions. Starting from 2021, the mass-produced models of dimming glass began to increase compared with previous years, and the number of models equipped with this configuration has further increased in the past two years. The car manufacturers covered include foreign giants (Toyota, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Porsche, McLaren, Ferrari, etc.), domestic brands (BYD, Geely, GAC, Changan, etc.), and new car manufacturers (NIO, Nezha, etc.), showing the trust of car manufacturers in dimming glass products. Therefore, the product strength of dimming glass can also be reversely proved from the trend of terminal car manufacturers for the installation of dimming glass.

04 .

Representative enterprise sorting

1. Fuyao Glass

In the automotive glass industry, Fuyao's market share continues to rise, with the US factory as a bridgehead and its overseas market share continuing to expand. Fuyao's automotive glass market share has been ranked first in the world in recent years. According to estimates, Fuyao's global automotive glass shipment market share in 2023 will be about 33%. In terms of automotive glass revenue, Fuyao's automotive glass revenue in 2023 was RMB 29.9 billion, while Asahi Glass (Japan), the second-ranked company in the industry, had an automotive glass revenue of RMB 25.2 billion in the same year. The revenue gap between competitors and Fuyao in the automotive glass business is gradually widening.

As for Fuyao's US factory, from 2017 to the first half of 2024, Fuyao America (local factory) automotive glass revenue has been growing, and profitability has been improving, approaching domestic profit levels. In the first half of 2024, Fuyao America's revenue was 3.36 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 32%, and the net profit margin reached 11.5%, a year-on-year increase of 4pct, and a month-on-month increase of 1.5pct, a record high. At present, the new production capacity of Fuyao's US factory is also starting to be built, and overseas factories are increasing investment and expanding production, which is constantly accelerating the process of Fuyao's automotive glass going overseas.

The automotive glass market space is expanding, and high-value-added glasses such as skylight glass, dimming glass, and HUD display glass are bringing incremental growth, and the logic of increasing both the volume and price of automotive glass continues to be realized. Focusing on the present, new energy vehicles are the core driving force for the expansion of the automotive glass market. Skylight glass has subverted traditional design and is more in line with the demand of new energy vehicles for a sense of technology and the future. In terms of glass usage, skylight glass has greatly increased the amount of glass used per vehicle. Generally, the glass usage of a small skylight is 0.2 square meters, the panoramic skylight is 0.5-1 square meters, and the skylight glass generally reaches 1.5-2 square meters. From the perspective of the incremental value of glass, the current average price of Fuyao's ordinary skylight glass is 800-1000 yuan, and the value of a single skylight with integrated coating insulation, intelligent dimming and other functions has reached 5,000 yuan. According to estimates, Fuyao's automotive glass ASP in 2022 will be 201 yuan/square meter, up 11.5% year-on-year. In 2023, Fuyao's automotive glass unit price will reach an average of 208 yuan/square meter, and Fuyao's automotive glass ASP growth logic will continue to be realized. (Source: Northeast Securities )

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Currently, the global automobile industry is at a crossroads in its transition to new energy. During this transition, some traditional companies have suffered from a sharp decline in sales and marginalization, while others have achieved a relatively smooth transition with forward-looking strategies and early technical reserves. Great Wall Motors is one of them.

We specially held this special technical exhibition and exchange meeting "Enter Great Wall Motors - Innovative Technology into Automotive Enterprises" to invite high-quality suppliers in the field of automotive parts to participate and conduct in-depth exchanges. We believe that through this event, we can discover more suppliers and carry out in-depth cooperation with Great Wall Motors in various dimensions in the future.

????November 19, 2024

????Great Wall Motor Haval Technology Center

(No. 2276 Chaoyang South Street, Lianchi District, Baoding City, Hebei Province)