With nearly 30 years of experience in the automotive field, Tianma's "screen" strength is unveiled at the Beijing Auto Show

The first half of new energy vehicles is electrification, and the second half is intelligence.

As the demand for intelligence becomes more widespread, the automotive industry stands at the intersection of electrification and intelligence. More and more sub-sectors have become promising incremental markets, and in-vehicle display is one of them.

Image source: Tianma

In-vehicle displays play an extremely important role in the intelligent transformation. They not only provide driving information and entertainment functions, but also support key functions such as intelligent driving, vehicle control and interconnection, providing drivers and passengers with a safer, more convenient and more comfortable driving experience.

According to data released by Omdia, an international authoritative monitoring organization, it is estimated that by 2030, at least 20% of the world's cars will be equipped with three or more screens, with an annual growth rate of 6.5%. Global shipments will reach 238 million units in 2030.

Tianma achieves global first place in vehicle front-end and instrument display shipments

Under the great anticipation of the public, the 2024 Beijing Auto Show opened grandly. Major Chinese, European, American, Japanese, Korean and other automakers appeared at the Beijing Auto Show with the most cutting-edge technologies and products. 117 cars made their global debut, 41 concept cars and 278 new energy models were surprisingly exhibited.

As a leading company in the field of in-vehicle displays, "Tianma screens" can be seen everywhere at the 2024 Beijing Auto Show! From traditional instruments, central control, head-up display, rear-seat entertainment to new application scenarios such as co-pilot, armrests, rearview mirrors, ceiling displays, etc., from international mainstream customers such as Ford and Honda to China's top 10 independent brands such as Great Wall, Changan, and BYD, Tianma Microelectronics has achieved full coverage of applications and brands.

Behind this achievement, Tianma has been deeply involved in the automotive field for nearly 30 years. In 1995, Tianma's first passive instrument product was mass-produced and successfully applied to the models of the German giant Volkswagen, becoming one of the earliest panel manufacturers in China to enter the automotive field. From 2009 to 2012, Tianma's automotive TFT products won the favor of domestic and foreign customers such as Geely, Mitsubishi and Daimler with its outstanding product performance. In 2019, Tianma not only won the favor of emerging car company Weilai, but also ranked first in the country in the field of automotive TFT shipments. In the following four years, Tianma continued to expand its customer base, including North American customers, Polar Fox, Ford Lincoln and 5 international leading vehicle manufacturers.

Finally, Tianma's deep cultivation in the automotive field has achieved remarkable results. According to data released by Omdia, Tianma's automotive display product shipments have been steadily increasing year by year, and it has been ranked first in the world in TFT automotive front-mounted displays and automotive instrument displays for four consecutive years.

New Wei brand Blue Mountain Image source: Tianma

Liu Jinquan, general manager of Tianma Microelectronics' China automotive business, revealed in an interview that "the combined revenue of the automotive display business and the automotive electronics assembly business was 8 billion last year. As the automotive electronics assembly business begins to accelerate in scale, it is expected to exceed 10 billion in the next few years and achieve greater scale growth." He said, "As the functions are improved, the scale effect will gradually emerge."

In Liu Jinquan's view, in addition to being the industry leader in terms of shipment volume, Tianma also hopes to maintain and expand its leading edge - and is confident that it can do so. Based on this premise, Tianma's influence in the entire industry chain includes not only quality and shipment volume, but also the continuous enhancement of product technology, service capabilities and other aspects. He also added, "We will use this to enhance Tianma's industry influence."

Tianma continues to aim at global leadership and adheres to the "2+1+N" development strategy, and the automotive display business is one of the core businesses of Tianma's "2+1+N" development strategy. In addition to the two LTPS production line resources, Tianma has also introduced advanced production capacity such as the 8.6th generation line (TM19) and the new display module production line (TM20) for the automotive display business to better support customers' multi-technology, multi-specification and diversified needs.

Looking ahead, Tianma will continue to aim to achieve global leadership in in-vehicle displays. Relying on the "three pillars" of traditional in-vehicle display business, automotive electronics business and new energy vehicle business, it will diversify and drive the company's in-vehicle business to become bigger and stronger, provide display solutions and rapid service support on a global scale, and accelerate its progress toward the strategic goal of becoming a leading global display company.

Tianma's consistent "keyword" - innovation

Innovation is one of the core concepts that Tianma has been unwaveringly practicing. Tianma has injected vitality into the development of smart cars and brought consumers a new travel experience through innovative layout of Micro-LED, flexible OLED and other forward-looking technologies .

At this Beijing Auto Show, Tianma showcased the world's first 9.38" transmittance-adjustable Micro-LED display, 8.75" ultra-low-reflection transparent Micro-LED display, 1.63" ultra-high PPI Micro-LED display, and 8.07" high PPI transparent special-shaped Micro-LED display.

9.38" Micro-LED display with adjustable transmittance Image source: Tianma

8.75" ultra-low-reflection transparent Micro-LED display Image source: Tianma

1.63" ultra-high PPI Micro-LED display Image source: Tianma

8.07" high PPI transparent special-shaped Micro-LED display Image source: Tianma

As an emerging high-performance display technology, Micro-LED is expected to become an important part of future smart cars. Micro-LED has the characteristics of high brightness, high contrast, high resolution, rich details, low energy consumption, long life, high flexibility and customization. It can not only provide clearer, more vivid and realistic display effects, but also operate well at lower power, have a longer service life, and is not prone to problems such as pixel aging.

Automotive-grade dynamic cold-bending OLED display Image source: Tianma

As one of the earliest companies in China to deploy flexible OLED technology, Tianma also brought the industry's first automotive-grade dynamic cold-bend OLED display, which combines Tianma's flexible OLED display technology with Corning's LivingHinge™ technology advantages. It can bend according to the curve of the vehicle and can be "hidden" when the user does not need it, blending in with the interior. OLED display screens have excellent display effects and low energy consumption. On the one hand, they can provide high-definition, high-contrast and high-brightness image display, and maintain good display effects even in a bent state. On the other hand, they can achieve low power consumption while providing high brightness, reducing the energy consumption of the vehicle.

Innovation is not only a strong driving force and support for Tianma's development, but also one of the solutions to the current challenges in the market. At present, the most eye-catching topic in the automotive industry is the "price war", and the pressure to reduce costs has become a topic that many parts suppliers cannot avoid.

In Liu Jinquan's view, innovation is also one of the answers to solving cost pressure. In addition to technological innovation, quality innovation, cost innovation, and solution innovation can also help companies reduce costs. He revealed that in the face of competitive pressure, some of Tianma's projects may be forced to lower prices. However, Tianma hopes to cooperate with car manufacturers to reduce costs by introducing new technologies, new materials, and localized materials. If no changes are made, it will be very difficult to reduce costs.

More importantly, the "core" of innovative cost reduction lies in improving core competitiveness. Tianma reduces costs through technological innovation and the introduction of new materials, which can not only help cope with price competition, but also improve competitiveness and achieve a balance between cost and benefit.

Liu Qingquan, senior director of Tianma Microelectronics' marketing department, further supplemented and emphasized the importance of innovation in product and technology portfolio and the impact of market structure when facing cost reduction and competitive pressure.

First, from the perspective of product and technology combination, Liu Qingquan believes that the reduction in unit price of products is an industry trend, but Tianma can manage the average unit price. The average unit price is affected by factors such as product structure, product and technology combination. In the display industry, although there are more than a dozen panel manufacturers, in the automotive field, there are actually only a few companies that have a full range of technologies such as a-Si, LTPS, Mini-LED, Micro-LED, OLED, and Tianma is one of them.

Secondly, he also emphasized that in the case of competitive behavior and price decline, the factors that Tianma can control are product and technology combinations. Tianma formed its own development strategy by separating the controllable factors. In order to avoid the price decline of a single technology, Tianma is committed to developing multiple technology platforms and applications.