my country’s optical films have a wide range of applications but lack competitiveness in the high-end market

Optical film is an optical media material, which refers to a thin and uniform dielectric film layer attached to the surface of an optical device. The optical film is processed on the basis of the optical base film. It has the characteristics of smooth surface, improved optical efficiency, and anti-reflection. It is a technically difficult film product.

According to the “2022-2027 China Optical Film Product Market Analysis Feasibility Research Report released by the Industrial Research Center, optical film as a High-end thin film products are widely used in the field of optical engineering, including photoelectric imaging and display, low-light and infrared thermal imaging and other optical-related instruments. With continuous breakthroughs and innovations in production and research and development technology, optical films are also widely used in electronic products, national defense and military, public transportation, lighting and other fields. With the increasingly strong market demand for televisions, computers and other products, optical films, as an important raw material for LCD liquid crystal display panels, have gained broad market space. In 2021, my country’s optical film market will reach 58.61 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 46.5%.

​​​According to different application fields, optical films can be divided into polarizers, alignment films, reflective films, black and white glue, brightness enhancement films, phase insert plates, etc. As a subdivided product of optical films, polarizers use frosted processing technology to dissipate surface reflections and increase the viewing angle of LCD displays. They are widely used in the field of display panels. Driven by market demand, polarizer output continues to grow. In 2021, my country’s polarizer output will reach 270 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 78.6%.

In terms of market competition, global optical film manufacturers are mainly concentrated in my country, Japan, the United States and South Korea, including Yuxing Co., Ltd., Double Star New Materials, Changyang Technology, Wanwei High-tech, Mitsubishi Chemical, SKG, 3M, IPI, etc. Limited by R&D technology and process level, my country’s optical film raw materials are currently unable to meet the production quality requirements of high-end products and must rely on the imported market. This is the main challenge facing the development of my country’s optical film industry.

my country’s optical film industry started late. As a practical optical component, the state has introduced many policies to support the development of the optical film industry. In 2021, the five departments of the Ministry of Finance, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Customs, and the State Administration of Taxation jointly issued the “Notice on the Management Measures for Import Tax Policies to Support the Development of the New Display Industry from 2021 to 2030”, which clearly stated that for new display industry spare parts, including masks, When manufacturing enterprises such as polarizers, color filters, etc. import production raw materials and consumables, they are exempt from import tariffs.

Industry analysts said that with the rapid development of downstream markets, the demand for optical films will continue to be released. It is expected that my country’s optical film market will continue to grow in the future. The membrane market will usher in a stage of rapid growth. However, at present, local companies mostly focus on the mid- to low-end optical film market and still do not have a competitive advantage in the high-end market. With the support of national policies, the import scale of optical film raw materials will increase, which will promote the improvement of high-end optical film production capacity.