Chinese tech giant BOE recently announced its mass production of flexible displays in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, making China the second country to acquire the technology after South Korea, CCTV reported.

The photo shows the flexible AMOLED smartphone display made by BOE. [Photo: sina.cn]

Utilizing active-matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) technology, the flexible displays can be used on mobile phones, wearables, and other portable electronics, allowing the device screen to be only 0.03 mm thick, bendable and even foldable.

The entire production line was designed, developed and established solely by BOE, and will be able to roll out 70 million flexible AMOLED displays annually.

"The mass production of our sixth generation AMOLED will substantially improve BOE's competitiveness," said Chen Yanshun, BOE's CEO.

Flexible displays use organic light-emitting diode (OLED) material, a self-lighting material that allows the screens to have better definition, fineness and color than ordinary liquid crystal display (LCD) screens without needing a backlight.

The wide use of flexible AMOLED displays is expected to become a trend across the world. Chen predicted that the company's production growth will exceed 30 percent within three to five years.

Previously, South Korean company Samsung monopolized the field and with the production of AMOLED displays fair below the demand. The mass production of the display in China breaks that monopoly and markedly increases the supply. At a ceremony to celebrate the first batch of flexible displays produced, over ten Chinese phone makers, including Huawei, Xiaomi, Oppo, and Vivo, have received samples, Yan said.

BOE has plans for another AMOLED factory in Mianyang, also in Sichuan Province, which will begin operation in two years.

The photo shows the flexible AMOLED smartphone display made by BOE. [Photo: sina.cn]

Other Chinese businesses are also jumping into the smartphone display business. Tianma Micro-electronics Co., Ltd., for instance, has plans to increase investment.

Across China's entire display sector, investment in assembly lines planned or under construction for screens for TVs, computers, smartphones and other devices has reached 800 billion yuan. Industry associations predicted the country will overtake South Korea as the world's largest producer of display screens as early as 2019.