According to TrendForce, a global market research and intelligence firm headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, TCL CSOT, the display manufacturing arm of tech giant TCL, is aggressively promoting its IJP (Ink Jet Printed) OLED display technology as a means of entering the OLED monitor and notebook panel supply chain. The company’s existing Gen 5.5 IJP OLED production line has already reached volume production and has successfully commercialized OLED display panels for the medical industry, while validation programs for branded monitor and notebook products are currently underway. The company’s progress could potentially challenge the long-standing dominance of Korean panel makers LG Display and Samsung Display in the OLED industry.
TCL purchased the IJP OLED patents and actual manufacturing equipment from Japanese firm JOLED in 2023, after previously investing in that company. TCL CSOT moved the equipment to China in order to build its Gen 5.5 IJP OLED plant which became operational in late 2024.
TrendForce reports that TCL CSOT is initially testing market demand with a 27-inch UHD (Ultra High Definition) IJP OLED monitor produced on its Gen 5.5 line, targeting the professional monitor segment.
According to TrendForce, IJP OLED offers superior power efficiency in high-end business and creator-focused displays when compared with existing QD-OLED and WOLED technologies, making it increasingly attractive to brand vendors. The IJP method of manufacturing OLED screens also offers dramatically lower manufacturing costs, which could allow TCL to undercut its competition and gain market share quickly.
Monitor brands from China, Taiwan, and South Korea are reportedly evaluating IJP OLED panels to use in their computer monitors, and TCL CSOT is expected to begin mass production of IJP OLED monitor panels in the third quarter of 2026.
The OLED monitor panel market is currently dominated by Samsung Display and LG Display. Current costs associated with OLED screen manufacturing compared to the more common LCD-based panels has limited OLED’s penetration within the computer monitor market to approximately 3% in 2026. However, according to TrendForce with TCL CSOT investing heavily in its upcoming Gen 8.6 OLED fabrication plant, TrendForce expects OLED monitor penetration to double to 6.2% of the market by the end of this decade, and continue expanding thereafter.
Meanwhile, according to TrendForce, the manufacture of OLED screens for notebooks/laptops is becoming increasingly diversified. In addition to Samsung Display, TCL CSOT, BOE, and Visionox have all committed resources to Gen 8.6 OLED notebook panel production. As a result, adoption of OLED screens in laptops and notebook computers is expected to accelerate rapidly, with penetration projected to reach 22.4% by 2030.
Inkjet Printing vs. Vacuum Evaporation – Which is Better?
IJP OLED uses large scale inkjet printers with soluble organic materials to print red, green and blue sub-pixels directly onto a substrate or “motherglass.” This promises lower production costs and far less material waste compared to the traditional vacuum evaporation methods used for W-OLED and QD-OLED panel manufacturing. Also, since IJP creates individual red, green and blue subpixels, the process avoids the need for color filters used on W-OLED displays and the need for Quantum Dot layers on QD-OLED displays. But current IJP OLED manufacturing facilities are limited in panel size and the current production IJP panels themselves are limited in overall brightness, which has kept the tech out of the consumer television business… for now.
The wildcard in this whole market is TCL CSOT’s Gen 8.6 OLED plant in Guangzhou, China, which is scheduled to begin production of IJP OLED panels in the third or fourth quarter of 2026. The new plant is expected to have the capability of manufacturing IJP OLED screens in much larger screen sizes than the current Gen 5.5 production line.
While initial production of the new plant will concentrate on smaller IJP OLED screens for the notebook and monitor market, the company could potentially begin churning out consumer TV-sized OLED screens in 65 and 77-inch screen sizes as early as next year (2027). Whether they actually pursue this path will depend on how things go with the smaller screen business and whether they can ramp up production and yield quickly enough to be able to reach competitive pricing on these larger screens after recovering the substantial R&D investment required in order to build the plant.
The Bottom Line
TV enthusiasts (like yours truly) love OLED TV for its perfect black levels and outstanding contrast. But the latest flagship TVs from the major TV brands (except LG) all feature LCD display panels, with improved backlighting units that use Mini LED backlighting or RGB backlighting to create bright bold images with wide color gamut reproduction.
While LG, Samsung and Sony continue to offer OLED TV models, the performance gap between LCD and OLED is definitely closing with each new model year as major manufacturers like Samsung and TCL pour billions of dollars into LCD display research, marketing and manufacturing. And with the inefficiencies inherent in current OLED panel manufacturing, it’s unclear how long the tech will be supported as OLED manufacturing costs remain high relative to LCD TV manufacturing.
The promise of cheaper OLED panels is something that could extend the life of the tech, and allow OLED TVs to compete with LCD TVs, even at budget-friendly price points.
With TCL and Sony entering a joint venture for TV manufacturing called BRAVIA, Inc., which is scheduled to begin its operations in April, 2027, and the new Gen 8.6 IJP OLED plant ramping up wide scale panel production at around the same time, we have to wonder whether things might just work out well for the future of OLED TV tech in general, and Sony/BRAVIA OLED TVs in particular.
BRAVIA 10, anyone?
The full report on TCL CSOT entering the notebook and monitor screen market with its IJP OLED screens is available directly from TrendForce on its Report Page,
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