How Shenzhen helps Royole shine at the global level

By LU HAOTING (China Daily) Updated: 2016-05-12 08:04

A rollable full-color flexible display with thickness of less than one-fifth the diameter of the human hair.CHINA DAILY

Global display giants Samsung and LG are also reportedly working on highly flexible screens.

The global flexible electronics market, in which flexible displays will be the major market segment, is expected to reach $330 billion by 2017, said a report by market research company IDTechEx.

While Japanese and South Korean companies have dominated the global high-end display market for years, Royole's efforts in flexible display development may be an example of Chinese companies' ambition to lead in the next-generation of display technologies.

Royole has launched a production line for flexible displays in Shenzhen with a capacity of 1 million pieces a month. Without revealing names of partners, Liu said electronic products installed with the flexible display will hit the market within this year.

Liu was named one of the 10 most innovative people in China last year by Forbes China magazine. Four of the 10 are from Shenzhen. The magazine issued a similar list in 2014 and five of them are from Shenzhen, including Wang Tao, founder of the world's largest drone maker DJI Technology Co Ltd.

"The Silicon Valley and Shenzhen share one common thing: There are a lot of immigrants who have different cultural backgrounds. Diversified culture could pave the way for innovation," Liu said.

"But one advantage of Shenzhen, which the Silicon Valley doesn't have, is a complete electronics manufacturing chain, which could make the industrialization of technology innovation easier."

As the country's first Special Economic Zone, Shenzhen covers 1,997 square kilometers of land, which is less than one quarter of the size of Suzhou, another electronics manufacturing center near Shanghai. The city's minimum wage is 2,030 yuan per month, the highest in the country.

The city used to rely on processing trade and the size of its foreign trade was three times its GDP before 2008.

"Due to limited land resources and high labor costs, Shenzhen must focus on high-value added industries. We have taken the lead in the country in economic transition," said Ma Xingrui, Party secretary of Shenzhen.