Chinese display firms showcase innovation, resilience at exhibition

Major Chinese display technology companies showcased a broad range of new products and next-generation applications at the 2026 Display Week hosted by the Society for Information Display in Los Angeles, highlighting continued investment in innovation, research and development, and global industrial cooperation amid evolving global trade conditions.

The event, taking place Sunday to Friday at the Los Angeles Convention Center, featured more than 200 exhibitors and a record-setting 675 technical papers and sessions, providing attendees with a chance to see the latest displays and measurement tools.

Chinese display manufacturer BOE made its 12th consecutive appearance at the event, presenting more than 30 new technologies and products, including several global and industry-first launches. According to the company, many of the exhibits were developed under its three core technology brands.

In an interview with China Daily, BOE's Chief Brand Officer Si Da said that research and development remains central to the company's long-term strategy and competitiveness.

"Geopolitical factors are something we must consider, but before considering geopolitics, we must first focus on our own technological capabilities and innovation capacity, because that is the core competitiveness behind BOE's success," Si said.

BOE invests approximately 7 percent of its annual revenue into research and development, with expected R&D spending reaching nearly 14 billion yuan ($2.06 billion) in 2025.

The company also emphasized an open innovation strategy involving collaboration with universities, research institutions, developers and industrial partners globally.

"We believe technological development requires coordinated collaboration across industry, academia, research institutions and application partners," Si said, adding that it also demonstrates the openness of Chinese technology companies.

Global partners also highlighted cooperation with the Chinese display maker. Yulia Kern of Dawar Technologies said the company values rapid communication and collaboration on customized applications.

"We like that if there's a unique application with some custom features that BOE always responds and says, here's what we could do," Kern said.

At the same exhibition, TCL CSOT, a subsidiary of TCL Technology, introduced its APEX Pixel framework, which the company said is designed to unify pixel-level innovation across LCD, OLED and other display technologies.

Industry representatives attending the exhibition pointed to growing applications for advanced display technologies across entertainment, transportation and agriculture.

Bram Desmet, chief executive officer of Flanders Scientific, which supplies professional displays for filmmaking and broadcasting applications, said customers in the industry require high-performance monitors with strong color accuracy.

"It's a very niche market, very small but very demanding customers. Customers expect almost perfect performance," Desmet said.

He said he was particularly interested in tandem OLED-related technologies presented at the exhibition.

"It's very promising," he said. "I'm particularly excited about the tandem of lead products displayed here. I think that that's a very interesting future technology."

Advanced display technologies are also expanding into agricultural equipment and industrial vehicles.

Fred Haddad, technical product manager at CNH Industrial, said the company is exploring the use of OLED heads-up displays in vehicle windshields for agricultural machinery.

"We are looking at applications for displaying vehicle information, oil pressure, speed, RPM, on the windshield of our vehicles," Haddad said.

According to him, technologies such as high-brightness displays and windshield-integrated systems could help improve efficiency in farming operations by assisting with seeding, watering, spraying and crop monitoring.

The exhibition also reflected ongoing concerns surrounding tariffs and supply chain adjustments.

Tianma, another Chinese display manufacturer, presented ruggedized displays designed for aviation and marine environments, including products capable of operating under direct sunlight and extreme temperatures.

Dale Maunu, director of marketing at Tianma, said tariffs continue to affect customers and supply chain decisions.

"The tariffs definitely affect customers," Maunu said. "For customers that we ship to directly from our warehouse in Southern California, every invoice just has one more line for tariffs. Customers always pay the tariffs. It dramatically affects the supply chain."

According to Maunu, some assembly operations have gradually shifted to countries such as Vietnam and Thailand as companies seek to manage tariff-related costs and maintain competitiveness in international markets.

Maunu also reflected on broader structural changes in global manufacturing over the past two decades. He said the movement of production capacity overseas was accompanied by a decline in specialized industrial skills within the United States.