Foxconn bullish on future of 8K displays

Electronics manufacturing giant Foxconn Technology Group has high hopes for its 8K display ecosystem, especially in the security, healthcare and manufacturing industries, according to a senior executive of the firm.

Foxconn launched 8K TVs last year, but its vice-president Jacob Chen said there is wider potential for application of the technology and the future market could be worth thousands of trillions of yuan.

The 8K TVs have a screen resolution ratio of 7,680 by 4,320 pixels - 4.3 times clearer than human eyesight and four times higher than the 4K ones, which are still hit products of most TV manufacturers in Chinese home appliance stores.

But the price of an 8K TV is more than four times higher than a 4K set. Chen told China Daily that Foxconn will release a new 8K TV this year at a price equivalent to 4K sets, or even cheaper.

After its acquisition of the Japanese electronics brand Sharp, Foxconn plans to take advantage of the technology in some other projects in addition to TVs. The executive indicated that Sharp is expanding its technology on displays on mobile phones, vehicles, computers and even larger exhibition screens.

Besides, Foxconn has also developed a 5 kg camera for 8K content and plans to set up several 8K content producing centers, and even open an 8K channel with a domestic TV station in the future.

However, it is more than just entertainment. Chen believes the large number of ultra high-definition video data it generates could improve work efficiency in the manufacturing industry. Foxconn already uses 8K technology in its own factory production lines.

"Industrial production, security and healthcare are the areas Foxconn has mostly applied the 8K technology so far," he said.

Wang Cheng, senior vice-president of TCL Corp, agreed, saying the era of 8K is about to come, as chip, signal transmission and data storage technology have significantly improved nowadays.

"The establishment of more and more new generations of production lines will largely cut the cost of 8K displays," he said on Tuesday at the China Information Technology Expo in Shenzhen.

TCL's Generation 11 display production line in Shenzhen is expected to come online next year, while Foxconn is building the world's largest 8K-resolution panel factory in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong.

Qiao Yueshan, deputy director of the information technology department at the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, on Sunday said at a meeting before the CITE that the total market size of ultra high-definition video technology, including 4K and 8K, is expected to reach $2.2 trillion in 2022.