Business Expansion in China From Displays to Robotics: BOE Ventures into New Territory

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China's display company BOE no longer wants to just sell panels to robotics manufacturers. Instead, the company now plans to manufacture industrial robots itself and enter the booming AI software market.

At the end of September 2025, BOE established a new subsidiary called "Beijing BOE Robot" to enter the robotics business. According to publicly available data, it has a registered capital of 200 million Chinese yuan (around 25 million US dollars).

BOE, a major supplier for Apple, believes it can leverage much of its technical expertise from its display business to develop and manufacture industrial robots. The company hopes to generate new growth in the medium to long term through this new business sector, as the growth curve of the electronics industry—from smartphones to tablets to computers—has recently slowed significantly.

A New Trend?

Chinese trade media are already asking whether this "crossover" by BOE into the robotics industry could become a new trend. So far, however, the interactions of most other display manufacturers with robotics companies remain limited to two areas, neither of which can yet be interpreted as a direct leap into the world of robotics manufacturers.

More and more display makers are purchasing industrial robots to automate their production lines, and BOE is among them. Last month, competitor HKC also signed a contract with robotics manufacturer AI² Robotics, under which 1,000 industrial robots from AI² Robotics are to be installed in HKC's factory halls over the next three years.

The other touchpoint between the two industries is that display manufacturers in China are increasingly supplying screens and innovative new interfaces, such as for humanoid robots, to robotics manufacturers, indirectly profiting from the new boom.

Booming Growth Market

According to a recent report by the "International Federation of Robotics" (IFR), the robotics application market is currently growing faster in China than anywhere else in the world. In 2024, the country accounted for 54 percent of global industrial robot installations. Last year alone, 295,000 new industrial robots were deployed in Chinese factories. For the first time, Chinese robotics manufacturers produced more than half of these industrial robots, IFR further reports. The association forecasts continued annual growth of 10 percent in revenue for Chinese robotics manufacturers through 2028.

It is this rapid growth that BOE now wants to tap into directly. A report published this summer by Morgan Stanley predicts that the Chinese robotics market will grow from $47 billion in 2024 to $108 billion in 2028—an annual growth rate of 23 percent. China's already dominant position in this rapidly growing sector of the global economy is therefore likely to become even more entrenched.

Favorable Opportunity

At least the macroenvironment for BOE's move is favorable. Another Chinese display manufacturer has been taking this path for several years and could have served as an example for BOE. Lens Technology has been making strategic investments since 2015 in the manufacturing of high-tech hardware, including robots, smart cars, and AR/VR devices.

The company, which started with processing glass surfaces and then manufactured displays for Apple, unveiled its first humanoid robot, "Lingxi X1," earlier this year in a collaboration with Zhipu Robotics. Reports indicate that Lens Technology played a key role in the production, assembly, testing, and control of central components of this robot, including its joint modules, DCU controllers, and "Omni-Picker Gripper."

Other display manufacturers also see potential synergies and have started funding research and development teams, as well as exploring robot manufacturing. TCL, the display arm of CSOT, introduced the "TCL AI Me" last year, which it describes as the "world's first modular companion robot."

The open diversification of BOE and Lens Technology into the robotics industry is another example of the convergence of formerly siloed industries in China's pursuit of catching up in high technologies. Collaboration takes place in one of the country's many science and technology clusters, where not only new patents are filed but also numerous new business ideas emerge. There is much to suggest that BOE will not be the last example in the display industry. (sb)

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