On December 11th, the 2024 TCL Global Technology Innovation Conference (TIC2024) was held in Shenzhen. The conference, themed "AI·Seeing the Future," focused on AI applications, smart terminals, semiconductor displays, and new energy photovoltaics. Based on these areas, TCL announced 16 significant technological breakthroughs, including 5 AI applications covering all fields and scenarios. Among them, the AI film production application developed by TCL's US R&D Center attracted widespread attention. In 2024, TCL generated economic benefits of 540 million yuan through the implementation of AI applications.
The TCL Global Technology Innovation Conference, first held in 2004, has now reached its 11th edition. Unlike previous years, this year's conference transformed from an internal event to an external exchange format, opening to the industry and the public. The conference brought together numerous academicians, top experts, and hundreds of industry leaders and upstream and downstream partners to discuss new drivers for high-quality industrial development.
Independent research and development, global innovation
At the meeting, TCL founder and chairman Li Dongsheng pointed out that technological innovation is the key driving force for the company's sustainable development, emphasizing that "for enterprises, there are no shortcuts to technological innovation; it can only rely on independent research and development, talent reserves, and long-term investment." Facing numerous challenges such as intensified global technological competition, the rise of AI driving industrial transformation, and the need for a more完善的innovation ecosystem, he shared TCL's five major technology development strategies: First, adhere to long-termism and enhance strategic planning capabilities; second, increase original technological breakthroughs to achieve "leapfrog development" in key areas; third, adopt an engineering-business-minded approach to accelerate the transformation of technological innovation achievements; fourth, improve product structure through technological innovation to break into the mid-to-high-end market; and fifth, improve the technological innovation ecosystem and gather high-quality global innovation resources.
Li Dongsheng, founder and chairman of TCL
To implement the five major technology development strategies, Dr. Min Xiaolin, CTO of TCL Technology and Dean of TCL Industrial Research Institute, further shared TCL's overall product layout and technology strategy. He emphasized the need to continuously increase R&D investment, cultivate and attract top talents, build an independent intellectual property rights moat, maintain open cooperation, jointly build a technology innovation ecosystem, and achieve win-win results.
Currently, the integration of artificial intelligence technology and industry has become the most important driving force for future development. TCL, deeply understanding this trend, launched its "TCL All-Domain, All-Scenario AI Application Solution" at the event. This solution includes five innovative application practices: AI intelligent operation, AI simulation, the "Little T" central control large model, AI film production, and Star Intelligence X-Intelligence 2.0. This AI application solution will comprehensively empower enterprise service-side and consumer-side application scenarios from R&D and manufacturing to operation, and from interaction and image quality to the platform. It is reported that in November of this year, the Hollywood TCL Chinese Theatre premiered five short films generated by renowned screenwriters and directors on the TCL AI content creation platform, receiving high praise from Hollywood peers. In 2025, TCL plans to release its first 90-minute AI film in North American theaters, further promoting the innovation and application of AI technology in film and television creation.
Looking ahead to future AI development trends and integrated innovation, Dr. Min Xiaolin and Wang Shaolan, president of Zhipu AI, a pioneering company in large-scale modeling, shared TCL's collaborative practices with Zhipu in the field of large-scale AI models and explored in depth the future development path of artificial intelligence technology and applications.
In the semiconductor display field, Zhao Bin, Vice President of TCL CSOT, pointed out that the development trend of the digital age is a transformation from the Internet era and the Internet of Things era to the era of "Display of everything" characterized by the Internet of Everything. The display technology field is showing trends of semiconductor device crossover, AI energy efficiency interaction, active light emission becoming the future display carrier, and the gradual construction of a display ecosystem. He also introduced the triple technological value of TCL CSOT's technology brand APEX in display experience, visual health, and green low-carbon aspects. Based on the development trend of display technology, TCL CSOT launched four cutting-edge display technology products at the event: its first mass-produced 21.6-inch 4K professional printed OLED monitor, the world's brightest printed QD-EL laptop screen, the world's lowest power consumption LTPO OLED monitor, and the world's most beautiful picture quality LCD product display solution (WHVA). These advanced printed display technologies are leading the industry upgrade and are expected to help China's semiconductor display industry "leapfrog" ahead.
In the field of smart terminals, Sun Li, CTO of TCL Industrial, stated that TCL Industrial's goal is to become a leading smart terminal enterprise with global operations, accumulating high-value technology brands. The core of its R&D strategy revolves around three major directions: displays, intelligence, and green technology, building four public technology platforms: OS, IoT & Cloud, AI, and Imaging, to support the growth of businesses such as displays, home furnishings, and new energy. Based on this technology strategy, TCL Industrial publicly released five industry-leading innovative technologies: Mini LED global halo control technology for smart screens, Little Blue Wing AI sleep ventilation technology, second-generation health preservation technology—magnetic field meat supercooling without freezing preservation technology, super-clean washing technology, and NXTPAPER 3.0 mobile phone eye protection technology. These technologies aim to bring users a smart living experience that is "full-scene, full-category, and fully connected."
In the field of new energy photovoltaics, Zhang Xuenü, Vice President of TCL Zhonghuan Research Institute, comprehensively introduced TCL's technological development plan in new energy photovoltaic materials, battery module technology, and the construction of Industry 4.0 and Quality 4.0 systems. She pointed out that N-type silicon wafer technology is trending towards IC integration, and in the future, TCL Zhonghuan will continue to tackle cutting-edge technology research and development, leveraging its accumulated semiconductor technology to improve the competitiveness of photovoltaic materials technology and bring customers products with superior performance. TCL Zhonghuan will also deeply cultivate the field of battery module technology, actively promote and participate in the construction of the industrial ecosystem, collaborate with upstream and downstream industries, build a healthy industrial ecosystem, promote the upgrading and transformation of the industrial chain, and drive the industry towards a high-quality and sustainable development path. At the conference, TCL Zhonghuan announced two cutting-edge innovative achievements: large-size ultra-thin silicon wafers for smart photovoltaics and TOPCon copper grid modules. These will help produce higher-efficiency, lower-cost TOPCon cells, promoting cost reduction and efficiency improvement in the industry.
In the field of smart manufacturing, He Jun, Vice President of TCL Industrial and CEO of Greatek Dongzhi, introduced that, combining the current development trends of cloud-native, intelligent, and platform-based industrial software, Greatek Dongzhi has deployed its industrial smart solutions around three core pillars: "AI + Industrial Software + Smart Equipment." This leverages AI's ability to improve the performance and usability of single systems, uses large-scale model technology to connect data from different business systems, achieves self-optimization, self-decision-making, and self-action through agents, and integrates with intelligent equipment to connect end-to-end data at the control layer, comprehensively improving factory ROI. He Jun also shared cases of Greatek Dongzhi's intelligent innovation in industrial software: upgrading static models to dynamic models through technology-driven AI-FDC, achieving intelligent collaboration of multiple systems through the CIM Smart Foundation intelligent hub built on an ecosystem, and the platform-based development of core AI capabilities. In the future, Greatek Dongzhi will continue to accumulate common AI capabilities, assisting in the verification and implementation of AI capabilities on both the supply and demand sides, and improving the level of smart manufacturing in the broader semiconductor industry.
Deeply rooted in R&D, leading the industry ecosystem . TCL's innovative achievements across multiple industries and fields are attributed to its long-term focus on core technologies and the establishment of a comprehensive technological innovation mechanism. Today, TCL has established a full-cycle R&D mechanism encompassing forward-looking technology development, medium- and long-term technology development, and current product development. This mechanism fosters a robust interlocking and synergistic innovation across short-, medium-, and long-term R&D, meeting current business needs while providing core competitiveness for the company's long-term sustainable development.
TCL has consistently adhered to innovation-driven development, continuously investing in research and development. In the past six years, the company's total R&D investment has exceeded 60 billion yuan, with over 20,000 R&D personnel and a cumulative total of over 110,000 patents, including 18,000 PCT patents. Through continuous technological innovation and relentless efforts, TCL's Mini LED technology is now changing the global color TV competition landscape, leading and defining current mainstream display technologies; TCL CSOT has entered uncharted territory in areas such as printed OLED and Micro LED; and TCL Zhonghuan has established a leading advantage in technologies such as 210 large silicon wafers and shingled modules.
As a leading enterprise in the technology manufacturing industry, TCL is also committed to promoting deep integration of industry, academia, and research, and jointly building a new industrial ecosystem for technological innovation. At the conference, TCL signed cooperation agreements for innovation projects with five top research institutes and organizations, including Shicheng Laboratory and Academician Yao Jianru's Workstation, focusing on three major industries: AI big data models, semiconductor displays, and new energy photovoltaics, to jointly explore cutting-edge technologies. At the same time, TCL also held an awards ceremony for its upstream and downstream partners, including the Outstanding Co-creation Award and the Technological Innovation Award, to promote industrial collaboration and build a new industrial ecosystem. In September 2021, TCL launched the "Sunrise Plan," a project with a scale exceeding 20 billion yuan, to promote the innovation and upgrading of the industrial ecosystem. To date, the "Sunrise Plan" has facilitated the establishment of more than 20 joint laboratories, reached strategic cooperation agreements with more than 40 institutions, promoted more than 120 joint R&D projects, and facilitated the formulation of more than 130 standards.
Looking to the future, TCL will continue to adhere to innovation-driven development, focus on weak links in the industrial chain, dare to venture into uncharted technological territory, and undertake major technological breakthroughs to continuously enhance its innovation capabilities and competitiveness, thereby promoting the transformation and upgrading of the technology manufacturing industry. (Image source: TCL CSOT)
