In recent years, with its profound technological foundation and innovative spirit, HKC has emerged as a rising star in the fiercely competitive automotive display market, quickly establishing itself as an emerging industry leader. The company has accurately grasped the development trend of automotive intelligence and networking, positioning the automotive display business as a key growth point, vigorously investing in R&D resources, and continuously promoting product innovation and technological iteration.
The rapid rise of HKC's panel BG automotive business is the result of a series of strategic initiatives, including the company's keen ability to capture industry opportunities, adherence to technological innovation, deepening global cooperation, and optimizing the layout of the industrial chain. In the wave of automotive intelligence, HKC has successfully won the trust of leading global customers with its excellent products and services, embarking on a new journey of internationalization. It has not only reshaped the competitive landscape in the automotive display field, but also laid a solid foundation for its leading position in the future smart travel ecosystem. With its remarkable development speed and innovative strength in the automotive display field, HKC has broken new industry records and achieved leapfrog development. Let us take a look at the development process of the automotive BU.
In September 2021, HKC's panel BG launched the construction of the automotive system and successfully passed the automotive compliance certification (LOC) at the end of the year. This indicates that HKC has reached internationally recognized standards in terms of research and development, production, quality control, and after-sales service of automotive display products, demonstrating its ability and qualification to supply high-quality products to the automotive industry.
In 2022, HKC achieved significant achievements in the automotive display field. In March, it successfully lit up the first dashboard panel and obtained the calibration of a globally renowned car manufacturer's project. In July, the first automotive 12.3" dashboard project achieved mass production. In September, the first automotive Incell 12.8" product project was officially lit up, quickly meeting the market's demand for high-quality automotive display panels.
In 2023, HKC continued to maintain a strong development momentum, further enriching its automotive display product line. In early 2023, the module factory officially passed the IATF certification, marking that it has reached an internationally advanced level in terms of automotive quality management systems. In May of the same year, it passed the LOC certification again. In September, HKC's first automotive In-cell 12.8" successfully completed verification, completing the entire set of tests in just 90 days, representing a 200% improvement in test speed compared to industry peers. In October, it once again obtained the calibration of a leading car manufacturer's project. In November, the cost-effective low-zone Mini LED sample completed debugging. In December, it broke its own development history in the automotive field, completing photomask design, module development, and sample lighting in just 2.5 months.
With its deep cultivation in this year, HKC's automotive business has received recognition from various parties. First, it successfully joined the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, marking further recognition of HKC's position in the automotive industry and broadening communication and cooperation channels with industry peers. At the same time, it also won the AAE Innovation Award, a dedicated automotive award. This award goes through multiple rounds of evaluation and screening, enjoying wide recognition and profound influence in the industry.
In 2024, HKC's automotive business achieved another significant leap forward. At the beginning of the year, the company successfully won projects from major domestic car manufacturers and completed the verification of 384-zone technology. This achievement was widely recognized by customers at the CES exhibition. In May, HKC began to ship automotive display products on a large scale, further consolidating its market position. In addition, in February, the company passed the strict audit of a leading global customer, successfully obtaining project calibration in just 6 months and completing project review in 9 months. Whether in terms of audit completion speed or project introduction efficiency, HKC has achieved industry-leading results and received a Class A Pass high-score evaluation from customers.
By April of this year, HKC has served a total of 54 automotive manufacturers and 23 automotive companies, providing high-quality, high-performance automotive display solutions to the automotive market.
Since the establishment of the panel-on-board system in September 2021, HKC's on-board business has achieved a significant breakthrough from 0 to 1 and has also made milestone progress, successfully passing the rigorous audit of leading global customers. This major breakthrough not only indicates that its product quality, technical strength, and service capabilities have been recognized by top international car manufacturers, but also injects strong momentum into the company's global layout of on-board business. The deep cooperation between HKC and these top customers has undoubtedly laid a solid foundation for the company to further expand its international market and enhance its brand influence.
HKC on-board will continue to adhere to highly competitive product strategies and precise market understanding, standing on the same front with strategic customers in the fiercely competitive on-board market, working together to create new records in the HKC on-board race again.
