Headquartered in China, the company believes that the Indian market for LED Displays will grow better than in its home country five years from now. Part of Guangda Group, it also plans to support other OEMs via its subsidiaries here
AET Displays India plans to invest Rs 40 crore in India next year. Su Piow Ko, Vice President of AET Displays, in an exclusive conversation with Electronics B2B, shared that the amount will be invested in expanding its assembly, manufacturing, and warehousing capabilities in the country.
He added, “We will also invest about Rs 80 crore every year, for the next five years, in India starting 2025. This will be done to move from assembly to manufacturing slowly and gradually.”
With a client portfolio that includes Reliance, Adani, BQ Prime, and more such prestigious names (on the B2C front), the company sees the “Digital India” policy as a major driver of LED displays in the country. According to a report by IndustryArc, the display market size in the country is forecast to reach $18.64 billion by 2027, at a CAGR of 11.7% during 2022-2027. Significant adoption of signage and interactive displays by various industry verticals, including healthcare, education, sports and entertainment for the purpose of branding, advertisement and broadcasting, has influenced the Indian Display market positively.
Equipment As Primary Investment
Operating a warehouse and an assembling facility in Chennai, India, the company’s primary investment will be sourcing the equipment required to transition from assembly to manufacturing. Prashant Srivastav, part of the Global AET Display team, noted that the work for disassembling the current facility and transitioning to a bigger facility in Chennai is already in progress.
“We also wish to set up an R&D base catering to the Indian market here. Trenches from the investment will go towards realising that goal,” Ko added. The company is also looking to set up warehouses pan India.
Ko highlighted, “Starting next year, we will begin with simple mechanical designs in India. We will also try to source those mechanical parts from the country.” According to Ko, the R&D centre will also house a software wing that will help the company tap India’s strength for its line of products.
“If regulations allow us to import to countries like the USA, we will certainly do it from here. I also think that the market growth in India will be almost similar to China. It actually might be better during the next five years,” he explained.
AET Display is positive that the local market will consume 80% of the total produced by its facility in India. The remaining 20% will be imported to nations neighbouring India.
Last fiscal, which was its first on-ground year for operations, the company claimed it clocked revenue of Rs 40 crore. Ko noted that AET Displays will cock revenue of 120 crore from India this year.
Subsidiaries And Other OEMs
Globally, the company reported revenue of about $250 million during the last fiscal. AET Display’s parent company, GD Guangda Group, is involved in various activities, including the production of chips, LED modules, and more.
Ko explained,”Our parent company is working with Tesla and many more automotive players in the realm of third-generation semiconductors. Third-generation semiconductors are ramping up. We want this technology to mature in China before starting in India.”
In China, AET Display has different subsidiaries for designing IC drivers, casing for displays, and more. For instance, Coretech MicroLED Displays Limited is a wholly-owned subsidiary of AET Displays, allowing all customers to use the facilities to manufacture LED displays. The production facilities have a total area of 24000 square meters in one of the Guangda high tech industry parks called Liaobu Smart Valley Industrial Park (LSV).
“We do support other OEMs, and as our technology advances, we will start supporting more OEMs,” Ko said. A few players in India also source LED Display modules from AET Display. At the same time, the AET team shared the names of these companies with us but requested us not to reveal the same as there are “NDAs” in place.
Ko added, “Also in focus will be expanding the sales and service channel which will be supported by warehouses across major locations in India.”
