Display glass revenue reached a record high of JPY 270 billion in the third quarter of 2025, according to market intelligence firm Omdia.
Display glass is a specialised, ultra-thin and durable glass used as a key component in screens for electronic devices such as televisions, smartphones, tablets, monitors, and laptops.
It serves as the substrate layer on which display technologies like LCD and OLED panels are built, providing both structural integrity and optical clarity essential for image quality and device performance.
Omdia explained that the strong figure mentioned above was driven by increases in both prices and demand.
It represents a 5 per cent quarter-on-quarter increase and a 14 per cent year-on-year increase.
Display glass continues to be traded in Japanese yen, the company mentioned.
Omdia’s report stated that the robust performance in the third quarter of 2025 reflects a major strategic transformation within the display glass industry.
Following a severe recession in 2011, glass manufacturers faced nearly a decade of intense competition from 2012 to 2022.
During that period, leading glass makers cut prices to win market share, with some even reporting losses.
Since 2022, however, the sector has shifted its focus towards profitability.
This shift prompted manufacturers to raise prices during the second half of 2023 and again in the second half of 2024.
Corning led the price increases in 2023, while Corning and AGC took the lead in 2024, followed by NEG.
As a result, display glass prices have climbed by more than 25 per cent over the past two years.
In line with this renewed emphasis on profitability, major glass makers are now managing production capacity more carefully to match shipment volumes.
Before 2022, producers maintained excess capacity to compete on scale.
Given that display glass production is a heavy industrial process, even minor incidents can take several months to recover a damaged glass tank.
To maintain operational efficiency, leading manufacturers are avoiding new investments in glass tanks.
Instead, they are expanding the capacity of existing tanks by increasing line speeds, improving production yields, and enhancing energy efficiency.
At the same time, Chinese glass makers continue to invest aggressively in new glass tank infrastructure.
These companies entered the display glass business around 2010 with G5 glass production and now hold a dominant share of the G5 amorphous silicon (a-Si) market.
They are currently investing in G8.5 glass tanks, a next-generation technology for high-resolution display panels.
While major glass producers still maintain a quality advantage, Omdia reported that Chinese manufacturers are expected to reach comparable quality levels through long-term mass production.
Their share of the G8.5 market is likely to rise steadily over the next five to ten years.
“As major glass makers may lose market share, their strategy appears to focus on generating profit now to fund future new business,” said Tadashi Uno, Research Manager at Omdia.
“Major glass makers are developing new glass for the semiconductor industry and other sectors,” he added.
“New business areas include through glass via (TGV), semiconductor support glass, and hard disk substrate glass,” he said.
