If you have been following any of Hypertext’s social media accounts this month, you will know that we spent a week in China with TCL.

The company invited Hypertext to attend its Middle East and Africa (MEABG) Air Conference in Wuhan (TCL’s home city), where much of the focus was on how the company performed this year in the region, as well as what new air conditioner products it be launching the coming months.

The week in China also afforded us another opportunity to check out the behind the scenes action on a more familiar TCL product segment – its TVs. More specifically we got the chance to check out its China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) facility in Shenzhen.

Joined by other media from MEA, we got to see what types of displays the facility specialises in manufacturing, along with what types of devices TCL hardware features in, as well as how this “dark factory” operates.

For those unfamiliar with the concept of a dark factory, it is essentially a facility where robots and machines perform most of the tasks. In such a facility, as no human beings need to regularly be on the factory floor and the lights are usually turned off as a cost-saving measure.

In the case of this particular TCL one, the dark aspect is also important given the types of glass, adhesive, and chemicals being used to manufacture panels, as certain types of light can have an impact on production, along with picking up any manufacturing faults or issues early.

The facility in Shenzhen is one of six bases that CSOT operates in collaboration with TCL, with the others being situated in Wuhan, Huizhou, Suzhou, Guangzhou, and India. Added to this are nine panel production lines and five major module bases, which represents an invest of nearly 300 billion yuan (~R731 billion) TCL tells us. 

The first area we explored in the facility, which was first established in 2009, was TCL’s product showcase room.

Here we learned that TCL’s panel shipments are spread across both domestic and international brands, and can be found in devices like smart screens, smartphones, tablets, computers, and more, with a total of 60 880 patent applications having been filed to date. 

This specific facility, which features two factories referred to as t1 and t2 internally. The latter is classed by delivering in three areas – intelligent manufacturing, high efficiency, and leading products. In particular its mass production efforts and main products are the 55″ 4K panels.

As such, if you purchase a 55″ 4K TV now and into the future from TCL, as well as a few other brands, it was likely manufactured at the Shenzhen facility.

What immediately struck us is just how many brands leverage the technology and hardware of TCL. In fact, the company explains that it ranks second globally in providing the technology for LCD TVs, commercial displays, monitors, laptops, and smartphones. It also ranks third among foldable OLED phones, and is number one when it comes to tablets.

Adding credence to those rankings is the sheer volume of partners that TCL works with, which totals more than 54 by our count. The company also highlighted the work it has done with several of the largest and well-known consumer electronics bands on the planet.

It would therefore not be an exaggeration to say that if you bought a piece of technology in 2024, it likely features a component or panel made by TCL.

With TCL growing its presence in South Africa in 2024, having taking a peek behind the curtain to see what is happening in the background, our visit to the CSOT Shenzhen facility offered just a glimpse of the breadth of products that the company could potentially bring to South Africa.

We are already getting many of the company’s smart TVs, and more air conditioner models are set to arrive in the new year, but TCL has the scale to sale a premium device in nearly consumer electronics category going in South Africa.

For now, however, it is taking a measured approach, so don’t expect to see TCL flooding the market.

Instead, and as executives have told Hypertext, the priority right now is to get the high-performing premium products into the country that will make TCL feel like a brand where you can buy devices to last you a lifetime.