Thoughts on the upcoming India Display Conference 2026

Last September at the Display Conference I had the good fortune to learn about polariser films used in LCD TVs from Mr Vasu Kulkarni. These films provide the critical function of blocking or allowing light from a pixel leading to the formation of images on the display screen.

His talk gave me the opportunity to understand the complexities involved in the manufacturing of an LCD display unit. From functional polymers doped with iodine to thin film transistors on the backplate that control the liquid crystals polarizing the light moving through the output film — every single pixel on the screen goes through this complex filtration mechanism 60-120 times a second.

Mr Vasu’s talk went beyond technical details. He underscored a critical distinction that separated incumbent technology from upstarts : performance. New polariser films and lcd formulations are being explored. Graphene oxide is a critical platform that can meet the strenuous demands of both liquid crystals and polymers polarisers and lead to material advantages. But unless it approaches the performance benchmark set by PVA+iodine it's unlikely to be adopted by the industry.

Talks like these were only possible due to tireless efforts by the SID India chapter. Last year was great. I'm expecting the display conference in 2026 to be even better.

Challenges however have increased. As the recent curtain raiser pointed out, geopolitics is now becoming a major factor and nations are going to face increased competition. Semiconductors and display have become so important that nearly all nations would want to incentivise local production.

It is expected that other countries in the global south especially in Africa & LATAM will come up with their own Semicon policies and would be keen to organise high profile conferences like Semicon India. Partnerships would now be more critical than ever before. And south-south cooperation needs to take precedence over petty economic interests.

I believe that SID India has the right leadership to see through these turbulent times and build necessary systems to ensure both domestic competitiveness and global fairness.

Comments

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Akshat Jiwan Sharma

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