TCL to Take Over Sony Home Entertainment Business

Sony Corporation and TCL have announced that the two electronics manufacturers have agreed to move forward with “discussions and consideration” for a strategic partnership in the home entertainment field. According to a press release from Sony, the two companies have signed “a memorandum of understanding to confirm their intentions to establish a joint venture that will assume Sony’s home entertainment business, with TCL holding 51% and Sony holding 49% of its shares.” This new joint venture would be in charge of Sony’s home entertainment division, including TVs and audio equipment, handling the full process “from product development and design to manufacturing, sales, logistics, and customer service for products,” according to the press release.

Sony’s excellent BRAVIA TVs, which celebrated their 20th anniversary in 2025, would continue to be produced under this new partnership, though TCL’s majority stake in the joint venture would give the Chinese company the power to determine the future of Sony’s product line. The two companies are proceeding with discussions with a goal of “executing definitive binding agreements” by the end of March 2026. There will be regulatory approvals to sort out, and other conditions to satisfy, but the two companies expect that the new joint venture will commence its operations in April of 2027.

The aim of the new company appears to be to advance the Sony brand by leveraging Sony’s high-quality picture and audio technology, along with its premium brand recognition and operational expertise (including supply chain management), while utilizing TCL’s advanced display technology and panel production capacity. TCL enjoys a huge industrial footprint, end-to-end cost efficiency, and vertical supply chain strength that will be a boon to Sony’s bottom line. The products produced by the new company will still be branded with the globally-recognized Sony and BRAVIA names.

TCL’s display division, TCL CSoT (China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co.), has become one of the world’s largest LCD panel manufacturers since its founding in 2009. The company already produces panels for other TV makers, and the global market for large TVs continues to expand in the era of high-res gaming and streaming video. The joint Sony/TCL company would “create innovative products that meet the expectations of customers worldwide and achieve further business growth through outstanding operational excellence,” according to the press release, with both companies committing to supporting the sustainable growth of the new company.

We are pleased to have reached this agreement with TCL for a strategic partnership. By combining both companies’ expertise, we aim to create new customer value in the home entertainment field, delivering even more captivating audio and visual experiences to customers worldwide.

— Kimio Maki, Representative Director, President and CEO, Sony Corporation

We believe that this strategic partnership with Sony represents a unique opportunity to combine the strengths of Sony and TCL, creating a powerful platform for sustainable growth. Through strategic business complementarity, technology and know-how sharing, and operational integration, we expect to elevate our brand value, achieve greater scale, and optimize the supply chain in order to deliver superior products and services to our customers.

— DU Juan, Chairperson, TCL Electronics Holdings Limited

Although we have not seen major manufacturers join forces like this recently, this is definitely not the first time that TCL has gobbled up business from a premium legacy company. TCL’s seemingly unstoppable  trajectory of growth would not have been possible without the absorption of existing tech and resources from other companies. In 2020, for example, TCL CSoT took over Samsung Display’s LCD factory in Suzhou, China, as Samsung sold off over 2,000 patents relating to LCD technology. (See our article Samsung Dumps LCD For New Quantum Dot OLED TVs.) TCL acquired another 500+ U.S. patents regarding LCD technology from Samsung Display in August 2022.

In the US market, TCL gained popularity with its affordable smart TVs powered by the user-friendly Roku platform. But what began as a budget brand is now “focusing on mid-to-high-end markets around the world,” according to TCL. The company reached a big milestone along that path in 2019, when TCL was the first company to introduce LCD TVs with miniLED backlighting. A version of that technology is now used in high-end LCD TVs from virtually all major brands. This rapid transformation has seen TCL competing not only with Chinese rivals like Hisense, but also with the top premium TV manufacturers, such as Samsung and LG. Last year’s QM7K Series, for example, included Bang & Olufsen audio and topped out with a massive 115-inch model with a $20K price tag to match. (See our article TCL QM7K Series: Advanced Halo Control System & Bang & Olufsen Audio.) At CES 2026, TCL introduced a gigantic  new display incorporating a Super Quantum Dot layer, which reportedly results in better color and increased brightness. 

This model, called the X11L, will be among the first wave of high-end TVs to support Dolby Vision 2. So far, Sony has not indicated whether the company’s 2026 TVs will support the feature. In the US, only Hisense and TCL have committed to doing so. Perhaps Sony’s partnership with TCL means that future Sony TVs can be expected to support Dolby Vision 2, but it’s too early to tell. 

Kaveh Vahdat is a founder and CEO at RiseAngle, a San Francisco company focused on video game development. Vahdat spoke with CNET about the Sony/TCL partnership, saying that “even well-known, premium brands are finding it hard to compete on their own against companies like Samsung and LG that control more of the hardware stack and ship at massive volume.” Unlike Samsung and LG, Sony does not  have a display division producing its own panels. LG Display produces the WOLED panels used in the Sony BRAVIA 8 TV, for example, and Samsung Display produces the QD-OLED panels used in Sony’s high-end BRAVIA 8 II. According to Vahdat, the partnership between Sony and TCL is “less about Sony stepping back from TVs entirely and more about adapting to how the smart TV market now works.”

In seeking clarification about the two companies’ roles moving forward, What Hi-Fi? reached out to Sony, and received the following response (which doesn’t add much new information):

We consider the two companies to be nearly equal partners; both Sony and TCL will provide steadfast support for the sustainable growth of the new company, to create innovative products that meet the expectations of customers around the world and pursue further business growth through operational excellence. At this stage, the announcement reflects an initial memorandum of understanding, and further details are still under discussion. We will communicate further at the appropriate timing when there is confirmed information to share.

— Sony

So far, we know nothing about what will happen to Sony’s line of AV receivers, soundbars, and other home audio products. But fans of Sony’s OLED TVs have real cause for concern. TCL has never been a supporter of OLED technology, and continues to push its LCD-based panels, which do enjoy the advantage of higher overall brightness (even if they can’t match OLED’s perfect blacks and pixel-level dimming control). It seems highly unlikely that the joint venture controlling Sony’s future would continue buying OLED panels from Samsung and LG, when the whole point of the partnership is to take advantage of TCL’s manufacturing power. Does this mean that Sony OLED TVs will soon become extinct? Share your thoughts in the related forum thread below.