LG Display is investing maximum of $1.57 billion (1.8 trillion KRW) into constructing Paju M3 Line and new P10 line that will expand supplies of OLED TV Panels. It has not yet decided what to use new P10 Line, which is being constructed with a size of Gen. 11, for and is going to just finish constructing buildings for now.

LG Display is planning to hold a board meeting on the 26th and decide on a plan that has these information.

LG Display is going to invest into Gen. 8 Paju M3 that produces OLED TV Panels, and size of investment is going to be between $348 million and $435 million (400 billion to 500 billion KRW). As the only business able to produce and sell OLED TVs, it is planning to expand supplies even more and it will be able expand output of OLED Panels, which 30,000 of them are produced per month, with this investment.

As number of new customers such as Chinese Smartphone manufacturers and others increase, a plan of additionally investing into E5, which is being changed from LCD to Flexible OLED Line, is being strongly suggested in order to secure supplies of medium and small-sized Flexible OLED. However it seems that LG Display will first invest into large OLEDs for TVs that have high competitive edge.

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<Development of flexible OLED, which is ultra-thin, transparent, bendable, and can be attached and detached like a magnet, is being more used as a display for TVs, Smart equipment, cars and others. A researcher from LG Display in Paju, Gyeonggi-do is testing under 1mm 55-inch ‘Wall Paper OLED Panel’ on the 5th. Paju = Staff Reporter Kim, Dongwook | gphoto@etnews.com>

A fact that LG Display has not yet decided on a contract that will supply Flexible OLED Panels to Apple for iPhones can be seen as a reason why LG Display is delaying its decision of investment for Flexible OLED. Industries are predicting that LG Display will settle on final contract terms with Apple within a month or two.

On the other hand, investment for M3 that was expected to happen early 2016 has been pushed forward. It seems that LG Display has decided on early investment since its target yield has reached certain level and it needs to speed up process of expanding large OLED TV markets.

LG Display is not going to decide what to use new P10 Line, which is being newly constructed in Paju, for and is going to just finish constructing buildings for now. It seems that construction will be finished by end of next year if construction of building is decided within this upcoming board meeting, and it will cost about $870 million to $1.22 billion (1 trillion to 1.4 trillion KRW) to construct new P10 Line.

LG Display is planning to decide on investments into new lines after looking at current market situations more carefully since it is mediating between OLED investments and large LCD investments due to a problem regarding large amount of facility investments.

“Since LG Display’s deal with Apple has not been accomplished yet, there are high chances that there will be additional huge investments hereafter.” said a person from this industry. “LG Display decided to carry on a basis of large TV investments from a standpoint that OLED TV is an important field that will help LG Display to maintain its top position in this field.”

Staff Reporter Bae, Okjin | withok@etnews.com