LG Display has decided to double the output of large OLED panels and is going to focus on securing new customers by continuously increasing production of small flexible OLED panels for Smartphones.
“Output of OLED TV panels in 2017 will be 1.8 million which is twice as much as last year (900,000) and output of OLED TV panels in 2018 will be 2.8 million.” said CEO (Vice-Chairman) Han Sang-beom at a press conference that was held at a convention center in Las Vegas where CES 2017 is being held. “Our goal is to double this year’s sales from OLED TV panels from last year.”
Currently LG Display is able to produce 34,000 8th generation OLED panels per month and is planning to increase this value to 60,000 per month sometime during this year due to increase in number of customers. LG Display has been increasing number of its customers from LG Electronics in 2013, Skyworth, KONKA, and Changhong from China in 2014, Panasonic from Japan in 2015, and Phillips, GRUNDIG, Loewe, Metz, and VESEL from Europe in 2016 and is going to start supplying OLED TV panels to SONY in this year. “We have huge expectations in increase in sales by having SONY, which has huge influence on TV markets, as our customer.”
LG Display is also going to decide on actual purpose for P10 plant that is being constructed in Paju. If LG Display decides to produce 8th generation panels at this plant, competitive edge in production cost will be lower than 10th generation panel when it produces large products with size of 60 inches or higher. If it decides to produce 10th generation panels, it needs to develop all new production equipment. In this case, amount of investments and risks will both increase. Vice-Chairman Han added by saying that LG Display will decide on small details by end of June.
As Apple has decided to use Samsung Display’s OLED panels for its next iPhones, it seems that sales from LG Display’s small LCDs will decrease as result. Vice-Chairman Han also acknowledged this fact. “Because Apple has decided to use panels from our competitor, we predict that sales from our related businesses will decrease by one-third.” said Vice-Chairman Han. “We are currently preparing to increase our production capability so that we can also supply our panels.” Vice-Chairman Han also emphasized that LG Display will actively target Chinese customers whom it has not been paying much attention to lately and restore its decreased sales.
“Although nothing is finalized yet, we are currently in a serious talk with Samsung Electronics.” said Vice-Chairman Han regarding a case of supply of 40-inch LCD TV panels that is requested by Samsung Electronics. “Even if we decide to supply our panels to Samsung Electronics, it will be difficult to do so since our technologies are different from theirs and we need to prepare many things.” He added by saying that LG Display will discuss with Samsung Electronics with a mindset of helping South Korea’s display industries to grow.
“Because QLED TV is not a luminescent element but is a TV that has Quantum-Dot sheet added to LCD backlight, it cannot be comparable to OLED TV.” said Vice-Chairman Han regarding ‘QLED TV’ that was introduced by Samsung Electronics this year. “It is a naming that increases confusion amongst consumers since Chinese industries have put out similar technologies such as ULED and GLED.”
Staff Reporter Han, Juyeop | powerusr@etnews.com