LG To Focus On OLED TVs

LG Display and LG Electronics are the lone manufacturers of OLED TVs, which are still more expensive and more hard to produce than LCD TVs.

It did not give breakdown figures, saying the size for each type of display will hinge on market situations. LG Display’s OLED business has been losing money.

LG Display may be the world leader in LCD displays, but as Chinese manufacturers quickly close in on the South Korean company’s lead, LG is seeking ways to broaden the gap between it and its rivals and secures its dominance in displays. Pursuing new 10G facilities could push total investments over the next three years above the US$8.5 billion mark, the report added.

LG Display will shift its investment focus to screens powered by tiny organic light-emitting diodes, or OLEDs, the Seoul-based company said in an e-mailed statement Monday.

OLED is being increasingly adopted for premium smartphones and smartwatches, such as models from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and Apple Inc.

An OLED display works without a back-light and thus can display deep black levels, and can also be thinner as well as lighter than a liquid crystal display or LCD. The company expects to start mass production of the new line of displays in early 2017, at which point it will be able to pump out 7,500 sheets per month at its Gumi plant in Korea.

The company considers OLED as the next-generation technology and wanted to get ahead of the competition, Reuters reported.

If LG manages to bring manufacturing costs down and generate a profit, this could bode well for the firm’s future success in the display market.

Amid falling LCD prices, LG Display has continued to beef up OLED production. China, in particular, is expected to threaten Korea, since Chinese LCD suppliers are predicted to increase their share of the market from 16 percent this year to 27 percent in 2020. LG also hopes to become the biggest player in OLED displays for flexible curved screens in smaller devices, including wearables.

LG believes its big funding will repay because the OLED market poses a larger progress alternative than the LCD market, the place progress has stagnated.

Global research firm IHS DisplaySearch estimates the flexible OLED market will enjoy a spike in sales from $3.5 billion in 2015 to $4.8 billion by 2021.