By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter
Samsung SDI, a leading manufacturer of organic light-emitting diodes (OLED), ceded its top spot in the OLED market to a Taiwan-based rival in the third quarter of this year mostly due to smaller production of its advanced displays used in active-matrix OLED technology.
According to a report released Wednesday by DisplaySearch, a Texas-based market researcher, Samsung SDI’s third-quarter revenue in the OLED business plummeted 36 percent from a year ago to $21 million, while Taiwan’s RiTdisplay enjoyed a sales increase of 44 percent in the same period reaching $31 million.
The results left Samsung SDI behind the Taiwanese manufacturer in terms of global market share _ 26.7 percent for Samsung and 39.6 percent for RiTdisplay.
``Total shipments by Samsung SDI including passive-matrix and active-matrix displays failed to exceed 100,000 in the quarter from 350,000 units a quarter earlier,’’ said Arie Braun, a spokesperson of the firm.
But a high-ranking official from Samsung SDI told The Korea Times that the company has not seen any major problems in meeting growing demand for advanced displays using active-matrix OLED technology.
``We are shifting resources from passive-matrix to active-matrix,’’ the official said.
Samsung SDI expects its monthly active-matrix OLED capacity to reach eight million panels in 2008.
OLED displays consist of two types _ passive-matrix and active-matrix. Initially, the passive types had been commercialized, but display makers are shifting to the active types as the passive application is confined to smaller devices such as MP3 players because of technological limits.
LG Electronics was removed from the ``top five’’ list as it only shipped 310,000 units in the quarter, down from 3.1 million a quarter earlier, due to similar problems experienced by Samsung.
``Due to disappointing performances by South Korean makers, revenues in the global OLED display industry were only $78.3 million, down 38 percent from a year ago, while shipments also decreased 32 percent in the same period to 15.5 million,’’ Arie said.
With advantages such as highly enhanced contrast ratio, without the need for pricey backlighting, the displays using active-matrix can have displays up to 30 percent thinner than LCDs, while consuming 40 percent less power, according to industry experts.