By Kim Yoo-chul
Staff Reporter

Display manufacturers such as Samsung SDI and LG.Philips LCD (LPL) have been locking horns for the expansion of investment into the active-matrix organic light emitting diodes (AM OLED) industry, called ``dream displays.’’

Samsung SDI said on Sunday it is engaged in the second phase of investment to sharpen its AM OLED lines.

``The move is intended to double monthly production capacity to 3 million units this year from the current 1.5 million by cutting costs,’’ a Samsung SDI spokesperson said.

Samsung SDI had invested some 477.5 billion won in its AM OLED plant in Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province, and said in October last year that it would double monthly output capacity of the displays this year.

Flat screen manufacturers anticipate that AM OLED displays will replace the currently dominating LCD panels on multimedia gadgets such as mobile phones.

Despite the high error rates in production of larger size panels, the biggest obstacle in price competition, AM OLEDs are widely regarded as ``dream displays’’ due to their advantages in color, brightness, response time and thickness than conventional liquid crystal displays.

Inspired by rising demand for high-end multimedia devices, local and overseas display makers including Sony are pouring billions of dollars into research and development of the next-generation displays to grab an opportunity to charge premium prices.

While experts claim that the technology is still in an initial stage and mass production of larger panels will take at least five years, the market will grow to 70 million units or $2.5 billion worth by 2010 from some 3 million units amounting to $130 million in sales.

LPL, which recently merged AM OLED lines from LG Electronics, also plans to confirm its investment in AM OLEDs in the first half.

``We are considering building a new plant for AM OLEDs. The announcement will be made no later than June,’’ a spokesperson from LPL said.

``A recent decision to change the company name to LG Displays reflects our goals for a bigger presence in the next-generation display market,’’ the official said.

Samsung Electronics has joined the trend by establishing the test line for AM OLED television panels with the mass production date slated for 2009.

``As previously declared, we will focus on the 20-inch AM OLED panel. The test line aims to review the possibility in the larger size panel before the mass production,’’ a spokesperson from Samsung Electronics said.

yckim@koreatimes.co.kr