LG Display chief vows all-out drive for OLEDs

LG Display CEO and Vice Chairman Han Sang-beom speaks during a press conference at the LG Twin Tower on Yeouido, Seoul, Wednesday. / Courtesy of LG Display

By Yoon Sung-won

LG Display CEO and Vice Chairman Han Sang-beom pledged to devote all resources to the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panel business. To this end, the company will stop investing in liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for televisions, which have long been its key income source.

Alongside its earnings report on Wednesday, the world's leading display panel maker said it will invest 15 trillion won ($13.48 billion) in large OLED panels and smaller plastic OLED displays for mobile devices by 2020.

During a press conference at the company's headquarters on Yeouido, Seoul, the vice chairman showed his high hopes for expanding the company's OLED business.

"This is a big project for us. We have delayed the decision because we had to consider multiple options in a long-term perspective through 2020," Han said. "We have received favorable responses to the OLED wallpaper and the crystal sound OLED products. We have decided on the investment, judging that it has enough potential."

The crystal sound OLED panels can not only project images but also produce sound so a TV based on them can make sound without an extra speaker unit.

Aiming to dominate China's OLED market, LG Display plans to establish a joint venture with the Chinese government and build a large OLED panel manufacturing facility in Guangzhou by 2020.

Regarding concerns over technology leakage, Han said the fear is groundless.

"We opened an LCD plant in China in 2013 but there have been no technology leakages so far," he said. "We have a sufficient security system. In particular, OLED technologies are more complicated and require greater expertise to handle, compared to LCD technologies, and thus are more difficult to copy."

Lee Bang-soo, executive vice president of LG Display's business management support unit, also said, "The Korean government provides enterprises with assistance in entering overseas markets. The technological gap will continue to exist because we will push to develop next-generation technologies."

The vice chairman said LCDs will remain the company's major revenue source even though there will no longer be investment in this sector.

"Though we are going all out for OLEDs, the LCD business should play a role as a solid foundation. We will try to balance LCDs and OLEDs 60 to 40," he said. "In particular, we will continue to look into LCD-based information technology products because there still are many clients who seek high-end displays for computer monitors and laptops."

Regarding expectations that LG Display may attract Samsung Electronics, which is the world's largest TV maker, as a client for OLED panels, Han said, "Because Samsung Electronics can be a client as much as they are a rival, we will follow the decision of the client."

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