LG Display to invest W1 tril. in OLED
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LG Display CEO Han Sang-beom, center, poses with North Gyeongsang Province Governor Kim Kwan-yong, fifth from left, and other government and LG officials after LG signed an agreement with the Gumi city to invest 1.05 trillion won for the construction of a new OLED line, Thursday. / Courtesy of LG Display
Top display producer saw earnings jump 200%
By Kim Yoo-chul
LG Display, the world’s biggest display manufacturer, plans to invest up to 1.05 trillion won building its new organic light-emitting diode (OLED) line.
“The decision is part of the corporate effort to respond to growing demand for flexible OLED displays,” company spokeswoman Claire Ohm said Thursday. “The new plant, located in the local provincial city of Gumi, will go online in the first half of 2017.”
The new line, dubbed E5, could produce 7,500 sheets a month using its sixth-generation technology, with glass 1,500 millimeters (mm) by 1,850 mm, according to the company.
“LG Display’s investment will help pioneer future display technologies such as foldable displays and large-size auto displays,” Ohm said.
The screen’s ability to bend is achieved by using a plastic substrate instead of glass, as in a conventional OLED display, the company said. The use of flexible OLED displays is being widened from televisions to wearable devices and the automotive industry.
LG said the investment is the result of cooperation with Gumi City, which has guaranteed substantial administrative and tax incentives in return for massive spending on the new facilities.
“The investment in the new line will help the city create more jobs and promote regional economic growth,” the spokeswoman said.
LG Display produces OLED panels for televisions at its Paju plant, while the Gumi plant handles LCD and OLED panels for monitors, PCs and wearable devices.
LG Display competes with Samsung Display for supremacy in the global display industry.
LG has shifted its focus to OLEDs, while Samsung is sticking with LCD panels because it believes the market for large-sized OLED displays is still new, pushing the Samsung affiliate to produce only small OLEDs for Samsung Galaxy devices.
Separately, LG Display reported a 488 billion won operating profit for the second quarter of this year, up 200 percent year-on-year. Sales were up 12 percent to 6.7 trillion won, while net profit soared 42 percent to 362 billion won during the period, it said in a filing to the Korea Exchange.
The company’s second-quarter performance was higher than earlier market consensus while demand for mobile panels remained solid.
Company CEO Han Sang-beom will talk about its strategies in his keynote speech for future displays at this year’s IFA technology fair in Berlin.