Baek Byung-yeul is a journalist at The Korea Times focused on cultural content, including films and cultural events in South Korea. You can contact him at baekby@koreatimes.co.kr to share your insights.
LG Display expanding China plant on OLED demand surge
LG Display's OLED-manufacturing plant in Guangzhou, China / Courtesy of LG Display
By Baek Byung-yeul
By Baek Byung-yeul
LG Display CEO Jeong Ho-young / Courtesy of LG Display
LG Display is considering expanding its organic light-emitting diode (OLED OLED manufacturing capacity at its production line in China, according to a company official, Tuesday, as demand for TVs using such displays have surged due to stay-at-home measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic.
“As the company told investors during a conference call for its 2020 fourth-quarter performance, LG Display is preparing to expand its manufacturing volume for OLED at its Guangzhou line in China. This is because we are seeing increasing demand for OLED that are used for TVs,” an LG Display official said, adding that the company will give more details at the conference call for the first quarter of 2021.
LG Display's Guangzhou factory began mass producing OLEDs using its 8.5-generation glass-cutting technology in July 2020. As Chinese rivals flooded the liquid crystal display (LCD) panel industry, LG Display has worked on shifting its focus to OLEDs, which are regarded as a next-generation display technology offering a sharper picture quality.
Currently, the Guangzhou line can produce 60,000 OLEDs per month. One OLED panel can be cut into six 55-inch TV displays, and the company said previously that it aims to produce panels for between 7 million and 8 million OLED TVs this year. LG Display has been shipping panels to 19 TV makers including its parent company LG Electronics.
“If the company opts to expand production volume, the Guangzhou line is able to manufacture an additional 30,000 OLED panels a month,” the official said. “OLED TVs have become more popular than ever before as production has been increased and the improved volume has consequently lowered TV prices.”
The official said the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the display maker with the momentum to produce more panels.
“First of all, TVs using OLEDs offer better picture quality. With more people staying at home, there has been a significant increase in TV viewing. As it is not easy to visit movie theaters, many consumers have increasingly chosen OLED TVs to enjoy films with the improved picture quality,” he said.
“Plus, the narrowed price gap between LCD TVs and OLED TVs has led more consumers to purchase OLED TVs.”
Industry data showed the price difference between a 55-inch 4K LCD TV and a similar-sized OLED TV is expected to fall to 2.9 times this year from 4.6 times in 2019.
According to market tracker Omdia, global sales of OLED TVs will grow to 5.6 million this year, up more than 60 percent from last year's 3.54 million. LG Electronics, the largest OLED TV maker, announced it sold 2.04 million OLED TVs in 2020.