CES 2018 LG Display bets on OLED this year

Top display maker to reduce reliance on LCD

By Lee Min-hyung

LAS VEGAS — LG Display CEO Han Sang-beom said at a press conference Monday (local time) that the company will continue its “organic light-emitting diode (OLED) first” strategy this year. Han added LG would reduce its reliance on liquid crystal displays (LCD) while boosting its sales of OLEDs.

“We had a hard time last year due to the toughening display competition and decreasing panel prices, but sales for OLED TVs increased by a huge margin,” he said on the sidelines of this year’s Consumer Electronics Show (CES). “For 2018, LG Display will make OLED-focused investments in a bid to speed up our portfolio shift into next-generation displays.”

LG Display’s major revenue stream comes from its LCD business, which makes up 90 percent of the firm’s annual display sales. The company plans to reduce this reliance to 60 percent by 2020, with the OLED business accounting for the rest.

Under the vision, Han said the company is seeking to develop value-added LCD products to secure investment capital for its OLED division.

The company said it aims to sell 2.8 million large-sized OLED display panels this year, and seeks to expand the number to 6.5 million by 2020. LG sold 300,000 OLED TVs in 2015 when the OLED business was in its infancy, but this surged to 1.7 million last year.

For foldable OLED leadership

LG Display has also identified the plastic OLED business as one of its promising growth engines, trying to extend its large OLED leadership into the mobile and portable sectors.

To achieve the goal, the company said it will continue to garner all its efforts to maximize the production efficiency of its sixth-generation flexible OLED lines in its E5 manufacturing facility in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, and the E6 plant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.

The move is in line with the firm’s plan to embrace the upcoming display paradigm shift to areas such as foldable smartphones and virtual and augmented reality devices, according to LG Display.

Even if Samsung Display dominates the global mobile OLED market, the LG affiliate still expressed confidence to expand its client base for the small OLED market.

Rollable OLED

In a bid to show off its technological edge and secure more global clients, the company unveiled its 65-inch ultra-high-definition (UHD) rollable OLED display at the CES.

When it is fully unrolled, it serves as a 16:9 ratio 65-inch premium TV. The display can also be curved to become a 21:9 ratio screen which is cited as the best for watching movies. In smaller sizes, the display can become a digital information dashboard with which users can check basic information such as time and date.

“The 65-inch rollable OLED has presented the way that next-generation displays should go,” Han said. “The OLED still comes with infinite growth potential. LG Display will continue to push for technological development for us to tap into new areas and expand our OLED market dominance.”