LG Display expanding China plant on OLED demand
With demand for TVs using organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays surging due to stay-at-home measures to fight the COVID-19 pandemic, LG Display is considering expanding its OLED manufacturing capacity at its production line in China, according to a company official, Tuesday.
“As the company told investors during the conference call for the 2020 fourth-quarter performance, LG Display is preparing to expand its manufacturing volume for OLEDs at its Guangzhou line in China. This is because we are seeing increasing demand for OLEDs that are used for OLED TVs,” the company official said, adding that the company will give more details at the following conference call for the first quarter of 2021.
LG Display’s Guangzhou factory began mass-producing OLEDs using its 8.5th-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 OLED, which is 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 it aims to produce panels for between 7 million and 8 million OLED TVs this year. The company has been shipping its panels to 19 TV makers including its parent company LG Electronics.
“If the company opts to expand its production volume, its Guangzhou production 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 OLED TV prices.”
The official said the COVID-19 pandemic has provided the display maker with the momentum to produce more OLEDs.
“First of all, TVs using OLEDs offer better picture quality. With more people staying at home, there has been a significant increase in TV watching. As it is not easy to visit movie theaters, many consumers have increasingly chosen OLED TVs to enjoy movies with 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, the 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.