LG Turns to China to Secure OLED Future

LG is turning to the world’s factory — China — to help secure its future as the standard bearer of OLED.

LG Display Co Ltd, maker of OLED panels used in TVs produced by LG Electronics, Sony, and other brands, plans to invest $4.5 billion to build a large-scale OLED production facility in China’s Guangzhou province, according to BusinessKorea

The facility is expected to produce 60,000 panels a month when it becomes operational in mid-2019, which will have a major impact on the market for OLED TVs as it will more than double LG’s current capacity.

In addition to making it easier to meet an expected surge in demand for OLED TVs, the increased capacity could also help to further drive down the price of OLED TVs, which saw decreases in 2017.

The move is also viewed as necessary by analysts who predicted that OLED wouldn’t be able to compete in the long term with LCD, including Samsung’s “QLED,” without increasing manufacturing capacity.

The move to build display panels in China required approval by South Korea’s trade ministry, which mulled the decision for five months.

COMMENTS
Decibel's picture

GuangZhou is a city in the province of GuangDong.

X