LG Display is accelerating its exit from the liquid crystal display (LCD) business to improve its profitability.The company plans to stop producing LCD panels at its P7 Plant in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, within the year. The plant was established in January 2006 and has thus far manufactured LCD TV p
The Korean display industry drove Korea’s exports, making Korea a display powerhouse in the world one exporter just 10 years ago. But it has been put into a position to completely lose its power as Korea’s national strategic industry due to a price war initiated by Chinese display makers and a compl
The author is an analyst of Shinhan Investment Corp. She can be reached at hpark@shinhan.com. -- Ed. 2Q earnings likely sluggish due to COVID-19 lockdowns in ChinaWe now expect Cosmax to post consolidated operating profit of KRW12.6bn (-71.2% YoY) on sales of KRW374.9bn (-12.9% YoY) for 2022, missin
Market research firm Omdia announced on July 13 that the average capacity utilization of global display panel manufacturers is predicted to fall from 70 percent to a 10-year low of 69 percent this month.The quarterly capacity utilization is continuing to fall, too. Specifically, the figure fell from
The Huawei ICT Competition 2021-2022 Global Final in Shenzhen drew to a close on June 25. This year marks the sixth Huawei ICT Competition, which included three competitions – Practice, Innovation and Industry – attracted 150,000 students from more than 2,000 universities in 85 countries and regions
The authors are analysts of Shinhan Investment Corp. They can be reached at jhwon@shinhan.com and shawn1225@shinhan.com, respectively. -- Ed. 2Q22 preview: Earnings likely better than fearedWe now expect Dentium to post consolidated sales of KRW87.4bn (+20.6% YoY) and operating profit of KRW23.1bn (
Samsung Display is reportedly considering advancing its withdrawal from the liquid crystal display (LCD) business from the planned end of 2022 to June 2022.Samsung Display is producing LCD panels for TVs at L8-2, a large LCD production line at the Asan Campus in South Chungcheong Province. It will m
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at mj27@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Cosmax’s OP likely upped 123% y-y in 4Q21. We continue to view the firm as offering high competitiveness among ODM players, but given earnings uncertainties for its US subsidiary and the domestic list
LG Display has unwrapped its next-generation OLED TV panel, OLED EX, which is 30 percent brighter than the current OLED TV panels. The company said it applied deuterium technology to OLED panels to increase brightness and color accuracy. Deuterium is twice as heavy as regular hydrogen and exists in
Kia Corp. will break up with its joint venture partner in China, Dongfeng Motor Corp., after 20 years of partnership.Dongfeng Motor, one of China’s four major state-run automobile groups, is producing automobiles in China under the Dongfeng Yueda Kia brand. Dongfeng Yueda Kia is a three-way joint ve
LCD panel prices are on the decline these days after a steep rise since last year. The strong rebound in LCD panel prices led Samsung Display and LG Display to shelve their plans to withdraw from the LCD market. Yet, they are now considering terminating their LCD business again as LCD panel prices h
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at mj27@nhqv.com. -- Ed. Moving ahead, Cosmax’s Chinese subsidiary should see an increase in orders, despite heated competition in China, and the domestic subsidiary should keep growing on solid sales of hit products. Meanwhi
LG Display is boosting profitability by lowering the production cost of OLED TV panels at its Guangzhou plant in China, which began mass production in earnest in 2020. The Guangzhou plant’s production cost is up to 14 percent lower than that at the Paju plant in Korea.Market research firm Display Su
The ongoing power shortage in China is increasingly affecting global raw material and product supply chains. For example, the government of Shanxi recently told 30 magnesium smelting companies in the province to pause their business for the rest of this year, and then the price of magnesium jumped f
The author is an analyst of NH Investment & Securities. She can be reached at mj27@nhqv.com. -- Ed. We expect Cosmax’s 3Q21 OP to expand 92.0% y-y, with the Chinese and domestic subsidiaries booking stellar outperformances versus their respective markets. Mid/long-term growth prospects also look bri
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at shinay.park@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain TP of KRW185,000; Recommend BUY We maintain BUY on Cosmax and our TP of KRW185,000. While we have made only modest revisions to our revenue and OP forecasts, we have lowered our NP outlook by 16% c
Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics accounted for half of the global TV market in terms of sales in the first half of this year. They increased their sales despite production setbacks caused by COVID-19.According to market research firm Omdia, a total of 99.11 million TVs were sold worldwide in t
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. She can be reached at shinay.park@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Raise target price 6% to KRW185,000; strong earnings momentum to support stock performance We maintain BUY on Cosmax and raise our TP by 6% to KRW185,000. We revise up 2021E/2022E/2023E OP by 14%/5%/6%. Rec
LG Display announced in a conference call on July 28 that it will continue its LCD business.Since Chung Ho-young took office as president in 2019, LG Display has sought to overhaul its LCD business as LCD panel prices fell steeply due to an oversupply by Chinese companies. The company leaned towards
The author is an analyst of KB Securities. He can be reached at jeff.kim@kbfg.com. -- Ed. Maintain BUY and target price of KRW37,000; Falling LCD prices to have marginal impact on earnings We maintain BUY and our TP of KRW37,000 for LG Display, as we expect: (1) the sales proportion of OLED panels (