Significant Investment
Samsung Display will invest 4.1 trillion won (US$3.1 billion) for three years in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, to maintain a super-wide gap with its followers in the display industry. The company plans to retake the lead in the display industry that it lost to China by significantly boosting its production capacities for next-generation organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels that can be bent and folded.
Samsung Display announced on April 4 that it will invest the 4 trillion won by 2026 to produce the world’s first 8.6-generation OLED panels for information technology (IT) at a new investment agreement ceremony in Asan, Chungnam Province, with the attendance of President Yoon Seok-yul and Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Jae-yong.
The event was the first investment agreement ceremony held since President Yoon announced on March 15 that the government will attract a total of 550 trillion won (US$419 billion) in investment in six high-tech industries from the private sector by 2026. At the time, Samsung also pledged 60 trillion won (US$46 billion) in local investment.
With the investment, Samsung Display plans to significantly expand its glass substrates for OLED panels for IT products such as smartphones from the 6th generation (1.5m×1.8m) to the 8.6th generation (2.25m×2.6m). The larger substrate size will allow the display giant to produce more displays for IT devices and make them more competitive in price. While the company’s existing 6th generation facilities are able to produce about 4.5 million 14.3-inch tablet panels per year, 8.6th generation facilities will be able to ramp up production to 10 million per year.
The Korean government expects this investment to increase sales of Korean equipment and construction companies by about 2.8 trillion won (US$2.1 billion) and create approximately 26,000 jobs. The Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE) plans to actively support OLED production technology innovation and application development by investing 42 billion won (US$32 million) in research and development (R&D) and expanding incentives for companies to encourage them to make timely investments.
This investment plan underscores the Korean government’s and Samsung Display’s strong determination to regain leadership in the advanced display industry where Korean display makers have been losing ground to their Chinese competitors. Korea overtook Japan in 2004 and, since then, had held the world’s top spot by sales until 2020, but fell to second place in 2021 due to an LCD price war initiated by Chinese display makers.
“This investment will begin a new leap forward for the Korean display industry,” President Yoon said in his congratulatory message. “In order to achieve innovation and growth, we need to enhance our capabilities in high-tech industries with high added value in the international division of labor and make bold investments in these areas.”
“When advanced OLED technology meets other cutting-edge artificial intelligence and metaverse technologies, it will create numerous industrial opportunities and a wide array of applications in the fields of military and security,” Yoon said. “The Korean government will expand incentives for the private sector to lead private companies to make timely investments and support R&D to advance OLED technology to maintain Korea’s dominance in the global display market.”