Market Sliver
The share of organic light-emitting diode (OLED) displays in laptops and tablets is expected to remain low at less than 3 percent this year, while panel manufacturers continue to invest in expanding the share of OLED displays and improving specifications amid a slump in the display industry.
According to market research firm TrendForce on July 19, the proportion of OLED panels in smartphones is estimated to exceed 50 percent this year, but the proportion of OLED displays in TVs and IT devices such as laptops and tablets is still below 3 percent.
In response, Korean panel manufacturers are accelerating their investment in technology development to expand the proportion of OLED panels. In particular, as rival manufacturers such as Japan’s JDI and China’s Visionox have succeeded in developing technologies that do not use fine metal masks (FMMs), Korean companies have begun to secure their competitiveness by expanding their investments.
FMMs are a key component in the manufacturing process of OLED displays. Reducing the use of FMMs with perforated thin film masks can reduce the scale of equipment investment and lower operating costs.
JDI is developing a next-generation eLEAP technology. It is a process that replaces FMMs by applying a semiconductor lithography process during the deposition of organic elements onto a substrate to create red, green, and blue color pixels.
Visionox Intelligent Pixelization (VIP) technology announced by Visionox uses a process similar to eLEAP technology and does not use FMMs. VIP technology replaces FMM technology with photolithography-based pixel patterning, which allows for higher openings and shorter process time.
Korean companies have also been investing to maintain their competitive edge as their competitors have been catching up by closing their technology gap with Korean companies.
Samsung Display recently disposed of its stake in equipment maker SFA to raise 60 billion won expected to go into the development of OLED technology. The sale of the stake gave the company a total of 65.17 billion won (US$51.18 million) in cash.
To strengthen its competitiveness in large OLED displays, Samsung Display will invest 4.1 trillion won to produce 8.6th-generation OLEDs for IT devices as early as 2025.
LG Display, which adopted an exit strategy from the LCD (liquid crystal display) business, is also ramping up its investment in the 8.6th-generation OLED display line. This is because the company is continuing to lose money after posting the largest loss since its foundation in 2022, but it is making essential investments for its future business.
“In 2022, we exported US$2.6 billion worth of OLED displays to China, but by May of this year, the cumulative amount shrunk to about US$5.1 billion,” said Lee Sang-jin, executive vice president of the Korea Display Industry Association. “Since competitors such as China have increased their own production, it is time for Korean OLED display makers to be especially careful about technology security and strive to develop new markets such as Vietnam and India.”