OLED Competition

Highly-flexible OLED electrode material developed by the Korea Electronics Technology Institute.
Highly-flexible OLED electrode material developed by the Korea Electronics Technology Institute.

 

Market research firm HIS expects the OLED panel market will grow to US$29.1 in 2022 from US$8.7 in 2014. According to the display industry, display panel manufacturers such as Samsung Display, LG Display and their Chinese and Japanese counterparts are expected to invest a total of approximately 35 trillion won in OLED facilities in 2016 and 2017, said. The amount is estimated at 13.1 trillion won for this year and 21.5 trillion won for next year. In the first half of this year, the eight Chinese companies including BOE, Truly and Ever Display are planning to make investments in sixth-generation OLED facilities. Their total investment is estimated to reach 14 trillion won.

Samsung Display, which has a share of over 90% in the mobile OLED panel market, is predicted to increase its manufacturing capacity, too. The company has yet to announce its flexible OLED investment plan for this year but recently said that it is in need of more factories as the global demand for virtual reality devices and better laptops is on the rise and Chinese smart phone makers are releasing more products with OLED panels.

“It is expected that seven new OLED lines with a capacity of 50,000 panels a month will be put into operation in Korea, China and so on until next year,” said an industry insider, adding, “Then, a supply glut can ensue unless there is a factor boosting the market demand in the short term.”

In the meantime, Apple recently began to discuss the adoption of OLED panels with AUO, Samsung Display, LG Display, etc. It is said that Apple will come with the iPhones with OLED panels in 2018.

Japan Display and Panasonic are making preparations as well. Japan Display, one of the largest partners of Apple, is planning to invest in OLED facilities from next year. Panasonic is preparing to invest in automotive touch panels and flexible display panels based on the OLED technology

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