Cooperation between Competitors
In regard to local media reports about a potential television liquid crystal display (LCD) panel supply deal with LG Display, Samsung Electronics confirmed the news in public for the first time, saying, “The two sides are in talks.” Accordingly, Samsung is more likely to cooperate with its competitor LG in order to deal with China’s rise in the television sector.
During a press conference after the company’s 2017 QLED TV product unveiling event at the Keep Memory Alive Event Center in Las Vegas on January 3 (local time), Kim Hyun-seok, president of Samsung Electronics' visual display (VD) business division, said, “Specifics of the deal have not been decided yet, but we are still in talks.”
This news comes after Japan’s Sharp gave notice to Samsung Electronics and China’s Hisense that it will halt the supply of television LCD panels at the end of last year. Then, it has been rumored that Samsung Electronics began negotiation with LG Display to be supplied with 4 to 5 million panels a year that the company had received from Sharp.
Until now, Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics have never purchased displays from each other’s affiliates. So, the two biggest players in the global TV and display markets will establish a common front when the deal is concluded.
Kim also expected to expand the base of quantum dot displays, but said there are no plans to develop organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions for a while. He said, “The company has already secured the OLED technology so it is not considering the investment in large white OLEDs. I don’t think it will change anytime soon. We are cooperating with other companies so that they can also adopt the quantum dot-based technology in their products. I heard that many companies are planning to release quantum dot-based products in the near future.”
Kim also emphasized that Samsung will let other companies use the name of “QLED” freely as it is a common noun. However, regarding to whether the company is willing to form a quantum dot alliance, he said, “I don’t think we have to join forces.”
In regard to QLED commercialization, Samsung Electronics Vice President Han Jong-hee said, “It is too early to tell exact timing of release of QLED products, but we have made a significant progress from technical aspect.”