Flexible PCB for OLED
LG Innotek will begin producing flexible printed circuit boards (PCBs) for OLEDs (organic light emitting diodes) for smart phones beginning next year. As Samsung Electro-Mechanics has already accumulated know-how in this field, it will be inevitable that Samsung Electro-Mechanics and LG Innotek will collide head on over the flexible PCB market for the Apple iPhone.
"LG Innotek will complete the development of flexible PCBs and begin the construction of facilities to roll out them in the second half of the year," said an official in the electronics industry on June 25. "Apple and LG Electronics which buy mobile parts from LG Innotek will be main customers."
Current PCBs can hardly function at bent portions of flexible OLEDs. This calls for the development of flexible PCBs that can be bent. Among smartphones, Samsung Electronics was the first company to apply this technology to flexible OLEDs for the Galaxy S6 Edge in March 2015. That is why Samsung Electro-Mechanics was able to go ahead in the field.
However, other smartphone manufacturers such as Apple and LG Electronics have been adopting flexible OLEDs one after another, setting off the expansion of the flexible PCB market. It is forecast that the supply of flexible PCBs for iPhone will rise to one trillion won (US$900 million) this year and two trillion won (US$1.8 billion) next year.
“Apple also welcomes LG Innotek’s production of flexible PCBs as they want to purchase them from a wider range of sources,” an industry representative said, “There is also an internal analysis that LG Innotek's flexible PCB business will grow to 300 billion won (US$270 million) within a few years."
LG Innotek’s production of flexible PCBs is expected to compete with Samsung Electro-Mechanics which supplies Apple with flexible PCBs for the iPhone 8 set to launch this September.
Samsung Display landed a big order to supply OLED panels for the iPhone 8 to Apple, leading Samsung Electro-Mechanics to supply a large number of flexible PCBs for OLED panels. Early this year, Samsung Electro-Mechanics added about 150 billion won (US$135 million) worth of related facilities to meet Apple’s order volume.