Large Demands from Chinese TV Makers
According to industry sources on August 24, Sony that will receive a total of 300,000 OLED TV panels from LG Display this year is planning to ask for more than 600,000 panels per year beginning in 2019, twice the volume of this year, in consideration of the production capacities of a new factory in Guangzhou among others. Sony's OLED TV sales have been explosive since the beginning of the second quarter of this year, and Sony executives have a positive outlook on the OLED TV market. It is said that these two facts brought about the decision.
"As LG Display attracted an investment from Apple before investing in small and medium-sized OLEDs, the Korean display giant secured Sony's cooperation in large OLED investments," said an industry observer well informed of LG Display. “Sony and other customer orders will shoot up starting in 2019 and LG Display’s OLED production capacity will double from this year."
LG Display is investing 1.8 trillion billion (US$1.6 billion) in the Guangzhou OLED factory which is a production base for an increment in demand from global TV makers. The factory is expected to produce 60,000 OLED panels per month on a mother glass basis. With the capacities of E3 Factory (8,000 sheets), Factory E4-1 (26,000 sheets), Factory E4-2 to be completed at the end of 2017 (26,000 sheets), LG Display will have a total production capacity of 120,000 units per month starting from 2019.
In line with this, Sony decided to increase production of OLED TVs. Sony said the company secured a total of about 100,000 OLED TV panels in the first half of this year and is planning to receive about 100,000 units per quarter in the second half. Sony is expected to use more than 600,000 panels per year for OLED TV production beginning in 2019 by adding production volume from the Guangzhou factory. "LG Display will be able to deliver OLED panels from its Guangzhou factory directly to Sony’s Shanghai TV factory. This point will give Sony advantages in drawing plans on producing, distributing and selling TVs," said an official n the securities industry.
In addition to Sony, the number of companies to receive OLED TV panels from the new factory in Guangzhou is expected to rocket. Chinese TV companies such as Skyworth and Konka joined the OLED TV camp in 2014, followed by European companies such as Bang & Olufsen and Metz in 2015. Last year, Japanese companies such as Panasonic and Toshiba joined the OLED TV camp. These changes drove up demand for OLED TV panels.
According to market researcher IHS Market, the OLED TV market will balloon from 1.38 million units in 2017 to 4.2 million units in 2019 and 6.6 million units in 2021.