Due to Delay in Factory Construction in China
It has been found that LG Display lost the top spot which the company had held for the 31 consecutive quarters to a Chinese company in the global large-sized display panel market.
According to IHS Markit, a global market research company, on November 27, China’s BOE ranked first in the market of large display panels (including LCD and OLED with nine inches or larger) used for TVs, monitors, laptops and tablets with a market share of 21.7% in the third quarter of this year. BOE was followed by LG Display with 19.3%, Innolux of Taiwan 16.1%, AUO of Taiwan with 15.8%, and Samsung Display with 8.9%. LG Display had maintained its No. 1 spot since the second quarter of 2009, but was overtaken by BOE.
"Since BOE started its 8.5th-generation production line in earnest this year, there is a strong possibility that the gap between BOE and LG Display will widen further," an industry official said. “On top of that, China Star, a subsidiary of Chinese home appliance maker TCL and CEC Panda are making investment in LCD production lines."
However, LG Display, which produces a large number of premium products, still maintains a dominant position in terms sales and display sizes. In the case of UHD display panels, LG Display and Samsung Display outclassed BOE (13.1%) and Innolux (12.0%) with 31.5% and 22.5% market shares respectively in terms of shipment volume.
Some industry experts also blamed the Korean government’s delay in the approval of an OLED panel factory construction plan for LG Display’s drop to second place. LG Display announced its investment plan in July but has not received the approval from the Korean government due to concerns about leakage of core technology.