Conditional Permission
The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy held a meeting on December 26 and gave a conditional approval for LG Display’s OLED TV panel plant construction in Guangzhou, China.
“We approved the construction of the plant in view of market expansion, job creation and partner firms’ exports,” the ministry explained, adding, “However, LG Display has to make the next investment in South Korea, increase its domestic OLED material production ratio to at least 60%, and increase its use of domestically supplied manufacturing equipment to at least 30%.” It continued to say, “In addition, LG Display has to strengthen its security in the plant in China for tech leak prevention and set up a new system for the same purpose.”
LG Display asked for an approval for the construction project in July this year. Since then, the South Korean government has held five meetings for five months in order to decide on the issue.
“With display technology competition becoming increasingly heated across the world these days, we hope that, based on this decision, South Korean companies will prepare thorough technology protection measures before investing abroad so that their investment can contribute to job creation as well as their own sales,” the ministry remarked.