Lee Jae-yong Stresses Innovations in Display Panels

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong visits Samsung Display’s manufacturing facilities located in Asan, South Chungcheong Province on Aug. 26.

Samsung Electronics vice chairman Lee Jae-yong had an executive meeting at Samsung Display’s Asan Plant on Aug. 26, examining the company’s mid- to long-term business strategy and future technology development roadmap.

His visit to the plant was to give a pep talk to the Samsung Group subsidiary with the profitability of its LCD business unit on the decline due to Chinese display panel manufacturers’ aggressive investments. The vice chairman stressed the importance of continuous investment in large display panels.

"Crises and opportunities repeat themselves. We should not give up our large display business simply because the LCD business is in trouble now," Lee said.

At present, Samsung Display is going through hard times as Chinese companies such as BOE are supplying LCD panels in quantity at low prices. The company used to dominate the global LCD TV panel market, but it had to reduce its production lines due to a decline in profitability. This is why the meeting is expected to have covered conversion of 8.5-gen LCD production lines into large OLED panel production lines.

The visit was his fourth visit to Samsung’s manufacturing facilities after the Japanese government excluded South Korea from its list of trusted trade partners on Aug. 2. The vice chairman had an emergency meeting with electronics business unit presidents on Aug. 5 and visited the Onyang and Cheonan Plants of Samsung Electronics on Aug. 6. In addition, he went to Samsung Electronics’ Pyeongtaek and Gwangju Plants on Aug. 9 and 20, respectively.

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