Without Support from Samsung Electronics

Samsung Display plans to commence mass-production of quantum dot (QD) displays in 2021.

Samsung Display is expediting its preparations for mass-production of quantum dot (QD) displays in 2021 without relying on Samsung Electronics and irrespective of Samsung Electronics' TV business strategy.

Samsung Display can go without support from Samsung Electronics as it has secured Chinese TV companies as customers for its QD displays. Furthermore, it needs to increase production of large QD display panels to improve profitability.

Samsung Display started building QD facilities including etching equipment in early July and is planning to finish building production lines in the second half of 2020. It is planning to start pilot production in the first quarter of 2021 and volume production in the second quarter. Initially, it plans to roll out 30,000 65-inch QD display panels with a 4K resolution.

Industry insiders analyze that Samsung Display has decided to go separate ways from Samsung Electronics because of its hesitation in adopting QD display panels. As QD display panels are mass-produced for the first time based on new technologies, their initial production cost is high. The initial price of a 65-inch 4K QD display panel is more than double that of an OLED panel of the same size, Omdia said in a March report.

Samsung Electronics' portfolio is also different from Samsung Display's strategy. Samsung Electronics maintains a two-track strategy of micro LED and 8K QLED TVs for the premium TV market. There is no room for QD products in its premium product strategy.

Samsung Display is in a situation where it has to survive without support from Samsung Electronics. In the small and medium-sized OLED market, where it has long enjoyed dominance, the company is facing a challenge from Chinese companies, including BOE and CSOT, and LG Display. Samsung Display’s share of the small and medium-sized OLED panel market fell from 98 percent in the first quarter of 2016 to 86 percent in the first quarter of 2020. Samsung Display is scheduled to stop producing LCDs altogether by the end of 2020.

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