LG Display's Monopoly Likely to Continue for the Time Being
South Korean display manufacturers’ monopoly in the large OLED panel market is likely to continue for the time being.
According to industry sources, JOLED’s production line construction in the industry is being delayed due to COVID-19. JOLED Inc. is a Japanese display technology company founded in 2015 as the result of a consolidation of the OLED business units of Panasonic and Sony.
China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT) invested 20 billion yen in JOLED in 2020. In early 2021, the company initiated medium-sized OLED display supply to LG Electronics. However, it is failing to pick up speed when it comes to large OLED displays. This is because of its own technical limitations as well as external factors such as the pandemic.
CSOT, which is in partnership with JOLED, is sluggish as well. It was planning to start plant construction in the second half of last year but is showing no progress. The same applies to BOE, the biggest display manufacturer in China. This company is investing trillions of won in order to start production next year.
LG Display has dominated the market since 2013. Samsung Display resumed its production in 2019 after having stopped producing large OLED displays. Even Samsung Display is much lower in product yield than LG Display.