Due to Samsung Electronics' Lukewarm Attitude
Samsung Display has abandoned its liquid crystal display (LCD) business, but is hesitant to invest in large organic light emitting diode (OLED) TV panels, which are regarded as next-generation displays. This is because Samsung Electronics, which is its biggest client, is showing a lukewarm attitude.
Samsung Display recently put the last glass substrate into L8-2 Line of the Asan Campus, South Chungcheong Province. L8-2 Line produces large-size LCD TV panels. Glass substrates are a raw material for TV panels. Samsung Display is to withdraw completely from the LCD business in June and sell off its LCD production facilities to Chinese and Taiwanese companies.
Samsung Display is betting on quantum dot (QD)-OLED TV displays for TVs. Industry insiders expect the company to convert L8-2 Line for 8th-generation 2200 mm × 2500 mm panels to a QD-OLED production line. Samsung Display has already been producing QD-OLED panels since November last year by renovating L8-1 Line, which was an LCD production line.
However, Samsung Display has not been able to finalize its investment decision to transform L8-2 Line into a QD-OLED panel production facility. This is because Samsung Electronics has a somewhat negative stance on a shift to OLED TVs. Samsung Electronics, the world's No. 1 TV company for 16 consecutive years, is still selling LCD TVs. Neo QLED TVs, which account for 99 percent of Samsung Electronics’ TV sales, use LCD panels with QD film on.
Industry analysts expect that Samsung Display will use L7-2 Line in the same way as L7-1 Line, which has been run as a 6th generation small and medium-sized (1500 mm × 1850 mm) OLED panel production facility since 2017. They expect that Samsung Display will begin to make additional investments after confirming demand for OLED panels for information technology (IT) devices such as tablets.