Samsung Display to expand IT OLED panel biz: CEO

All News 17:18 August 24, 2022

SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) -- Samsung Display Co. will put more resources into developing and producing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for notebooks and PCs, its chief executive said Wednesday.

"Since the COVID-19 pandemic, a wide variety of information technology products has been launched, and we see a great potential for OLED panels in this diversifying market," Samsung Display CEO Choi Joo-sun said during his keynote speech at IMID 2022.

IMID is an international conference for the display industry that opened at BEXCO in the southern port city of Busan earlier in the day for a four-day run.

The display panel making unit of Samsung Electronics Co., plans to build a production line for the eighth-generation OLED panels, 2,200 millimeters in width and 2,500 millimeters in height, for IT products, with a goal to start production in 2024, Choi said, adding the OLED market could grow to a US$100 billion industry by 2030 from around $40-45 billion this year.

He did not elaborate on the value of the estimated investment but said the company has set a goal of reaching $50 billion in annual sales.

In June, Samsung Display stopped producing LCD panels for TVs due to falling prices and a supply glut amid fierce competition from Chinese panel makers.

In 2020, the panel maker said it would end the LCD business in a gradual move toward more profitable high-end products, mainly OLED panels.

The company is expected to switch its LCD factory line in the central city of Asan to a line for OLED production.

Choi also said the company will focus on developing micro OLED panels for augmented or virtual reality products, and panels for in-vehicle use "in line with the changes in the IT industry."

Earlier this year, Samsung Display acquired German OLED display startup Cynora GmbH for about $300 million to advance technology for foldable smartphone screens, as part of efforts to diversify its business portfolio.