LG Display to invest 3 trillion won in OLED production in Korea

LG Display announced Tuesday that it will invest three trillion won additionally in domestic OLED fabrication facilities even amid uncertainties over future business performance and two consecutive quarters’ losses. It is interpreted that the world's second-largest display maker will continue to expand capital investment not succumbing to an imminent crisis from a longer-term perspective.

LG Display plans to invest in equipment and production facilities preemptively to gain a greater competitive edge in the extra-large TV market. Fifteen OLED TV manufactures across the world have increased yearly production volumes, and last year saw the global sale of 2.9 million OLED panels. Market research firm IHS Market projects the sale volume of OLED panels to rise up to 10 million by 2022. The share of OLED TV sales in the overall TV market is expected to gradually go up to 10.4 percent by 2023 – from 5.7 percent of last year.

Meanwhile, the OLED panel market is to experience hardship over the shorter-term period. In the face of trade war between the United States and China, TV manufacturers and retailers have taken a conservative business stance, leading to a greater reduction in panel demands than expected. Japan’s export limits cause concerns over fluctuations in production volume. It has been reported that LG Display is working to come up with measures again market changes in case that the export controls remain effective over a longer period of time, although the Korean display maker does not use Fluorine PI imports from Japan for product fabrication.

“LG Display is the only manufacturer to have a complete production range from small to extra-large OLED panels,” LG Display CFO Seo Dong-hee said. “We will materialize a shift in business structure by ensuring stable mass-production from the latter half of the year.”


Dong-Jun Heo hungry@donga.com