What They Say
The Elec in Korea reported that LG Display and Samsung Display will be conservative in their spending to boost OLED capacity. Samsung is believed to be planning to convert is L7-2 line from LCD to make rigid OLEDs for smartphones, (Samsung Display Considers Expanding Notebook OLED Production) but continues to consider making more IT panels for notebooks and tablets. The LCD equipment should be out by next month, the paper reports, and capacity for 15K G6 substrates/month will be installed, with the same added again in 1H 2022. The firm is using LTPS equipment from the A3 line which has now converted to LTPO.
For IT panels, the company is thinking of converting its L8-1-2 line or the A5 line, which is not currently in operation. If it goes ahead, equipment will be purchased in 1H 2022.
LG Display is said to be considering a new G6 or G8.5 OLED line with 15K/month capacity for IT applications and also, subsequently, a G10.5 (2940 x 3370mm) line for TV panels and with the same throughput.
The report said that Apple plans an iPad using OLED next year, with Samsung as the supplier initially, with LGD starting in 2023.
What We Think
The Elec doesn’t seem sure about whether Samsung will buy a lot of OLEDs from LG for TV and that could be a big factor in its capacity planning. If it buys any, it will presumably buy a lot. A G10.5 would make larger OLED TVs more competitive, but would not be simple, given the complexity of OLED backplanes. The same applies to a G8.5 OLED line which would, presumably for IT, use RGB OLED, rather than WOLED. (BR)
