What Display Daily thinks: There’s enough beneficial entanglement between Top Run and Continental, and Top Run and LG, to make an LG acquisition of Continental’s automotive display business a no-brainer. Obviously that’s not enough in and by itself, but it’s enough to tip the balance a small amount in LG’s favor.
However, LG’s display business is in flux. It’s not looking for extra costs. It’s not looking for new burdens, but to offload old ones. The question remains, is Continental’s display business an old burden or a new opportunity?
Let’s look at that another way: Continental’s tires are a brand. Automotive display brands are not a thing but they will be. What’s it going to take to build an automotive brand versus acquire one and give it a stronger manufacturing bent?
I took my family to look at a new car, and the one they all picked was the one with the best looking display – a really big central console screen. The dealer did make a noise about the brand of tires because they are going to be of significant use during our snowy and icy winters but it was the display that sealed the deal (yes, that’s how car sales often work out with families; it’s the little things that have nothing to do with the whole getting from A to B thing with cars). The brand of the tires was enough to drown out the sales pitch.
So, LG may not need the brand cache of Continental but any company looking to compete could really leverage it. That’s the real value. I am not sure how Continental will deal with its display business divestiture, but it seems an awful shame to lose it.
Top Run’s Ambitious Growth Plans Did Have Continental in the Mix
Top Run Total Solutions is a South Korean company founded in 2004 that manufactures electronic display components and OLED components. It has expanded into automotive displays and supplies backlight units for over 70% of the vehicle displays produced at LG Display’s factory in China.
The company aims to achieve 1 trillion won ($730 million) in sales within 5 years by targeting growing demand for larger displays in vehicles. It plans to grow more than twice as much as current levels.
It has been developing technology and preparing for mass production of components for larger vehicle displays expanding to 50 inches or more. This includes backlight units, light guide plates, and technology for switchable privacy mode.
It expanded production capacity with a new Vietnam factory opened in July 2022, increasing production of components for IT mobile OLED displays. Located in the Trang Tzu Industrial complex in northern Haiphong, Vietnam – about a 2 hour drive east of Hanoi airport – Factory C has a total floor area of 9,788 square meters. The Vietnam factory accounted for 25% of Top Run’s total sales in 2022.
In November, the company was talking about preparing to start direct delivery of components to Continental in 2025 and pursuing an IPO. It may well be that those commitments will remain in place but Continental has created turbulence in the automotive display market because, after LG, it is probably the best brand for automotive displays, whatever the issues the company’s shareholders may have in their commitment to the business.
