LG Display Co is close to starting OLED production at a new factory in Guangzhou, China, to sell more of the next-generation screens, even as Chinese rivals gear up to enter the market.
The South Korean display maker will each month manufacture 130,000 OLED plates (which are divided into screens) once it gets China’s go-ahead for the expansion of the plant, LG Display chief technology officer Kang In-byeong said.
Although delayed, he is expecting approval soon.
Another facility north of Seoul will probably make OLEDs as well, as LG is winning orders to make screens for premium carmakers for models next year, Kang said.
Used in Apple Inc’s iPhone X and Samsung Electronics Co’s top-end smartphones and LG’s high-end TVs, OLED screens use less power and show more accurate colors than LCDs.
Their ability to flex and bend makes the technology more appealing for smartwatches, premium phones and dashboards in luxury automobiles.
While LG Display and Samsung have made South Korea the world’s biggest OLED supplier, the companies know they are facing challenges as China steps up investment.
“Opportunities and risks co-exist in China,” Kang said in an interview. “We thought China would welcome us with open arms, but it’s holding off on the approval a little. It’s all a process. Display makers see us as a rival, while local customers welcome us.”
Seoul-based LG Display said in January that it was planning to spend 20 trillion won (US$18 billion) by 2020 on OLED production, forecasting that output would more than double and make up 40 percent of sales.
The company’s LCD business is already facing lower margins as Chinese rivals step up manufacturing, creating a glut of screens and crimping prices.
As a result, Chinese display makers are also getting serious about OLED. BOE Technology Group Co., which gained market share through aggressive pricing and sacrificing profitability, is now turning its attention to OLEDs.
The competition is starting to hurt. LG Display posted its first operating loss in six years and Samsung’s display unit saw its income cut 70 percent in the first quarter.
“It’s not about Samsung versus LG,” Kang said. “It’s about Korea versus China.”
Still, South Korea remains about four to five years ahead of China in OLED technology, Kang said, adding that LG Display began mass-producing OLED televisions in 2013, something BOE and Shenzhen China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co have yet to do.
“It’s fortunate we have something called OLED, and China isn’t yet good at it,” Kang said. “Our biggest concern is how competitive we can be using OLED and how long we can stay so.”
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last