Do you think it’s wise to spend billions on the growing market of OLED display? According to LG Display Co Ltd. (NYSE:LPL) based in Seoul, Korea, it is a brilliant decision. On this Friday, the tech giant finally announced to invest $1.6 billion initially for starting with the construction of a new OLED (organic light- emitting diode) panel plant in Korea.
It is anticipated that the facility will begin the production of the display panel in early 2018 and depending upon the market conditions and consumer demand, it might cost up to $8.67 billion. This plant will be established in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Korea.
Over the next many years, the company expects a hike in demand for OLED panels. The plant is mainly defined to develop large OLED TV panels and flexible OLED panels. These flexible panels are pictured for automotive displays and smart watches.
The investment plan includes covering complete construction, setting the foundations for clean rooms and arrangement for power and water supplies. The plant is expected to cover an area nearly one million square feet and will be more than 300 feet high. The company has bigger plans of installing 9th generation large- sized OLED lines.
LG anticipates that the lines will produce OLED in all the product segments including transparent and flexible displays. “The global OLED panel market is predicted to grow from $8.7 billion in 2014 to $29.1 billion in 2024”, says market research firm HIS.
There is a growing demand for flexible OLED panels in the automotive display and smart watch sectors. This is because they offer better flexibility in design than LCD panels. It is seen that OLED panels are more energy efficient as compared to LCD panels as each pixel can be darkened or lit as per the requirement. Fewer the pixels used in displays, lesser the energy they require.
TV manufacturers from China, Korea and Japan have released OLED TV models with more expected to join hands soon. One client might be Apple if it decides to use the technology for iPhones. Till now Apple watch is the only product of Apple that is making use of OLED display instead of LCD screens. In the next few years, Apple is expected to use the more power-efficient OLED technology for most of its products.
LG has already announced its historical investment of $1 billion in a 6th generation OLED line in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk Province, Korea. This production line is anticipated to produce 7,500 sheets per month and mass production in the first six months of 2017.
