LG Display to invest 2 trillion won in POLED

LG Display to invest 2 trillion won in POLED. July. 28, 2016 07:26. by 김지현기자 jhk85@donga.com. The world's largest panel maker LG Display is investing 1.99 trillion won (1.75 billion U.S. dollars) in production lines for plastic light-emitting diode (POLED) to prepare for the opening of a flexible smartphone era.

According to LG Display on Wednesday, its board meeting held the previous day has decided to construct sixth-generation (1500×1850mm) POLED production lines with an output of 15,000 sheets per month the P9 plant in Paju Display Cluster in Gyeonggi Province. The company will expand production lines for small and medium-size POLED through the third quarter of 2018 at the P9 plant, which is currently producing LCDs and large OLED panels.

POLED allows for diverse forms of two-dimensional designs including circles, because it uses plastic in lieu of glass boards. It is also possible to produce 3-dimensional designs that can be folded or rolled. A number of major manufacturers have already introduced prototypes of flexible products, and such products are expected to fast spread among the public. IHS, a display market survey firm, forecasts that the POLED market will grow from a volume for 59 million devices this year to that for 416 million devices in 2020.

“A paradigm shift to OLED is a new challenge and opportunity,” LG Display Vice Chairman Han Sang-beom said on the reason behind the company’s latest investment decision. “We will gain the upper hand in the emerging OLED market without fail through timely investment and maximization of investment efficiency.” Han recently said at a recent press conference that POLED is a mega trend in the mobile market and LG will follow the trend.

“Since the POLED market is expected to expand robustly, we will preemptively prepare production lines at the P9 plant where there is available space, rather than waiting until the P10 plant is completed,” said an LG Display source.

The company made public disclosure on the day, suggesting that it earned 44.4 billion won (39 million dollars) in operating profit on 5.85 trillion won in sales in the second quarter.

LG Display has achieved operating profits for 17 consecutive quarters since the second quarter of 2012. Sales fell by 2 percent from 5.99 trillion won (5.26 billion dollars) quarter-on-quarter, but operating profit rose by 12 percent.