LG in discussions to move its OLED lighting business from LG Chem to LG Display

According to reports from Korea, LG is considering moving the OLED lighting business from LG Chem to LG Display. The idea is that consolidating the OLED production of both displays and lighting in the same company will enable LG to advance OLED lighting more quickly - and at a lower cost.

The OLED Association goes on to speculate that LG Display may decide to convert one of its existing Gen-4.5 OLED display fabs to produce OLED lighting. This will make it even cheaper to expand capacity. Of course the downside is that LG Display will be more focused on displays than lighting as currently the OLED lighting market is still very small.

LG Chem has been discussing a Gen-5 OLED lighting production line since 2012, and it seems that the company is close to a decision now. According to some reports, the cost of the new line is estimated at 200 billion Korean Won ($185 million USD). Such a larger fab (whether new or converted from an AMOLED line) will have a much higher capacity than what is currently available to LG Chem, and more importantly will lower prices dramatically.

Posted: Jul 24,2015 by Ron Mertens