Earlier this month we reported that LG Display aims to start making 20-inch OLED panels, but we did not know the technology that LGD will adopt - WOLED (from its 8.5-Gen TV lines) or RGB (from its pOLED 6-Gen lines).
LGD now says that it is indeed developing panels for gaming monitors, with sizes ranging from 20-inch to 30-inch. The company also disclosed that these will be WOLED panels, produced at its 8.5-Gen lines. LGD also confirms that the first panels will be released by the end of 2022.
LG Display's CFO, Mr. Kim Sung-hyun, said that the negotiations with Samsung Electronics towards a WOLED panel supply deal, has been halted. The companies made some progress over the past few months, but they haven't been able to reach an agreement.
Earlier this year it was reported that the two companies finally agreed on panel prices, but that report may have been incorrect. According to analysts, the two companies still may resume the talks in the near future.
At SID Displayweek 2022, BOE demonstrated a 95" 8K OLED TV display prototype. This was an impressive display, and according to DSCC, BOE actually hopes to start producing such panels commercially.
BOE, it seems, aims to produce the display at its B5 R&D line, which has a very limited capacity. But as TVs based on this panel will be premium TVs, the limited capacity may be enough.
LG Display says that it has no immediate plans to start producing OLED panels for monitor applications (at sizes of around 30-inch), but the company is looking at two different architectures for such panels.
Specifically, LGD is considering whether its WRGB OLED panels, used currently to make TV panels (sizes 42-inch and up) are suitable for 30-inch monitor panels. Another option that LGD is looking into is adopting its RGB mobile OLED (p-OLED) technology to produce monitor panels.
Samsung Electronics has been in talks with LG Display over the supply of WOLED TV panels for a long time (we first reported on this in April 2021) but the agreement was delayed, with the two parties not agreeing on price and other issues.
A new report from Korea suggests that Samsung and LGD have finally reached an agreement over panel prices (Samsung will pay the same as LG Electronics), and it is estimated that an official agreement will be reached soon. Samsung plans to unveil its first WOLED TV in July 2022.
DSCC says that LG Display continues to improve the production at its 8.5-Gen WOLED TV fab in Guangzhou, and it finally managed to have the production cost in China be lower than a comparable OLED TV made in Korea.
DSCC estimates that the production cost in China by the end of 2021 will be 13-14% lower than that of LG's Korea fabs.
OLED microdisplay developer Seeya Information Technology was established in 2016, and in 2017 it started building a $300 million OLED 300 mm microdisplay production line. Seeya's fab is now in operation, with a yearly capacity of around 20 million displays (monthly capacity of 9,000 300 mm wafers).
Seeya quickly became a prominent display maker, who's currently producing high performance displays to global customers. The company says it's currently the world's largest OLED microdisplay maker by volume. Seeya's current standard displays include:
According to an interesting report from Korea, Samsung Electronics is discussing a potential supply agreement with LG Display for WOLED TV panels. Samsung is aiming, according to the report, to buy 1 million OLED TV panels in 2021, and 4 million (around 50% of LGD's capacity!) in 2022.
This development, if true, may have a major impact on the industry, and may spur LGD (and other OLED makers) to accelerate OLED TV production and capacity expansion plans.
On August 30 LG Display announced today that it started producing OLED TV panels at its 8.5-Gen OLED fab in Guangzhou, China. LGD hoped that mass production will begin shortly, but according to a new report from Korea the new fab's yields are low (50-60%) and actual mass production has not started yet.
LGD's new fab has a monthly capacity of 60,000 substrates, which will be expanded to 90,000 by 2021. The company has now lowered its OLED TV forecasts for 2019 as it did not meet its goal of starting shipping commercial panels in October.
IHS says that ink-jet printing of OLED displays is finally ready to enter mass production in 2020. Production will begin at a rate of around 105,000 yearly substrates (209,000 sqm) in 2020, but will grow 12-fold within 4 years to reach 1.3 million yearly substrates in 2024 (or 7.3 million sqm).
The first producer to begin mass production using ink-jet printing will be JOLED who will enter mass production in 2020 (it already produces panels but at very low volume). OLED makers in China will quickly follow JOLED with mass production investments starting in 2020 or 2021.
