China's OLED needs 5 years to catch up with South Korean firms, report says

In the global TV panel field, Chinese mainland and Taiwanese manufacturers have held more market shares than Korean panel makers. However, despite the outstanding performance of Chinese companies in LCD TV displays, OLED display technology still requires more than 5 years of investment to catch up with Korean companies, according to Business Korea.

According to data released by market research firm IHS Markit on March 12, Samsung Display and LG Display produced 6.56 million (9%) and 10.44 million (14.3%) OLED and LCD TV panels in the fourth quarter of 2019.

The total global market share of the two companies reached 23.3%, a decrease of more than 8 percentage points from 31.6% in the same period last year.

In contrast, the market share of Taiwanese panel companies such as Innolux, AU Optronics, and Sharp have shown signs of growth, especially for Innolux. In the fourth quarter of last year, output reached 11.72 million units (16%), exceeding LG Display. Became the world's second largest display manufacturer after BOE.

Coupled with 7% of AU Optronics and 3.3% of Sharp, Taiwanese panel makers in China have a global market share of 26%, second only to mainland Chinese panel makers.

It is worth mentioning that Chinese mainland panel manufacturers last year's global market share exceeded 50% for the first time, with a total output of 36.22 million pieces.

However, South Korean display industry personnel do not care about the expanding territory of manufacturers such as China. Korean display industry personnel pointed out, "This is not an issue that needs attention now. On the contrary, it reflects the smooth transition of Samsung Display and LG Display to the next generation of display products."

The report states that Samsung Display plans to invest 13 trillion won in QD-OLED display technology by 2025 to accelerate technological development.

Similarly, LG Display also plans to suspend the overall production of LCD TV panels in South Korea this year in order to attack the OLED market.

It is expected that from the second quarter of 2020, LGD will significantly increase the production of large-size OLED panels.

In response, South Korean display industry experts pointed out that Chinese companies need to invest more than 5 years to catch up with Korean companies in new generation technology (OLED).