LG Display8.5 generation OLED panel production line officially put into operation

On August 29th, LG Display (LGD) Guangzhou 8.5-generation OLED panel factory was officially put into operation. In the afternoon, LG Display held the completion ceremony of the OLED panel factory in the factory of Kaitai Avenue, Science City, Guangzhou High-tech Industrial Development Zone (Lejin Display Optoelectronics Technology (China) Co., Ltd., referred to as Lejin Display Optoelectronics), Guangdong Province, Guangzhou City , Huangpu District, Guangzhou Development Zone and other government representatives and South Korean Ambassador Zhang Xiacheng and other representatives of the Korean government, LG Display CEO Han Xiangfan, LG Electronics, LG CNS, LG Chem and Skyworth, Konka and other corporate and supplier representatives and media more than 400 People attended the completion ceremony.


Guangzhou OLED panel factory code "P10A" is a replica of the Paju factory. The P10 plant, built in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, was launched in the first half of 2018 with an investment of 1.84 trillion won. It is the world's largest organic light-emitting diode (OLED) factory, code-named "P10." It is reported that the Guangzhou OLED panel factory started construction in July 2017 and it took more than two years to complete production. The total investment of the project is as high as 46 billion yuan, covering an area of ​​over 190,000 square meters. It has 9 floors above ground and a total construction area of ​​560,000 square meters. The main building is 9 floors above ground. LG Display holds 70% of the shares, and Guangzhou Kaide Technology Development Co., Ltd. holds 30% of the shares. The factory mainly produces 4K ultra-high-definition 55, 65, 77-inch and other large-size TV OLED panels. The initial capacity is 60,000 pieces of 2200mmX2500mm substrates per month. The maximum capacity at the end of 2021 will reach 90,000 pieces per month.

LG Display built a module factory in Guangzhou in 2006 and an LCD panel factory in 2012. The Guangzhou 8.5-generation OLED panel production line was built in LG Display's third production line in Guangzhou, China after the module factory and LCD production line. It is also the first large-size OLED panel production line built outside Korea. Guangzhou OLED panel factory will together with South Korea's Paju OLED factory to establish a polarized pattern of OLED industry. This fully demonstrates LG Display's emphasis on the Chinese market, as well as its determination to actively accelerate the layout of China's OLED industry chain and promote the development of high-end display industry.

China is regarded as a global OLED strategic base because LGD is optimistic about the prospects of the Chinese color TV market. According to IHS data, in 2017, the Chinese TV market ranked first in the global TV market with a market share of 25%.

In the first quarter of this year, global OLED TV sales reached 611,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 30%. In terms of sales, OLED TV's global TV market share last year was 5.7%, and it is expected to exceed 10.9% in 2022.

At present, LGD Korea's Paju factory has a monthly capacity of 70,000 substrates, plus the capacity of 90,000 substrates in Guangzhou OLED factory, and the future production capacity of 10.5 generations in Paju, South Korea, and can cut 6 55-inch OLED TVs on a single substrate. According to the panel, by 2022, the total monthly production capacity of LGD's OLED TV panels will exceed 10 million. The current shortage of OLED panels will be expected to ease.

It is understood that the sales volume of large-size OLED TV panels in 2013 was only 200,000, and the sales in 2018 exceeded 2.9 million. The sales target for this year is 3.8 million. With the increase in shipments of OLED TV panels, LGD is expected to achieve profitability for the first time in this year's large-size OLED business unit.

Market research firm IHS predicts that the global OLED TV panel supply scale will reach 5.5 million in 2020, 7.1 million in 2021, and 1,000 in 2022. Coupled with the expansion of OLED panels in the commercial display and automotive market, the OLED industry has huge potential market space.

Fifteen TV manufacturers including China, such as Skyworth, Hisense, Konka and Changhong, have joined the OLED TV camp. In 2020, American TV manufacturer Vizio will also join the OLED camp.

In addition to the high-end TV market, OLED panels are rapidly emerging in the high-end commercial and automotive display markets in recent years. Since the OLED has the characteristics of self-illumination, lightness, and flexibility, various forms of design can be realized. The first financial reporter saw in the exhibition hall of the OLED factory in Guangzhou that OLED roses, transparent window (Show Window) and other shapes and designs can be used for various commercial space displays such as clothing stores.

In the field of vehicle display, IHS survey shows that since the first quarter of 2017, LGD has ranked first in the world in the automotive display market of more than 5 inches for eight consecutive quarters. The First Financial Reporter noted that LGD has used flexible OLED screens for display interfaces such as car central control, instrument panels, and entertainment systems.

IHS predicts that the global automotive OLED display market will jump 114 times in 2018-2022. By 2022, the OLED vehicle display market will increase to 343 million US dollars.

With the advent of the 5G era, more new display application scenarios will emerge as the times require, showing that the OLED industry with flexible display features is expected to usher in the golden period of development.

Currently, LGD is the sole supplier of large-size OLED panels worldwide. LGD's large-size OLED panel business is expected to be profitable this year, bringing more confidence to the industry.