Samsung merges panel business wants to be OLED overlord

On the one hand, Samsung's move is to extend the emerging OLED panel technology from small size to large size in order to seek future dominance in the OLED field. On the other hand, the reason is quite realistic, and hope to improve the current loss situation of Samsung panel. No longer dragged down Samsung Electronics Group due to performance.

Among the three panel companies to be merged, Samsung SMD, which has small-size OLED technology, is the only profitable company. According to analysis by market research firm Digitimes Research, SMD’s operating profit contribution to Samsung Electronics in the first quarter of this year reached 400 billion. Won, and operating profit margin reached 17%, much higher than Samsung's other panel companies. According to Samsung's public data, the LCD department's total loss last year reached 750 billion won. In the face of continued losses, Samsung has been internally adjusting its panel companies. In February, the loss-making LCD panel business was separated into subsidiaries. It is reported that Samsung has begun to build an AMOLED 8 generation line with a monthly capacity of 6,000 glass substrates.

Panel companies at home and abroad compete to lay out OLED field

It is understood that OLED is widely regarded as the mainstream technology of the next-generation flat panel display industry due to its self-illumination, wide color gamut, environmental protection and energy saving, and many panel companies have arranged. South Korea's panel companies are leading the way in the large-scale OLED field. In addition to Samsung, LGD also plans to build an 8th generation line of AMOLED panels with a monthly production capacity of 8,000 glass substrates. In addition, Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi jointly established a Japanese display company to jointly develop OLEDs. AUO and Japan's Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. concluded an OLED strategic alliance. Matsushita plans to invest 20-30 billion yen to establish a 5-6th generation OLED panel trial production. line.

In this wave of OLEDs, domestic panel companies have also started at the same time. At present, the country is actively deploying the OLED display industry. Including Tsinghua Visionox, Shanwei Xinli, Shanghai Tianma, Foshan Rainbow and many other companies engaged in the research and development and production of small-size OLED. Last year, BOE announced that it will build a 5.5-generation OLED production line in Erdos (TC295, stock market). TCL and Skyworth also have layouts on OLED technology. The reporter has learned that TCL plans to invest in a 4.5-generation OLED test line by the end of this year. In the technical staff of Huaxing Optoelectronics, it is planned to recruit 40-50 technical supervisors, and the research and development direction is new display technologies such as OLED and low-temperature polysilicon.

It takes time for OLED TVs to enter the mainstream market

At the Shenzhen Optoelectronics Week held last week, domestic panel companies such as Beijing Oriental, Tianma, Rainbow, and Visionox have displayed various OLED panel products or application products. However, from the perspective of products, the OLED products exhibited by domestic manufacturers are still concentrated in small and medium sizes.

According to Ouyang Zhongcan, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, who attended the Shenzhen Optoelectronic Display Week Forum, the OLED panel yield is too low, the large-size yield is less than 30%, the production line investment is huge, and the material cost is high, which leads to the large-scale OLED application and large size. There is still a long process of industrialization.

Last week, Samsung showed its 55-inch ultra-thin OLED TV product Super-OLED ES9500 in Seoul, South Korea. The head of its electronic TV division, Jin Xuanshi, said that the product will be first listed in South Korea in the second half of the year and sold to the rest of the world. The price is equivalent to $ 9,000, which is twice the price of the most expensive flat-panel TV of the same size. LG, which launched 55-inch OLED products with Samsung at the beginning of this year, previously said it plans to launch OLED TVs in the fourth quarter of this year, but recently there is news that LG will be the first to launch in the European market this month in order to seize the London Olympics. The 55-inch OLED TV is priced at about $8,000.

Jin Xuanshi believes that OLED TV will take two to three years to enter the mainstream consumer market. The Nikkei News reported on Tuesday that Sony and Panasonic are negotiating to jointly produce large-size OLED TVs and commercialize OLED TVs in FY2015.

Earlier, TCL Group Chairman Li Dongsheng also said in an interview with this reporter that the large-size OLED technology used in TV is not fully mature, and the cost is very high. It is difficult to replace the position of LCD panel in flat-panel TV in the short term. There is at least a 10-year industrial cycle." The data shows that TFT-LCD liquid crystal displays currently occupy more than 90% of the market. Market research firm iSuppli expects OLED TV sales to rise to 2.1 million units by 2015.