The investment direction of Chinese panel makers for large-size OLED may be determined by the end of the year

According to industry information, Chinese panel makers such as BOE and TCL Huaxing, after occupying the global LCD market, are also chasing South Korea in small and medium-sized OLEDs. However, no formal investment has been made in large-scale OLEDs yet. It is not easy to choose among the two large-size OLED technologies currently mass-produced: LG Display's W-OLED and Samsung Display's QD-OLED. If Samsung decides to invest additionally in QD-OLED at the end of the year, it is expected that the investment direction of Chinese panel makers for large-size OLEDs will also be determined.

According to the Korean media Thelec, according to industry news on the 12th, the investment direction of large-size organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) of Chinese display panel manufacturers is not expected to be determined until the end of this year. After China's representative panel makers such as BOE and TCL Huaxing have occupied the global liquid crystal display (LCD) market, small and medium-sized OLEDs are also chasing South Korea, but the investment plan for large-sized OLEDs has not yet been clarified.

The industry believes that not only TCL-CSOT, but also BOE has not decided whether to choose the W-OLED method of LG Display or the QD-OLED method of Samsung Display in the large-size OLED technology. LG Display's W-OLED uses a white light source and red (R) green (G) blue (B) color filters to achieve color, while Samsung Display's QD-OLED uses a blue light source and a QD color conversion layer to achieve color color. Due to the different technical approaches, the required equipment is also slightly different. In terms of large-size OLEDs, there is no uniform standard yet.

Therefore, some analysts believe that if Samsung Display decides to invest additionally in QD-OLED at the end of the year, the direction of large-size OLED investment by Chinese panel manufacturers will also be determined. Samsung Display currently has a production line of 8.5-generation (2200x2500mm) glass substrates with a monthly production capacity of about 30K sheets per month. It is expected that the additional investment of 30K per month will be decided at the end of the year.

If Samsung Display is to compete with LG Display, which has 8.5-generation glass substrates in its factories in Paju, Gyeonggi, and Guangzhou, China, with a production capacity of 180K per month (as of 2021), it will have to expand its QD-OLED production capacity. Samsung Display has delayed the installation of a pilot production line of quantum dot nanorod light-emitting diodes (QNEDs), a new generation of large-scale display technology under development, which is expected to play a positive role in additional investment in QD-OLEDs.

The choice of BOE and TCL-CSOT also deserves attention. Unlike BOE, which has a declining market share in Samsung Electronics LCD TV panels, TCL-CSOT's market share is increasing. At the same time, Samsung Display holds a partial stake in TCL-CSOT and has transferred more than 2,000 LCDs to TCL-CSOT Patent, TCL-CSOT is closer to Samsung.

Although TCL-CSOT said in 2020 that it will invest in large-size OLEDs by inkjet printing, the industry predicts that if Samsung Display makes additional investments in QD-OLEDs, TCL-CSOT will expand its large-size OLED business in the form of QD-OLEDs. As the parent company of TCL-CSOT, TCL is the only major TV manufacturer not to enter the OLED TV product line, and has a "QLED" TV product line that attaches QD films to LCD panels.

The key to Samsung Display's additional investment in QD-OLED is Samsung Electronics. As the world's largest TV market share, Samsung Electronics' future OLED TV product line planning will inevitably affect Samsung Display's additional investment in QD-OLED. Additional investment in LG Display's W-OLED or expansion of shipments will also have a big impact on Samsung Electronics. Last year, in addition to LG Electronics (4.1 million units), the only customer who purchased more than 1 million W-OLED panels was Japan's Sony (1.3 million units). It is expected that, according to Samsung Electronics' choice to launch OLED TVs using QD-OLED panels for the first time this year, it will determine the additional investment of the two Korean panel manufacturers and the investment direction of Chinese panel manufacturers.