The new plant in the northwestern city of Paju, South Korea, called P10, will make panels across all product segments including large screens for TVs and flexible OLED panels for devices such as smartwatches and auto displays. Production is expected to begin in the first half of 2018, the company said.
The 1.84 trillion won investment covers the construction of the P10 building, the foundations for the clean rooms and infrastructure for water and power supplies. . The total investment in the P10 plant is expected to reach more than 10 trillion won ($8.71 billion) won with the company gradually expanding the scale of the production line based on customer demand and market conditions
Dr. Sang Beom Han, CEO and President of LG Display said, “LG Display’s investment in P10 Plant is a historical investment for the industry since it will not only help expand the OLED market but also accelerate the development of future display technologies. With the active support of the Korean government, we believe the P10 plant will become the center of the global OLED industry.”
Japan's Nikkei Asian Review reported without identifying sources that LG Display will build a new plant in Paju in anticipation of Apple Inc AAPL.O adopting OLED technology for its iPhone in 2018. LG Display has aggressively invested in facilities making large OLED panels for televisions but now expects market growth in small and midsize panels used in smartphones and automobiles. And with main customer Apple adopting OLEDs for the iPhone, LG Display is shifting from investment in LCD to OLED production, the report said.
LG Electronics and its affiliate LG Display are investing heavily on OLED for TVs, and LG Electronics recently slashed the prices of TV sets in the United States using OLED in a push to popularise the technology.
IHS, the market research firm, forecasts the global OLED panel market will grow to $29.1 billion in 2022 from $8.7 billion in 2014.
TV manufacturers in Korea, China and Japan have already launched OLED TV models and more TV manufacturers in Japan and Europe are expected to adopt OLED TVs in the near future. Demand for flexible OLED panels in the smartwatch and automotive display sectors is also rising because they offer better design flexibility than LCD panels.
LG Display announced in August that it would invest more than 10 trillion won in expanding production of large-size OLED panels, flexible OLED panels and premium LCDs by 2018. The company has already announced it will invest KRW1.05 trillion in a 6th generation flexible OLED production line in Gumi, Gyeongsangbuk Province. The 6th- generation production line will produce 7,500 sheets per month and is expected to start mass production in the first half of 2017.
By Alex Lee .
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
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