Samsung Display makes a fast exit from manufacturing of LCDs

Home > Business > Industry

print dictionary print

Samsung Display makes a fast exit from manufacturing of LCDs

Samsung Display will halt the production of liquid crystal displays (LCD) next year as the market is flooded by cut-price Chinese competition.

The company says it will shift toward next-generation quantum-dot (QD) displays and other advanced displays.

The display maker, which is 84.78 percent owned by Samsung Electronics, held a briefing to explain its LCD business exit plan and the effect of the move on employees working at Samsung Display’s plant in Asan, South Chungcheong, on Tuesday.

Market analysts had been expecting the company to maintain the LCD business through 2025.

Samsung Display manufactures LCDs in Asan and Suzhou, China, and production will be stopped in both places.

The company plans to fill outstanding orders this year while workers transition to the new lines. It is not clear what the company will do with the leftover LCD manufacturing equipment.

Samsung Display insists that the decision has nothing to do with the economic difficulties resulting from the coronavirus outbreak. It says that it has been planning the move for some time.

The decision will mark the full transition to newer and pricey screens, such as organic light-emitting diode and QD-based panels.

Samsung Display closed one of its LCD production lines last year at the Asan complex.

The switch is attributed to a declining market share and lack of price competitiveness as they battle Chinese panel makers.

Beijing’s BOE, China’s biggest display manufacturer, became the top LCD TV and monitor producer last year in terms of shipments, according to Sigmaintell Consulting.

Faced with the stiff competition, Samsung Display declared last year that it will move resources to the making of high-end QD screens.

The plan will involve1 trillion won ($817 million) of investment through 2025 in the building of a research and development and production center specializing in next-generation QD displays, which would be the first in the world.

BY PARK EUN-JEE [park.eunjee@joongang.co.kr]
Log in to Twitter or Facebook account to connect
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
help-image Social comment?
s
lock icon

To write comments, please log in to one of the accounts.

Standards Board Policy (0/250자)