LG Display may supply OLED TV panels for Samsung Electronics

LG Display's OLED TV panel [LG DISPLAY]

LG Display may supply organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV panels for Samsung Electronics, according to media reports.

If realized, it would be the first time for a Samsung OLED TV to have an LG Display panel, after long-standing speculations over the two companies' possible collaboration.

Reuters reported on Tuesday that LG Display is set to supply large-sized OLED panels for TVs to Samsung Electronics starting as early as this quarter, citing unnamed sources. The deal is expected to be worth at least $1.5 billion.

LG Display did not confirm the report.

There have been rumors surrounding a possible supply deal between LG Display and Samsung Electronics since early last year.

Samsung Electronics rolled out OLED TVs in the United States and European regions last year and recently began to sell them in Korea, a decade after the company introduced its last OLED TV models in the domestic market.

The OLED screens for Samsung Electronics' TVs are sourced from Samsung Display, a panel maker 84.78 percent owned by Samsung Electronics.

However, as LG Display has a much bigger production capacity for large OLED panels compared to Samsung Display, speculations suggest that Samsung Electronics is likely to turn to LG Display for large-size OLED panels for TVs.

Analysts forecast the potential supply deal may bring LG Display back into the black, as the company has been in the red for four consecutive quarters as of the January-March period due to falling IT demand worldwide.

“We see LG Display escaping from a two-year losing streak with a turn to black in 2024, driven by shipments of large-size OLED panels to Samsung Electronics in the second half of the year, raising production facilities to full capacity,” Kim Dong-won, a KB Securities analyst, said in a report Wednesday.

"Assuming a shipment volume of 2 million panels in 2024 [from LG Display to Samsung Electronics], global OLED TV shipments should jump 38 percent on year to 10 million units, with global OLED TV penetration nearing 5 percent," according to Kim.

LG Display's share price closed at 15,770 won ($11.79) on Wednesday, up 3.75 percent from the previous trading day.

BY SHIN HA-NEE [shin.hanee@joongang.co.kr]