South Korea’s LG Display Co. plans to mass-produce organic light-emitting diode (OLED) panels for smartphones from 2019 at an estimated cost of 4 trillion won ($3.5 billion) at its new P10 fab under construction in Paju, Gyeonggi Province originally designed for OLED TV panels.

According to industry sources on Sunday, LG Display briefed the plan to transform the new P10 fab function to turn out small- to mid-sized panels to LG Group Vice Chairman Koo Bon-joon during the group’s regular strategic meeting held last week discussing mid- to long-term business plans. The P10 production line will be capable of turning out 30,000 substrates a month, supplies enough to mount on 50 million to 60 million 6-inch phones a year. An official from the company said that LG Display Vice Chairman Han Sang-beom recently visited Japan to meet panel equipment makers including Canon Tokki to order equipments for the P10 production line.

The display maker strong in OLED panels for TVs is inviting investment to up capacity in small-sized OLED panels amid shortage of supplies to meet burgeoning global demand for flexible panels for smart mobile devices. Google which also makes its own smartphones and other mobile gadgets is said to be mulling near $2 billion investment in LG Display. Google is said to be considering contracting LG Electronics to assemble its smartphones based on OLED panels from LG Display and lithium ion batteries from LG Chem.

LG Display is also pitching hard to win back Apple that had been responsible for 30 percent of its revenue through supplies of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for iPhones. Apple has shifted to Samsung Display with proven expertise and capacity in small OLED panels by opting OLED screens for upcoming iPhone 8.

Samsung Display is the predominant leader in small OLED panels, having long supplied screens for Galaxy series. LG Display and China’s BOE Technology Group Co. entering the market would help to ease the tight supply and further accelerate migration to OLED mainstream in displays.

Shares of LG Display closed on Monday at 34,900 won, down 4.9 percent or 1,800 won from the previous session.

By Lee Dong-in

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business News Korea & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]