LG Display Co., a leading display maker under South Korea’s LG Group, is expected to supply organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV panels to Samsung Electronics Co. from as early as this quarter.

LG Display is engaged in talks with Samsung Electronics on a plan to supply 2 million OLED panels next year and increase shipment to 3 million to 5 million thereafter. Initial shipment will include 77-inch and 83-inch white OLED (WOLED) TV panels, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing sources it didn’t identify.

Two million units are worth at least $1.5 billion, which accounts for 20 percent to 30 percent of LG Display’s capacity to produce large-size OLED panels.

“We have initiated (the talks) again after a break during difficult times of the market and we are always open to possibilities,” said Vice Chairman Han Jong-hee of Samsung Electronics. LG Display has also said earlier at a conference call on its first-quarter earnings that “the possibility is always open in terms of improving customer structure.” Yet, the two companies remained silent to the latest Reuter report.

LG Display will see a substantial improvement in earnings if the deal goes as planned. The display maker, hit hard by the television business downturn, has suffered losses for four consecutive quarters since the second quarter last year. The company logged an operating loss of more than 1 trillion won ($744.9 million) in the first quarter alone.

The deal is also expected to help Samsung Electronics overtake Sony Group Corp., the world’s second-largest OLED TV manufacturer by sales. According to global market research firm Omdia, Samsung Electronics’ OLED TV market share stands at 6.1 percent, lagging far behind that of LG Electronics’ 54.5 percent and Sony’s 26.1 percent.

The possibility of collaboration between Samsung Electronics and LG Display has been raised continuously in the industry following the former’s recent aggressive moves to advance into the OLED TV market.

By Oh Chan-jong and Choi Jieun

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