LG to Start Production of OLEDs in China Next Month, Set to Double OLED Output
by Anton Shilov on July 11, 2019 4:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Monitors
- Displays
- LG
- OLED
- LG Display
LG Display this week said that its plant in Guangzhou, China, would start full swing operations next month. The factory, which cost LG around $4.2 billion, will produce large OLED panels for Ultra-HD televisions. The new manufacturing capacity will nearly double LG’s output of OLED substrates and will enable the company to cut its costs.
LGD’s new 8.5G (2200×2500) OLED factory in Guangzhou will produce 60,000 substrates for large TVs per month, which will almost double output of the company’s OLED substrates to 130,000 per month. Eventually, the plant will be expanded with the second line and will increase its capacity to 90,000 substrates per month.
One of the world’s largest makers of OLED panels first announced plans to build a plant in China in mid-2017. It took LG Display a year to obtain necessary permissions from the Chinese and South Korean governments and then a year to build the factory. This month the company starts trial production and next month mass production is set to commence
LG Display invested about $4.2 billion in its Guangzhou facility, but it hopes the expenses will pay off. Firstly, there are lower wages in China when compared to South Korea. Secondly, subsidies from the Chinese government will enable LG to cut its depreciation costs by 65%. Thirdly, the new fab could allow LG to offset possible disruption of OLED production in South Korea because of the ongoing diplomatic conflict between Japan and South Korea. Fourthly, it will make LG Display more competitive against companies like BOE in the Chinese market.
Increased output and lower production costs will allow LG to make its OLED panels and therefore OLED TVs cheaper. Still, the exact effect is something that remains to be seen.
Related Reading:
- Supply of DRAM, NAND & Displays Could Be Disrupted by Japan & South Korea Dispute
- LG To Close Korean Phone Manufacturing Plants - Relying On Cheaper Overseas Factories
- LG Announces The New G8 & V50 5G ThinQ
- CES 2019: LG Announces Signature OLED TV R - A Rollable TV
Sources: The Investor, OLED Info
37 Comments
View All Comments
TheUnhandledException - Friday, July 12, 2019 - link
It doesn't have to be sales are falling it could be that for OLED the higher (relative to LCD) leads to a point where supply exceeds demand. The market for $2K+ HDTVs is relatively niche. So higher supply could eventually lead to a place where OLED TV are priced lower in order to expand demand.Lau_Tech - Friday, July 12, 2019 - link
Lol at the people bragging about their decade old TVs and projectors still going strong. Obviously dont have a clue about developments in hdr/wcg hardware and content. Not that oled wldnt cream your plasma and projector in SDR as well.mooninite - Saturday, July 13, 2019 - link
Show me where I was bragging. Also note that I clearly mentioned it was a 1080p set and I was comparing it to other 1080p sets. I'm well aware of 4k/HDR technology as I said "bring on the Micro LED sets..."There's not enough 4k content to make me want to spend $3k+ on a new TV set. Even with the 4k content available the only way to legally play it is to have a 4k device (4k Chromecast, 4k blu-ray player, or Windows 10 + latest Intel CPU). I run Linux on everything and I only have 1080p Chromecasts and a 1080p blu-ray player. Not really looking forward to 4k since it's DRM'd all to hell.
oRAirwolf - Saturday, July 13, 2019 - link
Hey they bought it and they think it's good,despite ignoring obvious advancements in picture quality and color gamut, and they're saving money by not buying a new one so they're smarter than you.Surfacround - Monday, July 15, 2019 - link
interesting, viewed a powerpoint presentation, about 2 years ago that stated that in 3 years (or 2020-2021) 70 inch OLED’s will be the same price as 65” premium IPS (LED) TV’s... (was about “ink-jet” printing of OLED’s)so it seems that prediction is true, and the OLED’s will be “cheaper”... of course, that is If the tariffs (hidden tax) does not eat up all of the savings...
poohbear - Tuesday, July 16, 2019 - link
Got my LG OLED B8 for $1150 this year. Absolutely love it as the colors are and level of detail are out of this world. I am NOT a TV person, i'd watch a few episodes a week on Netflix, but since getting this I've been absolutely fascinated by all those 4K Atmos Vision nature series (BBC i'm looking at u!) and thoroughly appreciating the graphical detail of CGI in movies/series.It's like playing a game at max settings with a GTX 2080, as opposed to playing that same game with low settings with a GTX 1050. World of difference!
FXi - Friday, July 19, 2019 - link
I'm waiting for top emission. But this is a nice improvement.