Samsung Display reportedly decided that it would end its traditional liquid-crystal display (LCD) business as the company aims to become the leading provider in the quantum dot light-emitting display (LED) sector. The panel maker said that it would exit the already saturated LCD market as it suffers from Chinese manufacturers’ low-priced large-volume production.
A company official said that Samsung Display intends to halt the operation of its LCD plants located both in South Korea and China until the end of this year.
The display maker would close its eight-generation and seventh-generation LCD production lines located in South Korea and Xuzhou, China. The plants would terminate its operation in the first half of 2021.
Presently, Samsung Display produces 363,000 eighth-generation and 165,000 seventh-generation displays per month. The company’s production lines account for 14 percent of the total LCD output in the market.
The Samsung Electronics display affiliate said it would shift toward developing technology that relies on advanced “QD-LED” material.
During a briefing, Samsung Display presented a detailed plan of why the QD-LED technology would allow the company to lead in the display industry.
The company sent letters to about 3,000 employees at its LCD plants, reassigning tasks relevant to the development of QD-based displays.
The company would stop manufacturing LCDs starting next year as it prioritizes producing large-sized displays with next-gen QD technology. The decision to exit the LCD business came after the need to focus on QD-LEDs as means to move forward.
Samsung plans to invest up to 13.1 trillion won ($10.6 billion) by 2025 to construct a factory capable of producing self-illuminating “true QD-LED” screens. The company would spend money on replacing conventional LCDs with QD-LEDs, foldable OLEDs, and QD-nano displays (QNED). Samsung sees the QD tech as a more profitable and promising advanced display market.
Samsung would also focus on small and medium-sized organic light-emitting diode (OLED) screens and next-gen QD nano LED screens.
The company is currently in talks to sell its LCD facilities in Suzhou, China, to Chinese LCD manufacturers.
Samsung Display’s industry rival LG Display earlier this year that it would suspend production plants of LCD TV panels in it South Korea by the end of 2020.
