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Through 2018, LG Display plans to put at least 10 trillion won
($8.47 billion) primarily into OLED displays for large products
such as TVs, and flexible screens for smartphones and wearables.
It will seek to expand OLED applications to signage and
automobiles, and allocate some spending to premium liquid
crystal display (LCD) products, the firm said in a statement.
LG Display and sister firm LG Electronics Inc have been the
biggest proponents of OLED, which boasts improved color
rendition and power consumption. The world's top LCD maker hopes
early investment in OLED will help it dominate when the
technology becomes mainstream.
LG Display shares have fallen 34 percent this year, touching
levels not seen since 2012 as investors see a future comprising
sluggish LCD growth and profit-squeezing price wars with Chinese
rivals. OLED, however, offers a market worth $28.3 billion by
2022 from $8.7 billion in 2014, said researcher DisplaySearch.
OLED is being increasingly adopted for premium smartphones and
smartwatches, such as models from Samsung Electronics Co Ltd and
Apple Inc. But prices of goods sporting large, high profit
margin OLED screens such as TVs are still far higher than
comparable LCD products.
A 55-inch OLED ultra-high definition curved TV made by LG
Electronics was on sale for $4,999 on Amazon.com Inc's U.S.
shopping site, marked down from $5,499.99. A comparable LCD set
made by Samsung was priced $2,497.99, down from $3,999.99.
Samsung, the world's biggest TV maker, has said OLED is still
too expensive to produce for TVs.
As the two LG companies are the only major players pushing the
technology for TVs, analysts and investors are skeptical whether
they can by themselves create the economies of scale necessary
to bring down prices enough for mass market adoption.
(Reporting by Se Young Lee; Editing by Tony Munroe and
Christopher Cushing)
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