Samsung added more staff to its production line for small OLED (light-emitting diode) panels used in smartphones as well as other portable gadgets.
Samsung leads the display panel market in South Korea. Recently, for seamless production, it increased its staff for smaller organic OLED panels, although the aim behind this rapid takeoff appears to be to compete with growing Chinese companies such as BOE Technology Group Co.
Now the Korean giants are turning their focus to smaller organic OLED displays used in smartphones, for they have decided to move a substantial portion of staff, which is 30%—nearly 500 engineers—from the large OLED panel division. This decision appears to be a be a deliberate step by giants.
The demand for smaller OLEDs is boosted and energized by new devices such as VR headsets (XR) and car displays. It appears that by 2029, it could touch $8.9 billion, whereas the market for larger OLED panels used in TVs is diminishing due to a slow TV market, and that’s the main reason why Samsung increased its workforce. Samsung made up 43% of the global active matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED), a type of OLED display device for IT products, for instance, smartphones, last year, down from 56% in 2022.
On the other side, BOE increased its share to 15% from 12% during the period. Back in 2021, China snatched the leading position of Samsung by offering cheaper LCD options, giving them a major edge. Second, supported by their government and strong domestic demand, Chinese companies gained significant market share in smaller OLED panels, used in smartphones and other portable devices.
Even after the lead of China, the gap in squeezing, since back in 2022, was around 40%, but it shot down to 10% in 2023, just because Samsung and LG are still strong contenders, holding a combined 53% of the smaller OLED market share as compared to 43% of China.
Regarding all this mess, Samsung Display President and CEO Choi Joo Sun warned that it is just a matter of time for Chinese brands to catch up with South Korean makers in the OLED industry. Now both brands, Samsung and LG, are gearing up to make a significant move to regain authority in the display market. Samsung Electronics invested $3 billion last year to build a production line for laptop OLED panels to maintain its dignity, whereas LG Display plans further investment in an eight-generation production line, likely for smaller displays; however, a final decision is pending.
