Recently, LG Display restarted its investment in the OLED business. On July 23, after the Guangzhou plant in China started mass production, the 10.5-generation OLED plant (P10) in Paju, Gyeonggi Province will also resume. Earlier, it was decided to start investment in the sixth-generation OLED production line E6-3 (P9) in the first quarter of next year. At this point, both large-size and small- and medium-size OLEDs have had a clear timetable for expansion.
10. The 5th generation OLED production line (P10) began to introduce equipment. According to Korean media, LGD began to introduce equipment to the Paju 10.5 generation OLED production line (P10). In September, LGD and YAS signed an evaporation machine purchase agreement. Prior to this, it had purchased Nikon's exposure machine and is expected to sign contracts with other equipment companies in turn.
Last year, LG Display announced that it would invest 3 trillion won in P10 and mass-produce 30,000 mother substrates per month by 2022. However, due to the delay of the Guangzhou plant and environmental degradation, the start-up time was delayed. The official statement is mass production after 2023, and will be adjusted according to the large-size OLED market conditions.
According to the latest "Monthly Tracking of Global TV Panel Market Shipments" released by RUNTO, in the first half of 2020, global TV OLED panel shipments reached 1.6 million, and annual shipments will be reduced from 5 million to 4 million pieces, a reduction of 20%, but still a significant increase of 33% year-on-year. In the future, by 2025, global TV OLED panel shipments will exceed 12 million. 2015-2020 Global OLED TV Panel Shipment
But the phenomenon shows that as the Guangzhou factory returns to normal, the P10 mass production time may be advanced.
The 6th generation OLED production line E6-3 (P9) investment will start early next year in September. According to RUNTO industry chain information, LGD plans to officially launch the 6th generation OLED production line E6-3 investment in the first quarter of next year. The scale is 1 trillion won. The timetable is to purchase production equipment around March and enter the factory for installation in September half a year later. The expected mass production time is 2022.
The E6-3 production line in the Paju plant is the third phase of investment after E6-1 and E6-2, and is a reserved project for Apple. E6-2 has been set up as a dedicated production line for Apple, and the output of each production line is 15,000 motherboards. Therefore, after the completion of E6-3, the production of flexible OLED will increase from 30,000 per month to monthly 45,000, and it is very likely to get more OLED panel orders from Apple.
E6-3 investment was interrupted in 2017, when related equipment from Canon of Japan had been introduced. Due to the liquidated damage issue, LGD failed to delay the purchase and kept it in the warehouse, but did not rent it out. E6-3 and the existing E6-1 and E6-2 have similar equipment structures and the same scale, so the time for mass production may be faster than expected.
In 2020, LG Display expects to provide Apple with 20 million OLED panels, four times that of last year. On October 14, Apple will release a new product, the "iphone 12 max" that uses LGD's 6.1-inch panel.