Last week we reported that Samsung was reviewing the future of their LCD business. Samsung has now officially confirmed that they will spin off their LCD division from the parent company to a new subsidiary company called Samsung Display Co.
Samsung spins off LCD division
Samsung and Sony recently ended their LCD partnership and last week Reuters wrote that Samsung has realized a loss of 1 trillion Won (around $891 million) from their LCD business in fiscal year 2011. Samsung has now taken action based on that fact.
Samsung is ready to move ressources from LCD to OLED. Here you see Samsung’s 55-inch OLED-TV
Samsung plans to move all their LCD operations from the parent company, Samsung, into a new subsidiary called Samsung Display Co. This is formally scheduled to happen April 1, 2012.
Bloomberg reports that Samsung is also considering merging the new subsidiary with Samsung Mobile Display – that produces Samsung’s smartphones and OLED displays. The move should make Samsung able to move resources from LCD production to OLED, and to transform some LCD manufacturing plants to OLED plants. A Samsung spokesperson confirms, to Bloomberg, that Samsung is indeed considering this move as well.
We are not sure what else to expect from the new Samsung Display Co. structure, but it is a clear sign that Samsung wants to move into the OLED segment faster than anticipated.
It has no short-term effect, however. Samsung still expects to sell 50 million TVs in 2012 – most of them LED models.
- Sources: Samsung, Bloomberg, Reuters
Samsung spins off LCD business, OLED is the future
