LG Display has decided to postpone its most advanced 10.5G display production plant, according to a report by Business Korea. In the short term, LG Display will be focusing on its second 8.5G OLED plant in Guangzhou.
LG adjusts investment plan
The original plan was to have the 10.5G display plant up and running towards the end of 2018 where it was supposed to produce LCD panels. In the meantime LG Display decided to skip LCD production entirely and go straight to OLED.
Those plans have now been put on hold “with no definite plan”, one source told Business Korea.
- “LG Display's P10 plant construction has been postponed with no definite plan,” the report said. “LG is planning to adjust its investment rate in line with the trend of the growing TV market.”
The report said that LG Display has mostly finished the exterior of the 10.5G plant (dubbed P10) that is located in Paju, South Korea,. It has apparently decided to postpone equipment installation. The whole project is an $8.7 billion investment.
- “The fundamental reason for the delay is the stagnation of the LCD market. Initially, LG Display planned to produce LCD panels at P10 and then switch to OLED production. However, in July, it decided to produce 10.5G OLED panels directly without going through LCD investment,” the report continued. “LG Display needs more time to change the original plan and go straight to 10.5G OLED production.”
In the short term, LG Display will be focusing on its second 8.5G OLED plant that is currently being built in Guangzhou, China. It is expected to start mass production in the second half of 2019. This factory is similar to the factory in Korea that currently outputs all OLED TV panels.
- "It is likely that LG Display invests the money it earns from OLED production at the Guangzhou plant in the P10 plant,” an industry official told Business Korea.
- Source: Business Korea
