LG Display has announced that the world's second OLED TV panel factory is now running "full-scale mass production", almost doubling the production capacity of OLED TVs.
Second OLED TV factory
Coronavirus and other factors have delayed mass production at LG Display's new factory in Guangzhou, China. The company started small-scale production of 48-inch panels this summer and at ceremony today the company announced "the beginning of mass production in earnest".
With the world's only second OLED TV panel factory up and running capacity has almost doubled from 70,000 to 130,000 8.5G sheets per month. Each sheet can be cut into smaller panels. The new factory is using a MMG (multi-model glass) method to enable production of 48-inch OLED panels for the first time.
LG Display says that consumers can expect 48- to 77-inch OLED TVs including more affordable "extra-large" OLED TVs.
- "LG Display’s Guangzhou OLED panel plant will focus on manufacturing large-size high-resolution OLED products including 48-inch, 55-inch, 65-inch, and 77-inch panels, as it boasts high efficiency and productivity, which makes it more advantageous for the production of extra-large and high value-added OLED panels," the company said.
LG Display opening ceremony in Guangzhou China. Photo: LGD
19 OLED TV brands
A total of 19 TV brands are now using LG Display's OLED panel; LG Electronics, Sony, Panasonic, Philips, Bang & Olufsen, Toshiba, Sharp, Vizio, Huawei, Xiaomi, Grundig, Hisense, Skyworth, and others.
- "The production capacity will be expanded to 90,000 sheets per month down the road from the current capacity of 60,000 sheets depending on market demand," it added.
LG Display has said that it will end LCD TV panel production in South Korea by the end of 2020 while Samsung has announced that it will terminate all LCD production as it invests billions of dollars in QD-based TV panels – not the LCD-type currently used in the company's "QLED" LCD TVs.
LG Display has on the other hand postponed plans to build a more advanced 10.5G factory for "super-sized OLED TVs" in Paju, South Korea, according to Korean media.
Omdia is forecasting 4.4 million OLED TVs sold worldwide this year and 12 million annually by 2025. LG Display noted that it now has the capability to produce 10 million panels annually based on the 55-inch panel.
