Samsung Display has stopped producing LCD panels so Samsung Electronics has turned mainly to the Chinese to satisfy its huge appetite for LCD TV panels.
Despite launching QD-OLED TVs, the vast majority of Samsung's TVs including "Neo QLED" still rely on a conventional LCD panel.
After 30 years, Samsung Display terminated production of LCD panels in June 2022 so the world's largest TV maker, Samsung Electronics, now has to acquire those LCD panels from other display makers.
Chinese LCD TV panels
26% of Samsung TVs in 2023 come with a VA LCD panel from China's TCL CSoT, according to Korean newspaper The Elec. TCL CSoT's panels are also used in TVs from TCL, Sony, and others.
HKC is second at 21% and BOE fourth at 11%, meaning that nearly 60% of the Samsung TVs sold in 2023 – the first year of no Samsung-produced LCD panels in Samsung TVs – will be equipped with an LCD panel from China.
Table: The Elec with Korean words auto-translated
South Korean OLED alliance
Samsung Electronics plans to procure 38 million LCD TV panels this year, up from 34.2 million last year but down from 47 million annually in 2020 and 2021 during covid-19.
After China has outcompeted South Korea in the segment for LCD panels, LG and Samsung have responded by increasing their focus on production of OLED panels, seemingly forging closer ties in the process.
Samsung Display is ramping up production of QD-OLED panels in Korea and later this year the first Samsung TV with an OLED panel from arch rival LG Display is expected to launch.
- Source: The Elec
