After more than 30 years, Samsung Display will terminate all production of LCD TV panels next month, according to multiple reports in Korea, leaving Samsung Electronics in a tight spot.

Samsung Display had originally planned to exit the LCD business by the end of 2020 but the decision was postponed due to covid-19 which led to a surge in LCD panel prices. The exit will instead happen next month.

- "Samsung Display has decided to close its liquid-crystal display (LCD) business in June, hobbled by a declining global competitive edge due to cheaper products made by its Chinese and Taiwanese counterparts, according to the industry, Sunday," reported Korea Times.

- "(Samsung Display) will terminate its supply of LCD panels in June," an industry source told Korea Herald.

The decision has forced Samsung Electronics, the consumer brand, to rethink its supply chain. Samsung Electronics had already begun sourcing LCD panels for its "QLED" and "LED" LCD TVs from Chinese and Taiwanese panel makers such as AUO, TCL's CSoT, and BOE.

Market research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) expects LCD panel prices to fall to index 36.6 in September 2022 as measured against index 100 in January 2014, after hitting a record-low of 41.5 in April of this year.

Once the largest LCD TV panel manufacturer in the world, Samsung Display's market share has dropped from 22% in 2014 to approximately 2% this year.


Will focus on QD-OLED
Samsung Display will instead focus on QD-OLED for TVs in the near term. Samsung Electronics launched its first QD-OLED TVs, based on Samsung Display's panel, this spring in the form of S95B, but the rest of its TV line-up still consists of LCD TVs.

- "Samsung Display will no longer produce LCDs used for large TV screens and focus instead on manufacturing organic light-emitting diode (OLED) and quantum dot (QD) displays," wrote Korea Times.

 Also read: First 77" and 49" QD-OLED TVs expected to launch next year

The other Korean LCD panel maker, LG Display, is also scaling down its LCD panel business to focus on OLED.

- Source: Korea Times, Korea Herald