Following Samsung Display, LG Display has officially sold its last remaining LCD TV panel factory to China's TCL, marking the end of an era for LCD TV panel production in South Korea.
Chinese makers have now all but taken over the global LCD market.
LG Display's final LCD TV panel factory in Guangzhou, China, was sold to TCL CSOT for around 10.8 billion yuan ($1.47 billion USD), according to an announcement from TCL. The deal was announced in September 2024 and has now been finalized.
- "We have completed the transaction approval and commercial registration procedures for the shares of LG Display's Guangzhou panel factory (CA corporation) and module factory (GZ corporation)," said TCL (machine translated).
TCL owns nine LCD lines
TCL CSOT will rename the 8.5-generation factory 'T11' and begin full-scale production.
With the acquisition, TCL now operates two 6-generation LCD production lines, four 8.5-generation lines, one 8.6-generation line, and two 10.5-generation lines. According to TrendForce, TCL's share of large-size LCD panel production, by area, has increased from 19.3% to 22.9%.
Chinese manufacturers of LCD TV panels, such as BOE, TCL CSOT and HKC, now control over 70% of global production capacity, up from 65% last year.
A render of the LCD plant in Guangzhou, China. Credit: LG Display
Chinese LCD panels in your TVs
The other South Korean display maker Samsung Display exited the LCD market in June 2022 and sold all of its LCD-related patents to TCL CSOT in September 2022.
LG Display continues to produce LCD panels on a smaller scale for IT devices. Proceeds from the factory sale to TCL will be invested in OLED development, according to the company.
For consumers, this means that LG and Samsung LCD TVs, including 'QLED' and 'QNED' models, now primarily use the same Chinese-made panels found in TVs from brands like TCL and Hisense.
- Source: Alphabiz, TCL, Trendforce
