LG paves way for $82 bn OLED TV, panel sales milestone

South Korea’s LG Display Co. is regarded as a pioneer in the organic light-emitting diode (OLED) market after it developed the world’s first 55-inch OLED TV panel in 2011.

Since starting the production of self-luminous TV displays in 2013, it has been consolidating its leading position in the OLED TV panel market.

Particularly, LG Display has changed the landscape of the OLED TV market, rolling out displays with better picture quality and richer colors than conventional liquid crystal displays. Until 2021, it was the world’s only manufacturer of OLED TV panels. 

It now supplies OLED panels to some 20 TV manufacturers, including Sony Corp., Philips and Bang & Olufsen, as well as LG Electronics Inc.

In the period between 2013 and 2023, cumulative sales of both LG’s OLED TV panels and TVs equipped with its OLED screens were estimated at $82.4 billion, according to market tracker Omdia on Sunday.

The estimate compared to 2013 sales of $43 million.

The 2013-2023 figure breaks down to $59.5 billion for TV panels and $22.9 billion for OLED displays.

An OLED emits light on its own. Because it does not require backlighting, it consumes much less power than an LCD, while featuring a thinner, brighter and lighter screen.

In 2022, OLED TVs accounted for 36.7% of sales of premium TVs, priced at $1,500 per unit or above, according to Omdia. That compared to about 8% in 2015.

This year, TVs with OLED screens are expected to take a 46.1% share in the high-end TV market and then 68.7% in 2027, Omdia estimated.

LG had exported a cumulative 10.6 trillion won ($8 billion) worth of OLED panels for TVs from early 2014 to the end of 2022, according to the Korea International Trade Association.

The figure represents about a 100-fold surge compared to 108.3 billion won in 2014 alone.

Alongside OLED shipment growth, LG has made a substantial commitment to the technology development of the relevant components and equipment.

LG sources 71% of its manufacturing equipment from domestic suppliers. As an example, it has replaced Japanese companies with Korean suppliers for the equipment to remove defects created on the surface of OLED layers.

The percentage of its domestic sourcing is far above the semiconductor industry’s average of 20% in South Korea.

Going forward, LG is determined to cement its market leadership with state-of-the-art TV panels, including the third-generation OLED TV panels it launched early this year.

The latest TV screen features the industry’s highest luminance of 2,100 Nit for any TV display. One Nit is equal to one candlepower.

It is based on the Meta technology, an advancement of the EX Technology introduced last year to produce LG’s second-generation OLED TV panel.

Now, the display maker is preparing to unveil the world’s first flexible panels for automobiles and building windows.

“We will diversify beyond TV panels as an OLED display pioneer,” said an LG Display official.

“We are working on the world’s first transparent OLEDs for automobiles and building windows, in addition to bendable OLEDs.”

Write to Ik-Hwan Kim at lovepen@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article