Samsung today unveiled plans to invest $3.6 billion (that is nearly 4 trillion won) into Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED)- for medium and small-sized panels of mobile and other consumer electronics- while the Korean parent company Samsung looks to boost component sales to recover from the weak smartphone revenues that have been plaguing it. The investment duration period is from 2015 to 2017. No other information was forthcoming.
Speculations are rife about the actual plans- analysts say if Samsung goes ahead with aims to bridge the OLED- LED gap for small sized displays towards the end of 2015, and if it actually takes off, OLED prices will drop by 2017 year end, and demand for AMOLED displays for mobile phones and tablets will rise.
OLED production capacity maybe increased on plastic based substrates too- Samsung plans on starting production in its new 6.5 GEN fab next. Currently, flexible OLED uses aren’t that popular – Samsung only uses such displays in wearable products which use a small screen area and the Galaxy Note Edge.
The key being- the revenue flow is now being expected from Samsung Electronics’ future earnings growth. This is similar to how Samsung’s semiconductor business helped profits to float in the last quarter- component manufacturing seems to be a profitable avenue. External customers and clients favoring the curving display, the list may also include rival companies that want to stay ahead in the game.
Of course, the competition isn’t far behind. Samsug’s Korean colleague LG is reported to be investing between 1 and 1.2 trillion won into additional OLED production capacity later this year.
