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Korea's display makers are broadening the reach of organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) with new applications in robotics, AI devices and vehicles.
“New markets are rapidly emerging in areas we have not traditionally focused on, including smart glasses, AI devices and humanoid robots,” Samsung Display CEO Yi Chung said on Wednesday at the K-Display exhibition held at Coex in southern Seoul. Yi also chairs the Korea Display Industry Association.
The heads of Samsung Display and LG Display both pointed to technological differentiation as the key to securing an early lead in these new markets.
"Preparing technologies and price points that satisfy customers ahead of competitors is what defines a company's competitiveness," Yi said.
LG Display Executive Director Jeong Cheol-dong echoed the view.
"Differentiating ourselves with technologies customers want is our core growth engine,” Jeong said.
At the exhibition, LG Display unveiled, for the first time in Korea, a display that extends the company's plastic OLED, or P-OLED, technology — previously used in automobiles — for humanoid applications.
In a vehicle experience space where visitors could sit inside, the company showcased a 48-inch screen filling the front dashboard and an 18-inch slideable OLED that unfolds from the rear ceiling.
Samsung Display showcased a “Big Hole” automotive fascia display that incorporates the gear selector and air vents into the screen itself. It also unveiled a 6.9-inch OLED for humanoid robots that tracks and responds to a person’s gaze.
Both companies are also preparing next-generation mobile display technologies.
"Samsung Electronics has already introduced a new form of display, and our U.S. clients are also preparing foldable products," Yi said. "We expect that to open an entirely new chapter for the foldable mobile market."
LG Display plans to expand its tandem OLED technology, currently used in televisions and information technology devices, to smartphones. It is reportedly developing “glass interposers,” glass substrates for semiconductor packaging, which are considered a key growth driver for the future.
“We will introduce [FLiPP] when the time is right to make it public,” Jeong said. FLiPP is one of the next-generation OLED manufacturing technologies.
Despite those growth ambitions, executives acknowledged that the near-term business environment remains challenging. The bleak outlook appears to stem from soaring memory chip prices, fueled by strong demand for high bandwidth memory and server dynamic random-access memory with inflation. In turn, display makers are subject to mounting cost pressure.
"I hope semiconductor prices come down," Yi said. "Orders for smartphone and information technology OLED panels is declining, and we're also facing pressure to lower panel prices from clients."
Jeong acknowledged that rising memory chip prices were weighing on costs but said the company could absorb the impact through cost reductions.
Earlier Wednesday, LG Display announced its first operating profit in the first half of the year in five years. It also forecast stronger earnings in the second half — traditionally the industry's peak season.
BY KIM IN-KYOUNG [[email protected]]
