Samsung Display brings forward the end of its LCD production

(Image credit: Samsung)

Samsung Display will cease manufacturing liquid crystal displays for TV screens in June, six months earlier than expected. This is due to growing losses driven by cheaper rival products, according to industry sources reported in the Korea Times.

Instead, the company will concentrate on its production of OLED and quantum dot displays, with employees from its LCD arm expected to be transferred to the latter business.

Figures provided by U.S market research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC) suggest that the average price index of LCD panels will fall to 36.6 in September when measured against a score of 100 in January 2014, beating its previous record low of 41.5 in April.

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Samsung Display's profits from LCD production have been declining for several years due to increased competition from Chinese and Taiwanese manufacturers, and the company was said to be considering withdrawing from the market in 2020. However, the COVID-19 pandemic saw a surge in demand for LCD TVs, with the average price index peaking at a record high of 87 in June 2021, 58% higher than where it currently stands. Samsung Display postponed winding up its LCD operation to take advantage of this temporary boom which has now slumped considerably.

Samsung Electronics, the biggest customer of Samsung Display's panels, has already found new suppliers for its LCDs having partnered up with Taiwanese display manufacturer AU Optronics Corp in 2020, followed by Chinese component producer BOE Technology Group earlier this year.

Earlier this month, Samsung Display's fellow South Korean counterpart LG Display was reported to be considering its own exit from LCD panel production, according to The Korean Economic Daily. Insiders have speculated that LG Display is likely to cease its LCD operations favouring OLED production after noting that the company had cut back on its use of glass substrates at its LCD facilities.

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Mary is a staff writer at What Hi-Fi? and has over a decade of experience working as a sound engineer mixing live events, music and theatre. Her mixing credits include productions at The National Theatre and in the West End, as well as original musicals composed by Mark Knopfler, Tori Amos, Guy Chambers, Howard Goodall and Dan Gillespie Sells.