Samsung SDI, battery making unit of Samsung Group, will start to provide a key organic light-emitting diode (OLED) material to Apple Inc. for its new iPhone series slated for release in the latter half of the year.

According to multiple industry sources Monday, Samsung SDI has won an order to supply phosphorescent green host (PGH) materials to Apple for its upcoming new iPhone models tentatively dubbed as iPhone 8 series. The Apple deal would be a big relief to Samsung SDI that has failed to obtain order from its bigger affiliate Samsung Electronics Co. for its new flagship smartphone Galaxy S8 series.

As the PGH order volume from Apple would also be 20 percent to 30 percent larger than that from Samsung Electronics, the company is expected to see sales from electronic material business reach over 2 trillion won ($1.8 billion) this year, the highest scoreboard for the division that was transferred from defunct Cheil Industries Inc. in 2014.

Samsung SDI, which mainly focuses on small-sized lithium-ion batteries, is expected to bear fruit from its efforts to diversify its business realm to include electronic materials. The firm successfully developed and mass-produced PGH, a key light-emitting material for OLED displays along with other red and blue host material, in 2014 for the first time in Korea. It started to supply the newly developed materials to Samsung Electronics for its Galaxy S6 series.

On top of OLED emitting layer materials, Samsung SDI’s polarizing film business will likely gain momentum from Chinese firms upping production of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels. A polarizing film that passes and blocks lights is a core component in an LCD panel.

Samsung SDI in February started to produce polarizing film from a plant in Xuxi, China. Combined with polarizing film output from its Cheongju lines in Korea, Samsung SDI’s total polarizing film production would reach the volume that is large enough to produce as many as 30 million units of 40-inch LCD panels a year.

Sales of Samsung SDI’s semiconductor process materials which are used in manufacturing semiconductor chips are also on a rapid rise. It currently provides materials that are used in patterning a wafer and protecting the circuit board.

Shares of Samsung SDI closed Tuesday at 138,500 won, up 0.36 percent from the previous session.

By Lee Dong-in

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