Samsung Display Co., display unit of South Korea’s top conglomerate Samsung Group, is exiting from liquid crystal display (LCD) business of 31 years this month as it lost competitiveness against cheaper Chinese products.

According to multiple sources from the display industry on Monday, Samsung Display has recently injected its last mother glass, or a large piece of glass, to its L8-2 line at its Asan campus in South Chungcheong Province that produce large-size LCDs for TVs. Mother glass is a raw material of TV panels.

Samsung Display will remove chemical materials before closing down the L8-2 line this month, according to the source.

It is expected to sell LCD equipment of L8-2 line to other display manufacturers of China and Taiwan.

The assembly workers will be deployed to the lines of QD-OLEDs or small- and mid-size organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).

Earlier, Samsung Display had renovated the L7-1 line devoted to LCD panels to churn out flexible OLEDs.

The company is expected to relocate employees under LCD business to its QD display line and some to Samsung Electronics’ display solutions business.

Samsung Display has already removed introduction of LCD display technology from its website to highlight its strength in QD-OLED business utilizing OLED and quantum dot technology. Samsung Display currently supplies QD-OLED panels to Samsung Electronics and Japan’s Sony. Its yield rate has reached a stable point of 75 percent.

Samsung Display had planned to shutter LCD business in the end of 2020 but pushed back the move during Covid-19 pandemic period amid jump in LCD panels. Prices of LCD panels however have been falling from the latter half of last year.

Samsung Electronics launched LCD business in 1991 and won over Japanese competitors through thin LCD TVs. It commanded No. 1 in TV -panels in 2008.

It faced a rush of cheaper Chinese products backed by government subsidies from 2010.

By 2018, China accounted for the largest 30.6 percent share in LCD market to topple Korea with 29.2 percent. The gap continued to widen to 50.7 percent versus 14.6 percent last year.

Samsung Display, which spun off from Samsung Electronics in 2012, changed its business strategy from LCD to small- and mid-size OLEDs. In 2016, it transformed its 7-1 line in Asan to focus on small- and mid-size OLEDs and in 2019 part of the 8 line to QD-OLED.

With Samsung Display terminating its LCD line, Samsung Electronics will have to find an alternative supplier for LCD panels. Samsung Electronics is known to be receiving more than 70 percent of LCD TV panel demand from Chinese panel manufacturers including BOE and CSOT. Samsung Electronics is expected to buy 4 million LCD TV panel units from LG Display this year.

By Jung Yoo-jung and Lee Eun-joo

[ⓒ Pulse by Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]