Samsung Display To Invest $11 Billion In LCD Plant – Report

Samsung Display is reportedly going to investment 13 trillion won ($11bn) to upgrade its South Korean liquid crystal display (LCD) plants/

The mammoth investment is to allow it to manufacture more advanced screens, Yonhap news agency reported on Tuesday.

Last month it was reported that Samsung Display was considering suspending one of its liquid crystal display (LCD) production lines due to oversupply issues. At the moment, it currently operates two LCD production sites in South Korea, as well as one in China.

Oversupply issue

The Yonhap news agency quoted ‘industry sources’, and reported that Samsung is seeking to enhance profitability in the large display business.

It is reported that Samsung will officially announce the investment next month, and the money will be used to to upgrade its liquid crystal display (LCD) production lines at Samsung Display’s plant in Asan, 100 kilometers south of Seoul, to quantum dot (QD) display-manufacturing facilities.

South Korea’s panel makers have been dealing with an oversupply problem in recent years.

This was evidence earlier when research house IDC recently warned that there had been a worldwide slowdown of smartphones shipments, as evidenced by the latest financial reports from the likes of Apple etc.

There has been a slowdown in the shipments of televisions in recent times as well, which is not helping matters.

The LCD oversupply issue for Samsung is not being helped by increasing competition from Chinese rivals, as well as a shift towards more advanced OLED (organic light emitting diode) panels.

Local rival LG Display for example has recently converted one of its LCD production lines to an OLED production line. And it apparently announced last week a voluntary redundancy program for domestic production line employees amid mounting financial losses.

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