Samsung Electronics has finally spun their LCD Display operation into a seperate entity as the company moves to deliver new OLED display technology.Samsung Display will run LCD and OLED display businesses with a combined annual revenue of at least $26.6 billion, making it the world’s largest display manufacturer, Samsung said.
As LCD TV growth begins to plateau, Samsung said that they are planning to ramp up its investment in OLED technology and is looking to gain an advantage on rivals LG Display in Korea and key Japanese competitors including Sony and Panasonic.
Samsung Display was set up as a new affiliate that will operate from Tangjeong, South Chungcheong Province.
According to the company, the new operation has five global manufacturing bases and 20,000 employees. It is 100 percent owned by Samsung.
Donggun Park, executive VP and head of the former Samsung Electronics LCD business said “By continually staying one step ahead of our competitors, we can make our company the very best in the display market.”
The move comes as Japanese competitors continue to struggle with profitability at their own LCD operations.
A new company, Japan Display, which is a joint venture including Sony (10 percent), Hitachi (10 percent), Toshiba (10 percent) and semi-public Innovation Network Corp. of Japan (70 percent), is scheduled to begin operations this month, starting with the acquisition of a former Panasonic LCD panel factory in Mobara, near Tokyo. The factory was running at a rate of 600,000 small to midsize LCD panels a month.
Meanwhile, the Korea Times reported that Apple is Samsung’s biggest components customer, buying $7.8 billion in parts, including memory chips and LCDs in 2011. This year, it is expected to buy around $11 billion of Samsung components, despite being one of Samsung’s biggest rivals in finished goods.
