On February 8, South Korea's ** "Business Post" published an article saying that the South Korean display industry is a world leader in the field of OLED for smartphones, but it has recently been shaken by the fierce pursuit of Chinese companies.
Just as South Korea has lost its leading position in the LCD market due to the rise of Chinese companies, it has been observed that the leading position in the OLED market may be lost to China, which has exacerbated the sense of crisis in the Korean display industry.
According to the display industry, the market share of Samsung Display and LG Display's flexible OLED panels for foldable smartphones is declining sharply.
According to market research firm Wit Display, the combined market share of the two companies in 2023 is 518%。Compared to 2022, the decline is as high as 144 percentage points.
The reduction in the share of South Korean display companies was all taken by Chinese companies such as BOE and Tianma. The market share of Chinese enterprises reached 482%, followed by South Korea.
The progress of Chinese enterprises is not only reflected in the field of flexible OLED, but also in the entire market of small OLED panels for smartphones.
Another research firm, UBI Research, said in August last year that Chinese companies' smartphone OLED market share will rise sharply from around 40% in 2023 to reach 54 by 20258%, more than South Korea.
In 2018, Samsung Display ranked first in the small and medium-sized OLED panel market, including smartphones, with a market share of more than 90%. However, the market landscape has changed dramatically in just five years.
Chung Ho-young, president of the Korea Display Industry Association, said in September last year, "At the current rate, competing countries will reach the level of Korean OLED technology within two to three years." ”
In the past, Chinese companies received large-scale subsidies in the LCD industry for R&D, personnel reserves, and equipment expansion, increasing their global LCD share in a short period of time. China's strategy is also working in the OLED sector.
In order not to repeat the mistake of being robbed of the LCD market, Korean manufacturers are concentrating on accumulating OLED technical capabilities, but there are even evaluations that Chinese manufacturers are expanding the OLED market faster than LCD.
It took 10 years for Chinese manufacturers to take the first step in the small and medium-sized LCD business to reach 20% market share, while OLED only took 8 years.
Since smartphone OLED is considered to be the most important business in the Korean display industry, and the Korean display industry is withdrawing from LCD, it has been pointed out that countermeasures need to be prepared quickly.
In the global smartphone display market, the OLED share has grown rapidly from 30% in 2020 to 42% in 2022.
Market research firm Trendforce expects growth of more than 50% this year.
It is expected that the competition in the OLED panel market will be more fierce in the future. This is because Chinese companies, including BOE, are actively expanding their OLED production lines.
In addition, in May last year, South Korea** adopted the "Display Industry Innovation Strategy", proposing the goal of "regaining the world's No. 1 display by 2027", and announced a plan for large-scale support.
"China is rapidly increasing its investment in OLED after LCD, and Korean companies plan to invest more than 65 trillion won in the next five years to fully respond to market changes," said Myun Kyu, Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy.
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