LG Display looks to sell off its last LCD plant in China as it pivots to more profitable OLED panels

LG Display is in talks to leave the LCD business to focus on OLED production, t he Korea Herald reports . The display maker is reviewing options to sell its LCD assets, including manufacturing facilities in Guangzhou, China.

LG Display and Samsung were once the dominating players in the LCD panel market, but both Korean companies have been focusing on the more advanced (and presumably profitable) OLED market in recent years.

Intense competition with Chinese LCD panel manufacturers has led companies from other countries to shift to the more advanced OLED panel. In 2021, Samsung sold its LCD panel manufacturing plant in Suzhou, China, to TCL for $1.08 billion.

For its part, LG Display stopped producing LCD panels in Korea in 2022. The company is said to be continuing to take measures to reorganize and optimize its business portfolio, and closing its less profitable LCD production facilities could help with that.

Korean companies maintain a strong competitive edge in the OLED market, accounting for 74.2% of the global OLED sales in 2023, according to the Korea Display Industry Association.

Focusing just on large-size OLED panels, such as for televisions, Korean firms took 96.1% of the global sales for 2023.

In March, LG Display disclosed that it was exploring what to do with its LCD facilities in Guangzhou and other locations.

“We are currently reviewing various options on the strategic use of our LCD asset, including the manufacturing plant in Guangzhou, but nothing has been decided yet,” the company stated in its filing.

Several potential buyers have surfaced for LG Display’s LCD facilities. These include China’s largest display maker, BOE Technology, and COST, the display division of Chinese home appliance manufacturer TCL Technology.

Industry sources say LG is discussing the issue with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy in Korea. A valuable display plant, even one that may not be as profitable as LG Display’s OLED production facilities, is considered one of Korea’s strategic assets. Therefore, any sales of the LCD panel plants have to be approved by the Korean government first.