LG Display says more than 50% of sales will be OLED by 2020
According to LG Display’s (LPL) CTO, the company expects OLED to account for 50% of total sales by 2020, up from the 10% noted last year. Given that there were no details of how that revenue was broken down between OLED TV and smartphones, it is similarly hard to estimate the same for 2020, but just for reference, a 55” OLED TV generates $1.78 in retail sales revenue per in2, while the just released LG G6 smartphone generates $46.60 per in2, making the mix an important factor. These are simple retail numbers, so significant adjustments are made for factory level pricing, but it illustrates a point.
LG also stated that it took LCD TV manufacturing 10 years to achieve yields of more than 80%, while it took LG two years to achieve the same with its large panel OLED production, and further cited that price declines in large panel OLED TV were much faster than with large panel LCD products, both of which have been cited before. Investors who have a focus on the OLED space have always been impatient relative to price declines that will jumpstart OLED TV sales, but giving credit where due, LG Display has done a monumental job in pushing large panel OLED manufacturing technology forward at a very rapid pace. Can we make the case for 50% of sales being generated by OLED in 2020? Certainly, and looking at the growth of Samsung’s small panel OLED business makes the assumptions even easier. We tip our hat to LG Display regardless of whether the actual number meets or beats the current statement, knowing that expectations in the display space always tend to be optimistic, but regardless of that fact, the company has improved large panel OLED manufacturing far more quickly than previous display technology transitions.
LG also stated that it took LCD TV manufacturing 10 years to achieve yields of more than 80%, while it took LG two years to achieve the same with its large panel OLED production, and further cited that price declines in large panel OLED TV were much faster than with large panel LCD products, both of which have been cited before. Investors who have a focus on the OLED space have always been impatient relative to price declines that will jumpstart OLED TV sales, but giving credit where due, LG Display has done a monumental job in pushing large panel OLED manufacturing technology forward at a very rapid pace. Can we make the case for 50% of sales being generated by OLED in 2020? Certainly, and looking at the growth of Samsung’s small panel OLED business makes the assumptions even easier. We tip our hat to LG Display regardless of whether the actual number meets or beats the current statement, knowing that expectations in the display space always tend to be optimistic, but regardless of that fact, the company has improved large panel OLED manufacturing far more quickly than previous display technology transitions.
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