Samsung Gen 7 OLED fab?
Korea based UBI research has indicated they believe Samsung Display has begun construction on a new Gen 7 OLED fab (A4) that will be in production as early as 2Q 2018, with the theory that Samsung Display wants to stay ahead of its rivals, who are basing much of their OLED production on Gen 6 fab lines. A gen 7 line would have the advantage of being able to produce more devices/sheet, but the true test is really efficiency, which is most important with larger size displays, particularly TVs. There are also problems associated with larger size panels in reference to tools related to deposition as glass sizes move above Gen 6, and while UBI cites the fact that Samsung Display had previously been producing OLED TV displays on Gen 8 OLED lines, we note that Samsung Display ended that production due to its inability to produce panels at what they considered reasonable cost and closed its Gen 8 (V1) pilot line.
While it is certainly possible that Samsung Display would be encouraged to build such a Gen 7 line for small panel production in light of the necessity to supply its internal customer (Samsung Electronics), a number of Chinese brands that are looking to expand OLED smartphone offerings, and Apple’s foray into OLED for the IPhone, there has been considerable speculation concerning conversions of existing LCD fabs to OLED, with little comment from Samsung Display. We believe the conversion of the L7-1 Samsung LCD fab is progressing (from Gen 7 LCD to Gen 6 OLED) and they have yet to decide on when and if the L7-2 fab will be converted, and there is also speculation that the L6 LCD line could be converted from LCD to OLED but little on details has been available. We have built L7-1 into our OLED industry model and L6 in aggressive scenarios, but we hesitate to speculate further until we can get confirmation from tool vendors that can specify Gen 7 formatting.
While it is certainly possible that Samsung Display would be encouraged to build such a Gen 7 line for small panel production in light of the necessity to supply its internal customer (Samsung Electronics), a number of Chinese brands that are looking to expand OLED smartphone offerings, and Apple’s foray into OLED for the IPhone, there has been considerable speculation concerning conversions of existing LCD fabs to OLED, with little comment from Samsung Display. We believe the conversion of the L7-1 Samsung LCD fab is progressing (from Gen 7 LCD to Gen 6 OLED) and they have yet to decide on when and if the L7-2 fab will be converted, and there is also speculation that the L6 LCD line could be converted from LCD to OLED but little on details has been available. We have built L7-1 into our OLED industry model and L6 in aggressive scenarios, but we hesitate to speculate further until we can get confirmation from tool vendors that can specify Gen 7 formatting.
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