Now that Samsung has finally ended its decade-long grouse with OLED smart TVs, demand for OLED panels has shot through the roof. The company had to look at several avenues, including Chinese OEMs and arch-rival LG for them. Samsung Display is doing its part by constantly expanding its OLED production numbers, according to a report from ETnews.
Samsung Display has repurposed its defunct L7-2 plant that previously made LCD panels into one that will manufacture OLED panels. Ideally, it should operate at full capacity by Q3, 2022, right before the demand for TVs and other peripherals rise in Q4.
Under ideal circumstances, the plant will output 180,000 OLED panels per year. It is also worth noting that the panels in question are sixth-generation; slightly older than the eight-generation process in use right now.
While that figure is nothing short of impressive, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the number of OLED panels Samsung needs. That’s why it is also working on a new A5 plant that will output an equivalent amount of cutting edge eight-generation OLED panels per annum. However, there’s no word about when it will be operational.
Samsung Display spent upward of 1 trillion KRW to repurpose the L7-2 plant and will likely need to invest a lot more in its OLED infrastructure to keep up with its lofty ambitions of producing thinner QLED TVs.
