Samsung Electronics has reportedly excluded BOE from its supply chain. BOE, a display manufacturer based in China and LCD supplier to Samsung, supplied 10% of the Korean tech giant's TV panels in Q1 2023. However, in Q3 2023, Samsung's Device eXperience (DX) division excluded BOE from its supply chain for TV and monitor panels.
Furthermore, it is believed that Samsung Electronics intends to sever ties with BOE mid-to-long term. The Korean company's decision already appears to have had a negative effect on BOE, which saw its market share decrease in the third quarter.
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Market watchers believe that Samsung Electronics' decision to sever ties with BOE and exclude the Chinese company from its panel supply chain has to do with the ongoing legal disputes between Samsung Display and BOE.
The situation just got a lot worse for BOE
At the beginning of the year, Samsung Display kickstarted an ITC investigation on Chinese wholesalers commercializing “cloned” OLED panels manufactured using stolen patents and technologies. Although Samsung didn't target BOE directly, the investigation snowballed, and the ITC began looking into the Chinese panel maker's dealings.
A few months later, BOE responded by launching numerous lawsuits on several Samsung branches in China. And in November, for the first time since this conflict began, Samsung Display fired back directly at BOE by filing an ITC complaint.
According to industry insiders cited by Business Korea, Samsung Electronics wants to increase its cooperation with other suppliers, including LG, Sharp, and AUO. It is possible that Samsung Electronics felt like the conflict between the Display arm and BOE was creating a situation that was too unstable and unpredictable for its supply chain.
With BOE now excluded from Samsung Electronics' list of partners and with Apple reportedly canceling iPhone 15 OLED orders from BOE due to quality concerns, things aren't looking too bright for the display maker.
