Previously, it was Samsung selling off its LCD production line; now it's LG Display's turn.

According to The Korea Herald, LG Display is in talks to exit the LCD business. The display manufacturer is considering options for selling its LCD assets, including its manufacturing plant in Guangzhou, China.

LG Display and Samsung were once the dominant players in the LCD panel market, but in recent years, both South Korean companies have focused on the more advanced (and potentially more profitable) OLED market.

Fierce competition with Chinese liquid crystal panel manufacturers has led companies from other regions to shift towards more advanced OLED panels. In 2021, Samsung sold its LCD panel manufacturing plant in Suzhou, China, to TCL for $1.08 billion.

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LG Display ceased production of LCD panels in South Korea in 2022. It is said that the company will continue to take measures to restructure and optimize its business portfolio, and closing its less profitable LCD production facilities may help.

According to data from the Korea Display Industry Association, South Korean companies maintain a strong competitive advantage in the OLED market, accounting for 74.2% of global OLED sales in 2023.

Focusing solely on large-sized OLED panels for televisions and the like, South Korean companies accounted for 96.1% of global sales in 2023.In March, LG Display disclosed that it was exploring what to do with its LCD facilities in Guangzhou and other regions. The company said in the filing that it is currently reviewing various options for the strategic use of LCD assets, including the manufacturing plant in Guangzhou, but no decision has been made. The next owner of LG Display's LCD facilities has surfaced. Including BOE Technology, China's largest display maker, and COST, the display unit of Chinese home appliance maker TCL Technology. Industry sources said LG is discussing the issue with South Korea's Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy. A valuable display plant, even if it may not be as profitable as LG Display's OLED production facilities, is considered one of South Korea's strategic assets. Therefore, any sale of the LCD panel plant must first be approved by the South Korean government.   BOE and CSOT combined account for 85%, and the global large-size interactive display panel shipments in Q1 reached 837,000 pieces According to the "Global Commercial Display Panel Market Analysis Quarterly Report" released by Loto Technology, in the first quarter of 2024, the global large-size interactive flat panel (Interactive Board) display panel shipments were 837,000 pieces, a year-on-year increase of 30%, and the shipment area was 1.289 million square meters, a year-on-year increase of 29%. From the perspective of manufacturers, the shipments of mainland panel factories accounted for 86.8%, of which BOE's shipments accounted for 49.0%, and the shipments increased by 55.3% year-on-year, and the share increased by nearly 8 percentage points. CSOT's shipments accounted for 35.9%, and the shipments increased by more than 20% year-on-year. The shipments of Taiwanese and Korean panel factories accounted for 7.1% and 6.1% respectively. The report mentioned that LGD is gradually withdrawing from the LCD market. Its current strategy is only to ensure the supply of core customers. Its shipments were surpassed by AUO in the first quarter of this year. Data shows that in the first quarter of 2024, products of 65-inch, 75-inch and 86-inch sizes accounted for more than 90% of the overall market, reaching 90.4%.Among them, the 75-inch size, with its rich application scenarios and more suitable pricing, became the primary demand size in the market in the first quarter of this year, with a market share of 33.5%. The 65-inch product shipments ranked second, with a market share of 29.7%.

Luo Technology forecasts that the overall shipment scale increase for the first half of 2024 will be around 15%.

Current Status and Outlook of LCD Application Markets

Deputy General Manager of TrendForce Research, Fan Boyu, conducted an in-depth analysis of the current LCD application market, dissecting the current state and future trends of the LCD industry.

Television is one of the main application markets for LCD technology. Fan Boyu stated that this year, the overall TV market has entered a new cycle dominated by sellers, with the entire TV market in a slightly declining state. According to TrendForce's estimates, the global TV shipments in 2023 are expected to be around 197 million units, a decrease of 1.7% compared to 2022.

Fan Boyu pointed out that the decline in TV demand in 2023 is mainly due to the industry entering a stage of inventory adjustment after the pandemic, coupled with a relatively sluggish global economic situation, which has led to some impact on consumer electronics demand.

Looking forward to 2024, against the backdrop of the arrival of several major sports events such as the Olympics and the European Cup, manufacturers will seize the opportunity to promote their products, and TV demand is expected to rebound. TrendForce estimates that TV demand in 2024 will be between 199 million and 200 million units, a slight increase of 1.2%.

Analyzing the shipment situation of various TV brands, most companies experienced a relatively low shipment situation in 2022, and it is expected that there will be a decline to varying degrees in 2023. On the other hand, TCL and Hisense have continued to increase their shipments, and these two companies are further expanding their share in the TV market through active procurement and promotional strategies.

Directly affected by the demand at the TV terminal, the shipment situation of TV panels is also weak. Fan Boyu stated that, looking at the shipment situation from upstream panel manufacturers, both LCD and high-end OLED panel demands are average. TrendForce estimates that the TV panel shipments in 2023 will be 250 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 8.2%, of which LCD shipments are expected to be 244 million units. To avoid the decline in panel prices caused by poor demand, panel manufacturers have begun to control or reduce the production capacity of TV panels.Compared to the seller-dominated TV application market, the IT application market is currently in a more competitive state, with buyers and sellers engaging in a game of price competition.

In terms of monitors/AIOs, TrendForce expects that in 2023, the shipment of monitors/AIOs will return to the pre-pandemic level, approximately 136 million units, of which monitors will account for 127 million units and AIOs 9 million units.

The demand for business models from Dell, HP, Lenovo, and others is not strong, while in the consumer product sector, the demand for consumer-grade monitors has warmed up due to the drive from esports products, with brands such as LC, Acer, MSI, and others performing well.

Against the backdrop of a slight recovery in the terminal market, TrendForce expects that in 2023, the shipment of monitor panels will be about 148 million units, a year-on-year decrease of 6.4%. Panel prices are expected to rise slightly this year, and it is anticipated that after demand adjustment in the fourth quarter, the prices will stop increasing.