Jiwei.com reported that reviewing the development history of the global panel industry, since its origin in the United States in the 1960s, it has gone through the process of Japan's development - South Korea's catch-up - the rise of Taiwan, China - and the development of Chinese Mainland** South Korea has made an indelible contribution in this process, and even squeezed Japan, which has dominated the panel industry for many years, out of the throne in only 10 years. Whether it achieved corner overtaking in the LCD era or later dominated the OLED era, it has written a memorable legend.
The history of semiconductor industry - survey the development history of semiconductor industry at home and abroad, dig up the anecdotes and anecdotes of the industry, learn from the past and the present, and explore the way of future development of the industry
Realizing curve overtaking in LCD Era
Back in 1968, the liquid crystal display panel (LCD) was born in the United States, but it failed to be industrialized locally in the end. When American companies such as RCA, Motorola and Hewlett Packard gave up LCD research and development, Japanese companies such as Xuyu Seiko and sharp entered the Bureau and achieved brilliance in the future starting with micro LCD. In 1994, Japan's market share in the global panel industry reached 94%.
After seeing the great success of Japan's panel industry, South Korea focused on this field. Korean enterprises represented by Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and Hyundai Group began TFT-LCD R & D and trial production before 1990
Among them, Samsung Electronics started the earliest. In 1984, after taking over Samsung, Li Jianxi suffered setbacks in other fields, so he made up his mind to let the company take the route of "technology first", so he set up a TFT-LCD research group; In 1991, Samsung set up TFT-LCD business department and built a trial production line; The following year, two 10.4-inch liquid crystal displays were produced; In 1993, the second generation TFT-LCD production line was built and put into operation in February 1995, which is also the first LCD panel production line in South Korea.
LG Electronics began to develop liquid crystal displays in 1987. Two years later, it showed its first product, and set up a special R & D center in 1990. In 1995, it began to produce TFT-LCD on a large scale in P1 factory; Hyundai Group also established the LCD business unit in 1988.
In fact, at first, the development of Korean enterprises involved in the panel field was not smooth. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics fell into losses for seven consecutive years (1990-1997) and eight consecutive years (1987-1994) respectively. Around 1997, Korean enterprises finally ushered in the opportunity of salted fish turnaround. At that time, Japanese enterprises ushered in the darkest moment under the multiple blows of the Asian financial crisis, the trough of the panel industry and the "pressure" of the United States. Samsung, LG and other Korean enterprises have adopted a counter cyclical investment strategy. Regardless of the immediate losses, they have decisively invested in the expansion of production lines, which has eroded most of the market share of Japanese enterprises when the panel industry recovers.
Among the three "pioneers" of Korean panel industry, only the panel industry of Hyundai Group gradually declined due to the financial crisis in the later development. Samsung and LG led the LCD market for many years, developed the most cutting-edge technology and built the latest production line, and created a number of "firsts"
Samsung launched the world's first 7th generation LCD production line in 2005; The next year, it developed the world's first 120Hz 70 inch Full HD LCD panel; In 2011, the world's first 22 inch transparent LCD was put into mass production; In 2013, Samsung developed the world's first 55 inch curved LCD.
From the perspective of LG's development track, the world's earliest 4th generation production line and 5th generation production line were launched in 2000 and 2002 respectively; In 2006, LG completed the world's largest display Park in pozhou, South Korea, and began to officially produce large-scale LCD for TV.
Continue to write legends in the OLED Era
By the way, I would like to mention the origin of Samsung display and LG display, two Korean panel companies well known in the industry. The former came from the merger of Samsung Electronics's LCD division in charge of large LCD business and Samsung mobile display division in charge of small and medium-sized OLED business in 2012; The predecessor of the latter is LG, which was established in 1999 by LG Electronics and Philips Philips LCD, until Philips divested in 2008, the company name was changed to LG display.
After dominating the LCD market for many years in a row, the Korean panel industry has welcomed two strong rivals, Taiwan, China and Chinese Mainland, which also foreshadowed Samsung and LG's decision to shut down LCD production lines Taiwan, China made large investments from 2003 to 2009, and LCD shipments accounted for 40% of the global market share; In Chinese Mainland, the panel manufacturers such as BOE and TCL have continuously invested in the new generation LCD production line, accounting for more than South Korea in 2017.
Since the beginning of 2020, the industry has heard that Samsung display and LG display have shut down their LCD production lines. According to industry analysis, the reason why Korean enterprises quit LCD is that on the one hand, the LCD business of the two companies suffered losses due to the downward cycle of the panel in 2019, and on the other hand, Korean enterprises were squeezed by the LCD production lines continuously opened in Chinese Mainland, leaving few dividends for the first mover advantage, and instead focused on the OLED panel.
OLED can be called the technology that brought the second change to the panel industry in South Korea. This technology was first developed in Japan, but at that time, the technology was immature, difficult to mass produce and did not receive attention Samsung and LG took a fancy to the advantages of OLED panel, such as self illumination, high contrast and strong color rendering, and invested a lot of money in research and development
Samsung's history of investing in OLED research and development can be traced back to 2001. After numerous failures, Samsung finally successfully developed the world's super large 6.5-inch flexible OLED panel in 2009; In 2014, OLED panels were applied to displays and wearable devices; In 2017, full screen OLEDs were mass produced and 9.1-inch flexible OLED panels were developed. In the same year, apple iPhone X fully adopts Samsung OLED panels, making OLEDs gradually become the mainstream of smart phone screens. This year, Samsung accounted for more than 95% of the global mobile phone OLED panel market share. Today, Samsung display also firmly grasp the mobile OLED panel market.
LG is dominating the OLED TV market. After its mass production of the first 55 inch OLED panel in 2012, LG is a blockbuster. At present, its large-size panel is still the first choice of many OLED TV manufacturers.
It can be said that South Korea's panel industry, led by Samsung display and LG display, has been in the leading position in the OLED panel industry and has more experience in mass production, yield and cost
However, this move does not mean that South Korea has to take a heavy blow to the production of polyimide panels in July 2019, which does not mean that Japan has to take a heavy blow to the production of polyimide panels. At the same time, the rise of Chinese Mainland manufacturers such as BOE and vicino has also brought pressure to the Korean panel industry. In order to maintain the technology gap with competitors in Chinese Mainland in the field of OLED panels, the Korean display industry recently even suggested that the Korean government designate the next generation display technologies, such as OLED and qd-oled, as national strategic technologies, and provide them with tax incentives and investment support.
*Conclusion: * although the Korean panel industry is about to bid farewell to the LCD market, it is still booming in the OLED market. The role of Samsung display and LG display in promoting the development of Korean and even global panel industry can not be underestimated. In the future, with the rise of more panel manufacturers in Chinese Mainland, it can be expected that the competition will be more fierce.