South Korean tech firm Samsung Electronics Co. said Wednesday that it is considering spinning off its liquid-crystal display business, a move seen as aiming to beef up its competitiveness.

“The company is mulling spinning off the LCD business, but details have not been decided,” Samsung Electronics said in a regulatory filing.

Analysts said that the move seemed to come as its LCD business suffered from losses for the fourth consecutive quarter in the final quarter of last year amid industry-wide slumps.

Market watchers said that the potential spin-off is raising the chance it may merge with Samsung Electronics’ organic light-emitting diode display-making unit Samsung Mobile Display.

Samsung Mobile Display is a 50-50 percent joint venture with Samsung Electronics and its affiliate Samsung SDI Co. The company mainly produces OLED displays for mobile devices such as smartphones.

Previously, market watchers expected Samsung Electronics to absorb Samsung Mobile Display as one of options to improve business synergy, but Wednesday’s filing backs up a possibility that its LCD business is likely to merge with Samsung Mobile Display, according to analysts.

“If Samsung Mobile Display’s mainstay business is combined with the LCD business, synergy in the display panel business is likely to increase,” said Koo Ja-woo, an analyst at Kyobo Securities Co., in a report. (Yonhap News)