Samsung, the dominant player of flexible OLED, is expected to add new facilities in Tangjeong this year.

“Samsung Display is expected to add new facilities at the end of this year to meet the growing demand. The official announcement is predicted to be made after the presidential election in May,” Chung Won-seok, an analyst at HI Investment and Securities said at Display TechSalon held in Seoul. 

“(To meet the demand) Samsung Display needs to either shift its current LCD assembly line into flexible OLED or it should add new facilities. But, the company will find it hard to get rid of the LCD assembly lines because of the LCD TV demand," Chung said.

Samsung Display’s principal engineer Kim Tae-woong confirmed Chung’s remarks to The Korea Herald after the conference, saying, “It is a natural step.”

Samsung’s dominance in small flexible OLED is expected to last for the next few years because other rivals require a significant period off time to enter the market due to economy of scale and technology difficulty, according to HI Investment & Securities.

When Apple’s new iPhone, which is to be unveiled in the second half, uses flexible OLED, the demand for flexible OLED will grow around 88 percent on an annual average from 2017 to 2020. 

By Shin Ji-hye (shinjh@heraldcorp.com)