According to south Korean media TheElec reports on November 23, Indian and Chinese companies have expressed interest in buying LCD equipment from Samsung Display’s L8-1 LCD production line which is now-discontinued.
The L8-1 production line was used by Samsung Electronics to produce panels for TVS and IT products, but it was suspended in the first quarter of this year. Samsung Display had previously said it would exit the LCD business.
The company has started bidding for LCD production equipment for the line. There is no clear preference between the Indian and Chinese bidders. However, they said Indian companies were likely to be more aggressive in buying equipment because the RBI was planning to promote the country’s LCD industry.
The Indian government plans to invest $20 billion in the LCD project, DigiTimes reported in May. And Reports at the time said precise details of the policy would be announced in six months. The Indian government wants to build a 6 generation (1500x1850mm) line for smartphones and 8.5 generation (2200x2500mm) line for other products, the company said. LCD devices of Samsung Display’s L8-1 production line are used for 8.5 generation substrates.
Thanks to active efforts by Chinese companies such as BOE and CSOT, China now dominates the LCD industry. Meanwhile, India has not yet made any meaningful headway in LCDS because of a lack of infrastructure to support the industry, such as ready-made electricity and water. However, local LCD demand is forecast to grow from $5.4 billion today to $18.9 billion by 2025, according to the Mobile and Electronics Association of India forecast.
Samsung Display’s LCD equipment sales may not be completed until next year, the sources said. Meanwhile, the company operates only one LCD line, L8-2, at its
Asan plant in South Korea. Samsung Electronics originally planned to end its LCD business last year, but has been expanding production in line with the demand of its TV business. So the exit deadline has been postponed to 2022.
Samsung Display aims to focus on quantum dot (QD) displays such as QD-OLED panels instead of LCDS. Before then, some other lines such as L7-1 and L7-2, had previously ceased operations in 2016 and the first quarter of this year respectively. Since then, the L7-1 has been renamed A4-1 and converted to the Gen 6 OLED family. The company is currently converting the L7-2 to another Gen 6 OLED line, A4E(A4 extension).
L8-1 is the Gen 8.5 line, which was discontinued in the first quarter of this year. According to the Financial Supervisory Service’s electronic bulletin system, YMC signed a 64.7 billion KWR contract with Samsung Display. The contract expires on May 31 next year.
The guarantee of l8-1′s spare space is interpreted as the implementation of the contract signed in July this year. The equipment is expected to be dismantled in the next few months. The dismantled equipment is being kept by Samsung C&T Corporation for the time being, and the equipment sales in question include Chinese and Indian companies. And L8-2 is currently manufacturing LCD panels.
Meanwhile, Samsung Display sold its other Gen 8.5 LCD production line in Suzhou, China, to CSOT In March.
Post time: Nov-29-2021