Samsung Makes New OLED Investment to Meet Apple Demand

Samsung has increased its investment in OLED manufacturing to solidify its production capacity. The company wants to upgrade its small and medium-sized OLED production line in Asan, South Korea. This is mainly in response to panel demand from Apple, its key client.

Samsung aims to expand its Asan OLED production line

According to a report from ZDNet Korea, Samsung Display has recently begun supplementary investment in its Asan A4-2 production line. This line makes sixth-generation small- and medium-sized OLED panels, mainly used in smartphones. The total investment is reportedly between 300 billion and 400 billion won

Samsung has already started placing orders for new equipment. Last month, for system sealing work, Shinsung E&G signed a contract with Samsung C&T. The project will run until March next year. With the new investment, the company aims to improve its backplane technologies. This includes color filter-on-encapsulation (CoE) and next-generation low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO).

For the uninitiated, CoE technology replaces the conventional polarizer layer with a color filter. As such, displays become thinner and more power-efficient while improving color quality. On the other hand, LTPO combines low-temperature polycrystalline silicon with oxide materials. This helps reduce power leakage and improve device power efficiency.

Industry watchers say the supplementary investment will help Samsung to meet panel demand for upcoming Apple devices. The Cupertino giant may debut its first foldable iPhone in the second half of the year. The phone could use CoE-based OLED panels. Meanwhile, future iPhone models, including a next-generation slimmer iPhone Air, could also adopt these advanced display technologies.

Basically, Samsung Display aims to secure long-term supply agreements with Apple. Meanwhile, the company is gearing up to introduce new QD-OLED panels in 24-inch and 39-inch sizes next year. The former could be useful for compact, competitive gaming monitors, while the latter could play a key role in the ultrawide display segment.