South Korean media: "China dominates LCD, but OLED remains Korea's!"

On April 17, South Korea's Asia Economic newspaper published an article stating, "LCD belongs to China, OLED belongs to Korea." This phrase encapsulates the trend in the display industry over the past 20 years. In the era of LCD, China emerged as the winner. Leveraging its massive production capacity, Chinese companies defeated their South Korean and Japanese counterparts in price competition, shifting the global center of the once-dominant LCD industry to China.

However, the situation is somewhat different when it comes to OLED.

Recently, a notable development has drawn industry attention. Chinese electronics company TCL began sourcing panels from LG Display for its first OLED monitor launch. The “32X3A OLED Monitor” released by TCL uses OLED panels manufactured by LG Display. This marks the first time a Chinese enterprise has chosen a South Korean panel supplier to produce OLED products.

On the surface, this may seem like a simple component transaction. However, deeper analysis of the industry structure reveals profound implications—it symbolizes where technological leadership lies in the display sector.

TCL is a global company, competing with Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics in the global TV market. More importantly, TCL owns a panel subsidiary, CSOT (China Star Optoelectronics Technology). In other words, TCL is a company capable of producing panels independently.

Yet, despite this capability, they chose LG Display’s OLED panels instead of those from their own subsidiary. What does this mean?

The answer is straightforward: at least for now, South Korean companies still lead in high-end OLED technology.

Over the past decade or so, the landscape of the display industry has undergone dramatic changes. In the past, the global LCD market was dominated by South Korean and Japanese firms—Samsung Display, LG Display, Sharp, Panasonic, and others were all leading players.

But as China began large-scale investments, the situation shifted rapidly. Companies like BOE and CSOT successively built LCD factories. With surging output, prices plummeted, and profits collapsed. Eventually, South Korean firms were forced out of the LCD market or drastically reduced production.

Today, China holds a dominant position in the LCD market. Thus, one era in the display industry has come to an end.

Yet OLED tells a completely different story. OLED technology poses far higher barriers than LCD. The panel structure itself is highly complex, and yield control presents significant challenges. Especially in the premium segment, where both high resolution and high refresh rates are required, this technological gap becomes even more pronounced.

Ultimately, Chinese companies have chosen South Korean panels to produce high-end OLED products—an outcome that reflects the current balance of power in the industry.

Even more intriguingly, the focus of the OLED market is shifting from televisions to monitors. Samsung Display has established strong competitiveness in smartphone OLED, while LG Display leads in large-size TV OLED panels. Now, the gaming monitor market is booming.

The market is growing rapidly. According to market research firm IDC, China’s OLED monitor sales surged from 30,000 units in 2023 to 570,000 units in 2024. Sales revenue also jumped from $29 million in the same period to $328 million—a more than tenfold increase. Although still in its early stages, the market shows enormous growth potential.

Naturally, Chinese companies will not remain passive. BOE and CSOT are accelerating their investments in OLED. Throughout history, technological gaps in the display industry have never been permanent.

But the current reality is clear: China won in the LCD era, yet Korea still leads in the OLED era.

Looking back across the history of the tech industry, dominance has always shifted—just as the industrial center moved from Japan to Korea, and then from Korea to China.

It remains unknown what the post-OLED era will look like, or which country will occupy the central stage.

Yet one thing is certain—for now: South Korean enterprises still stand at the pinnacle of technological advancement in the display industry.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/1862703123981322/

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.