Korean Media: Another Field on the Rise — "China Will Surpass South Korea Within Three Years!"
On April 12, South Korean media outlet Business Korea published an article stating that forecasts suggest South Korea’s leadership in the technologically advanced OLED segment of commercially available displays may be overtaken by China as early as 2029.
As a mainstream product, LCD has already lost its top position to China.
If South Korea loses its leading edge in the OLED sector, it would mean China surpasses South Korea in two out of the three major fields: semiconductors, rechargeable batteries, and displays.
At the beginning of the 2010s, South Korea nearly monopolized the global OLED market. However, due to aggressive competition from Chinese companies such as BOE, by 2024, South Korea’s market share had declined to 66%.
Market research firm Counterpoint Research predicts that with the rapid growth of China’s OLED production capacity, China’s OLED output could surpass South Korea starting in 2029.
According to Counterpoint, global display production capacity is expected to grow by approximately 2% this year. However, by 2030, LCD is projected to account for around 90% of total capacity. Counterpoint also forecasts that between 2025 and 2030, global OLED production capacity will grow at an average annual rate of 5%, significantly outpacing the concurrent 2% annual growth rate of LCD.
Counterpoint Research explained: “Although OLED penetration is steadily increasing—especially in mobile and IT devices—the shift toward OLED in large-sized displays, including televisions, will proceed relatively slowly. The overall production capacity structure is likely to remain centered around LCD.”
China’s OLED production capacity has historically been lower than South Korea’s, but it is expected to grow rapidly based on continuous new investments and active expansion, surpassing South Korea by 2029.
Counterpoint Research analyzed: “While South Korea possesses OLED production capabilities for mobile devices, IT products, and televisions, its new expansion investments are far more cautious compared to China’s. As a result, South Korea’s OLED market share will begin to be overtaken by China starting in 2029, albeit by a narrow margin. Although South Korea currently leads in OLED technological strength, if it is surpassed by China in the same way it was in LCD, sheer technological competitiveness alone will not be sufficient to maintain its advantage. To preserve its dominance in OLED technology, South Korean firms must continue investing in R&D and make timely capital investments.”
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1862229620198400/
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