DATE: AUG 02 2024 / SOURCE: YICAI
(Yicai) Aug. 2 -- LG Display has chosen TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology as the preferred bidder for the South Korean firm's factories in Guangzhou that make 8.5-generation liquid crystal displays, as Korean companies further abandon the LCD television screen market.
The liquid crystal display panel unit of TCL Technology Group bid for 70 percent of LG Display China, which turns out large TV screens, and all of module producer LG Display Guangzhou, the Shenzhen-based firm said yesterday after receiving a letter naming it as the preferred bidder. The acquisitions would be financed with its own or raised funds, the firm added.
With LCD TV panel market having become highly saturated, Korean firms are focusing on more advanced and profitable display technologies such as organic light emitting diode. Their exit will likely lead to further consolidation, with Chinese producers such as BOE Display Technology and TCL gaining even more market share.
The sales would mark the complete withdrawal from the LCD TV panel market of South Korean producers, Huang Dan, senior research manager at market researcher AVC Revo, told Yicai.
TCL CSOT has the second-largest share of the global LCD TV panel market, according to Huang. The acquisition of LG Display’s plants would narrow the gap with the market leader, he said.
If TCL CSOT buys them, combined with the second stage of its t9 project going live, the boost to its LCD output would likely swell its global market share by 5.5 percentage points to 25.2 percent by next year from this year, market research firm Sigmaintell forecast. It would still rank second behind BOE Display Technology, but the gap would narrow to 2.2 points from 7 points.
LG Display will retain some of 8.5-gen LCD panel production lines in South Korea, primarily to meet the demand for notebook computers and monitors, and will focus on the OLED sector in the future, said Zhang Hong, deputy general manager of Sigmaintell's large-size business unit.
LG Display China had a net profit of CNY602 million (USD83.1 million) last year on revenue of CNY6.3 billion (USD873.5 million). LG Display Guangzhou’s net profit was CNY536 million and its revenue was CNY11.9 billion (USD1.6 billion).