LG Display said on Thursday it will invest in a new OLED lighting panel manufacturing facility. The planned facility will be the first 5th generation (1000 x 1200mm) OLED lighting panel manufacturing plant in the world and it will be located in the South Korean city of Gumi.
LG Display also said in a statement the new plant will begin mass production to start in first half of 2017. The initial input capacity at the plant will be 15,000 glass substrates per month. The monthly input capacity could be gradually ramped up depending on the market situation.
LG Display expects the increased production with the new facility to give the company economies-of-scale. This will help the company obtain significant price competitiveness. In addition, the accumulated OLED display technical know-how will allow LG Display to considerably enhance OLED lighting product quality.
The 5th generation facility will give the company panel size flexibility. With the larger glass substrate, LG Display will be able to produce a wide range of different size lighting panels, including giant ones. Further, this ability to make giant panels will better enable the company to penetrate the general lighting market.
The investment comes as the firm seeks to find more applications for the next-generation panel technology beyond televisions and mobile devices.
According to Market researcher UBI Research, the OLED light market will grow rapidly US$ 135 million in 2016 to US$ 1.6 billion in 2020.
