Samsung Display
Overview
Samsung Display Co., Ltd. (삼성디스플레이) is a display panel manufacturing company affiliated with the Samsung Group. It was launched in 2012 through the merger of Samsung Electronics' LCD business division and Samsung Mobile Display (SMD). It produces small- and medium-sized OLEDs for smartphones and large panels for TVs and monitors, and in particular maintains the world's largest market share in the active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) market. Its headquarters is located in Yongin, Gyeonggi Province, and it has major production bases in Asan and Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province.
Main Content
Establishment Background and History
The roots of Samsung Display trace back to the TFT-LCD business team within Samsung Electronics' semiconductor division in 1991. After the integration of the LCD businesses of Samsung Electronics and Samsung Electron Devices in 1995, Samsung Display was officially launched in July 2012 when the LCD division, spun off from Samsung Electronics, merged with Samsung Mobile Display. Since then, major investments followed, including the Suzhou LCD line in China in 2013 and the A3 line in Asan, South Chungcheong Province, in 2016. In 2020, it completely withdrew from the LCD business and declared a transition to quantum dot (QD) displays, changing the paradigm for large panels.
Major Business Areas
Samsung Display's core business is divided largely into three areas.
1. Small- and medium-sized OLED: It produces flexible and rigid OLED panels for smartphones, smartwatches, tablets, and laptops. It supplies key panels for Apple iPhone and Samsung Galaxy series, and leads flexible OLED and UTG (Ultra-Thin Glass) technology for foldables.
2. Large displays: It produces TV and monitor panels using QD-OLED technology. Since withdrawing from the LCD business in 2020, it has been nurturing QD-OLED as a next-generation growth engine and supplies it to Sony, Dell, Samsung Electronics, and others.
3. Automotive and IT displays: In line with the spread of electric vehicles and autonomous driving vehicles, it is targeting new form factor markets such as automotive OLED and foldable laptop panels.
Technological Competitiveness
Samsung Display holds unrivaled patents in LTPS (Low-Temperature Poly-Silicon) backplane technology, encapsulation technology, foldable hinge and UTG technology, and more. In particular, it succeeded in mass-producing foldable panels for the first time in the world, effectively pioneering the related market, and QD-OLED is regarded as a technology that maximizes color reproduction and viewing angles by combining a quantum dot color conversion layer with a blue OLED light source.
Production Bases
Domestically, it produces small- and medium-sized OLEDs at the Asan Campus (A1–A4 lines) and Cheonan Campus in South Chungcheong Province, while large QD-OLED panels are produced at the Asan Q1 line. Overseas, it has production bases in Suzhou, China (small- and medium-sized), Bac Ninh and Thai Nguyen, Vietnam (module assembly), and Noida, India (mobile modules). Since 2023, it has been expanding production capacity through additional investment in Vietnam.
Recent Trends
In 2024–2025, Samsung Display is undergoing the following changes. First, investment in an 8th-generation OLED line for IT has begun in earnest. It is investing about KRW 4.1 trillion in the Asan 8.6-generation IT OLED line (G8.6) announced in 2023, aiming for mass production in 2026, and seeks to preempt the tablet and laptop panel market. Second, supply of OLEDs for Apple iPad Pro began in earnest in 2024, increasing small- and medium-sized OLED sales. Third, expansion of production capacity and yield improvement for large QD-OLED panels are underway, and QD-OLED shipments for monitors have surged. Fourth, it has begun developing panels for XR devices in the microdisplay (OLEDoS) field, moving to respond to next-generation devices such as Apple Vision Pro. Fifth, as competition with China's BOE, Visionox, and others intensifies, patent disputes and price competition have emerged as issues, and Samsung Display is strengthening its differentiation strategy centered on technological super-gaps and high-value-added products. In addition, in 2025, in response to slowing growth in the foldable market, it is preparing to commercialize new form factor technologies such as rollable and slidable.
Related Topics
- [[Samsung Electronics]]
- [[OLED]]
- [[QD-OLED]]
- [[Foldable phone]]
- [[LG Display]]