LG Display begins mass production of 48″ OLED panels in China

LG Display’s new OLED factory in China will supply the panels for the 48″ OLED TVs that will be released from this month. Mass production will be set up this month. Production should therefore increase significantly in the second half of this year.

LG Display confirms to Business Korea that the panels for the 48-inch OLED TVs come from the factory in China. Until now, that was not certain, because although the factory in Guangzhou was already opened last year, production was subsequently halted again. This was first due to low yields and then to the corona pandemic.

Currently, production is not yet in full swing, but according to Business Korea, LG says mass production will start this month. LG announced last week that its 48-inch OLED TV will be released in June. The larger OLED TVs from the new CX series came out earlier this year. The panels for the larger models are also being produced in LG Display factories in South Korea made.

LG Display’s new production facility is important for the production of 48″ OLED panels. The manufacturer uses a multi-model glass method, which makes it possible to cut different panel sizes from plates. For example, LG Display can manufacture panels for 77″- and 48″ TVs from the same plates.

If LG Display can scale up the production of OLED panels in its Chinese factory, it will lead to a significant growth in the deliveries of OLED panels for TVs worldwide. If LG succeeds in making 60,000 plates per month in the factory, that is almost doubling the capacity. LG Display currently produces 70,000 panels per month at its South Korean factory in Paju.

The factory in China is a so-called 8.5G fab, where OLED panels are obtained from a glass substrate of 2200x2500mm. LG also has an 8.5G fab in Paju and is working on a 10.5G fab there, making 2940x3370mm plates. That 10.5G factory should be operational by mid-2022.

LG OLED48CX6LB