IHS Sees Spending Rising This Year on Flat-Panel Display Production Equipment

Factory spending this year on flat-panel display production equipment will reach its highest level since 2011, IHS said in a Tuesday report. The “rush” among South Korea manufacturers to expand capacity of flexible active-matrix OLED panels for smartphones is helping drive the trend, IHS said. Another growth driver is the move among Chinese panel makers to build new factories “to produce a varied portfolio of flat panel display technologies and panel sizes,” it said. IHS forecasts flat-panel display equipment spending will reach $11.2 billion in 2016 and $11.6 billion in 2017, nearly four times the amount spent in 2012, it said. Now that Samsung Display has made rigid AMOLED displays “highly cost competitive” with LCDs, “many leading smartphone brands are showing strong interest in adopting the technology,” IHS said. Although plastic-based flexible AMOLEDs are still more expensive than rigid AMOLED displays, “they offer the extra benefits of being more rugged, thinner and lighter than glass based panels,” it said. “Combined with better image quality and design flexibility, both glass and plastic based AMOLED displays are expected to rapidly gain market share in the high-end smartphone market.”