LG Display Entering ‘Virtuous Cycle’ in Large-Screen OLED Panels, Says CFO

LG Display thinks it’s entering a “virtuous cycle” in OLED panels for large-screen TVs, said Chief Financial Officer Don Kim on an earnings call last week. In Q2, LG Display had improvements in yield, productivity and increasing shipments in large-size OLED panels, Kim said, without offering specifics. “With higher consumer awareness for OLED TV and based on the visibility and acceptance we have gained,” LG Display also is taking feelers from an expanding base of possible new OLED TV customers, he said. “We are really in the stage of very specific and detailed collaboration talks at this point,” Kim said. “Now, please understand I won’t be able to cite a specific number of customers, but they are global customers from Japan, China and Europe. We are currently in specific collaborations with these companies.” Kim also predicted LG Display will show “a very steady improvement in profitability” in large-screen OLED panels the rest of the year. But LG Display’s large-screen OLED business is still operating at a loss, and Kim wouldn’t be pinned down in Q&A when it might begin showing a profit. “We will focus on building on the economy of scale” in large-screen OLED panel production, he said. That will “work as an advantage and merit on our side,” he said. “So starting next year in full swing, we will be expanding the volume and we plan to, thereby, enhance the profitability. Your question specifically was about when we will turn a profit, in terms of the operating income, the operating profit. It’s very cautious for me to give you a specific number, but what is very clear is that there will be profitability improvement.” At LG Display, though large-screen OLED panels are only 2 percent of the units in the “TV segment,” they soon will generate 10 percent of the revenue, he said.