Korean Panel Makers to ‘Halt’ AMOLED Plant Expansion, While Chinese Push On, Says IHS

After two years of “unprecedented capacity expansion,” South Korean panel makers in 2018 will “essentially halt” new active-matrix OLED panel factory construction for smartphones, but their Chinese rivals are “continuing to build new factories as fast as they can,” said IHS in a Monday report. As the smartphone market matures, there’s growing “concern” that smartphone sales “may not continue to increase at rates as high as previously hoped for,” it said. One reason is that with display and smartphone performance specifications “already excellent,” the phone replacement cycle is longer, it said. There also are worries that adoption of high-end flexible AMOLED panels “in a wider range of models is being restricted by high prices” that are twice those of comparably featured LCD panels, it said. However, Chinese panel makers “are still pushing ahead with their own aggressive new AMOLED factory plans, at least for now,” said IHS. Chinese makers “are not immune to challenges in the smartphone and flexible AMOLED market, and in most cases, they have not yet proven their ability to manufacture premium flexible AMOLED panels at high volume,” it said. But with strong financial backing from local governments, “most projects are still moving forward as planned, and will likely continue until credit begins to tighten,” it said.