Samsung Ditches LCD Business for QD Screens | TechTree.com

Samsung Ditches LCD Business for QD Screens

The Korean tech giant said it would be fulfilling orders only till the end of 2020 before shutting down LCD panels

 

Samsung Display, the largest producer of liquid crystal display (LCD) panels for multiple brands across the world has announced that it would be getting out of this business to focus instead on production of quantum dot (QD) screens that finds utility in the OLED televisions, published media reports say.

Wire agency Reuters quoted a spokesperson of the company to report that the company would close down both its LCD production lines in South Korea as well as two others in China amidst a glut in the market of such screens and a sharply declining offtake as TV makers go after OLED screens instead.

Samsung’s announcement comes in the wake of arch rival LG’s decision to go of the LCD map focusing instead on OLED in the future using QD technology. In the recent past, research reports had said that Chinese makers were ramping up LCD screen output even though demand was weakening globally.

The company however clarified that orders made before the end of the year would be fulfilled post which their effort would be to turn around one of the Korean units into a production base for self-illuminating QD screens, for which it had announced a plan of $11 billion worth of investments last year.

While the original QD LCD tech from Samsung relied on LED backlights behind a filter, by the end of last year, the company had shifted to QD tech that relies on indium phosphide instead of toxic cadmium, thus enhancing the panel’s life to a million hours.

The move from LCD to OLED makes sense for Samsung in the long run though one wonders how the move will impact the company’s television making arm Samsung Electronics which is not only the world’s largest TV maker but also a massive consumer of LCD panels. Maybe, this is where cheaper Chinese LCD panels would come in handy!


TAGS: Gear, LCD, LED, Panel, QD, Quantum Dots, Samsung, Samsung display

 
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