On September 23rd, Bac Ninh Province in Vietnam signed an investment memorandum of understanding with Samsung Display for $1.8 billion (approximately RMB 12.7 billion).
Last year, Samsung invested in the construction of an 8.6th-generation OLED panel production line in South Korea.
As a downstream supporting project, Samsung will now build a production base for IT and automotive OLED modules downstream of the 8.6th-generation OLED panel in Vietnam.
Currently, the main production line for global OLED panels is the 6th generation.
Chinese and South Korean companies are now competing in the production of 8.6th-generation OLED panel lines.
BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. and Visionox are also building 8.6th-generation OLED panel production lines in Chengdu and Hefei, respectively.
Samsung's new investment in Vietnam will lead to competition between South Korea and Vietnam's industrial chains with China's industrial chain.
Samsung continues its investment strategy in Vietnam, as stated by Omdia's Chief Analyst Wu Rongbing, who said that Samsung has continued its strategy of investing in Vietnam.
China's mainland OLED display industry chain is a follower, lagging behind Samsung in terms of quality and yield rate as well as control over the supply chain, but it is already on par with Samsung in terms of market size and product innovation.
Yang Shucheng, Secretary-General of the China-India-Vietnam Electronics (Mobile Phone) Enterprise Association, believes that Samsung is increasing its investment in Vietnam, hoping to form a more complete industrial chain there.
On September 12th, it was reported that Samsung Display is cooperating with Bac Ninh Province in Vietnam to promote a new project in Vietnam, which at the time only mentioned the IT OLED modules downstream of the 8.6th-generation OLED panel.
Yang Shucheng said that with the signing of this investment memorandum of understanding, Samsung Display's new project in Vietnam is expected to include plans for producing automotive OLED modules in the future.
Public information shows that since Samsung Display entered Bac Ninh Province in Vietnam in 2014, it has invested $6.5 billion in the province.
With this new investment of $1.8 billion, the total investment will increase to $8.3 billion (approximately RMB 58.5 billion).
Samsung Display's Bac Ninh factory mainly produces medium and small OLED display modules, supplying to Samsung Electronics and Apple, and also built a foldable panel production line in 2022.
Currently, Vietnam is the main production base for Samsung Electronics and its subsidiary Samsung Display in Asia.
Samsung Electronics has production companies in Bac Ninh, Taiyuan, and a comprehensive home appliance factory in Ho Chi Minh City.
According to Qichacha, Samsung still has bases in Tianjin and Dongguan, China.
Tianjin Samsung View Mobile Co., Ltd.'s business scope includes the development, design, production, processing, repair, and sale of mobile communication display devices, other electronic product display devices, and related products, as well as providing related technical consulting services.
Dongguan Samsung View Co., Ltd.'s business scope includes the production and sale of new display devices (flat panel displays and screens) and new flat panel display devices, OLED flat panel displays, etc.
In the field of medium-sized OLED, China and South Korea are competing.
Samsung in South Korea, BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd., and Visionox in Chengdu and Hefei, China, are all building 8.6th-generation OLED production lines for medium-sized IT and automotive applications, producing high-value-added OLED panels.
BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. stated in an investor relations event on August 28th that the OLED panel shipment target for 2024 is still 160 million pieces, and to achieve profitability, it is necessary to further focus on product customer layout and high-end products.
BOE Technology Group Co., Ltd. is resolute in its investment in the 8.6th-generation OLED production line, relying on its own technical capabilities and operational efficiency to achieve a virtuous cycle of operations.
Subsequently, it will promote the development of flexible OLED display business in the automotive field.
The application of OLED in high-end IT products has become a trend.
On August 29th, Visionox signed an investment agreement in Hefei to build an 8.6th-generation OLED production line, with a total investment of 55 billion yuan.
Visionox said that the global OLED market size is steadily expanding, continuously penetrating from mobile phones to tablets, laptops, automotive, and other fields.
Omdia estimates that from 2023 to 2028, the compound annual growth rate of OLED panel shipments for IT products will be 56%, and the compound annual growth rate of OLED panel shipments for automotive displays will be 49%.
OLED will further increase its share in the medium-sized incremental market.
As Samsung Display transferred its Suzhou 8.5th-generation liquid crystal panel production line to TCL China Star in 2020, Samsung Display has focused its panel business on the OLED field.
Faced with the situation where mainland Chinese companies dominate the global liquid crystal panel market and expand in the OLED panel field, Samsung intends to increase its investment in medium-sized OLED and widen the gap with Chinese companies in the OLED field.
