According to research analysts at IHS Markit, the efforts of Chinese manufacturers in OLED technologies could take a sizeable chunk out of the market over the next 5 years. Specifically, it is predicted that by 2022 the share of that market taken by Chinese companies is expected to be at around 35 percent, up from this year’s 7 percent. Meanwhile, Korean manufacturers in that same time frame are expected to see market share drop to around 63 percent from 91 percent in 2017. Samsung, more directly, is expected to lose 35 percent of its market share in OLEDs during that five year period. The news follows expectations that the world’s capacity to create OLEDs will grow by 260 percent over the same time frame – creating around 343 million square feet of RBG organic LEDs. That’s as compared to this year’s 95 million square feet.
IHS Markit, in the meantime, points to heavy investment on the part of Chinese companies into OLED technologies and production of OLED displays for use in mobile devices. Three companies, in particular, are expected to make up the bulk of the country’s OLED production in 2022, which it predicts will account for 26 percent of the overall market for OLEDs in that year. Those include BOE, Tianma, and China Star, which the analysts say will account for as much as 15 percent, 6 percent, and 5 percent of the market, respectively. It is worth noting, however, that IHS Markit does not predict that the majority of the new production being created by the Chinese manufacturers is expected to rival Samsung or LG. Instead, the panels are predicted be used in devices manufactured by local companies such as Huawei, Oppo, Xiaomi, and Vivo. That’s largely down to the head start LG and Samsung have in developing, creating, and marketing OLED panels, while the Chinese manufacturers have quite a bit of catching up to do.
With that said, while the predictions of the analysts at IHS Markit certainly don’t look great for Samsung or LG, by any means, the bulk of Samsung’s income currently comes from its chipset divisions. So the expected shift in market share for OLED panels will probably not impact the company too profoundly. Meanwhile, LG is also heavily diversified in electronics and technology – as well as only accounting for a much smaller portion of the OLED market. As such, it may be impossible to gauge how the changeup would impact LG, but it isn’t likely to be very threatening to the company.