Display Search announced that the OLED (Organic Light-Emitting Diode) TV panel market in Korea is expected to grow to around $3 billion in 2015. LG Display officials announced that "[they] will continue to secure new sources of competitiveness to set up entry barriers that [their] competitors will not be able to break through."

We have identified 6 major reasons why we think LG will be the dominant player in the global TV market.

1. LG Display announced its plan to invest 706.3 billion KRW (approx. $655 million USD) to add a new production line, called "M2" in Paju, Korea. It will have a production capacity of 26,000 units per month. 
   
2. In the first half of 2014, LG Display will undergo mass production to dominate the market - and that's just a part of the overall plan. They aim to take over the market over the next several years; they have already revealed the 55-inch OLED TV Panel last month and have been supplying the panels to LG Electronics.
   
3. LG Display has already been leading the market with cutting-edge OLED products, such as curved and Ultra High Definition displays that it introduced to both rivals and consumers at the Consumer Electronics Show last month. 

   

4. OLED panels do not require backlighting - this is a different feature compared to the LCD displays, and enables manufacturers to make slimmer displays while improving energy efficiency. 
   
5. LG developed the WRGB OLED technology to accelerate commercialization. Previously they had a significant delay in the commercialization of larger displays due to slower production. (OLED panels are currently being used for smartphones and other smaller devices.)

   

6. Also, as we wrote previously, they have the smart TV alliance. There are three reasons why this will be of an advantage to LG:

   a. Currently, the TV market is fragmented with LG Smart TVs, Google TV and Samsung. The Smart TV Alliance will fix this fragmented market by seeking the attention from talented developers and raising opportunity for television makers and application developers.

   b. The Smart TV Alliance will assist app developers to create new, platform-independent services by developing a non-proprietary ecosystem. 

   c. The alliance gives consumers the best quality of product, because it will make it easy for Smart TV app developers to create exciting new services that is compatible with the connected TVs of each member that is in the alliance. Developers will be able to make use of upgraded Javascript, HTML5, 3D video, CSS3 specifications, MPEG-DASH Support, a common new emulator, advanced debug tools, a new application compliance checking tool and updated digital rights management.

Why not Samsung? Well, Samsung is currently working outside of the Smart TV Alliance. This year will see formations of new business alliances and major investments in OLEDs and other technology by LG as mentioned in my previous article. In our previous article, we investigated the likelihood of LG and Samsung ‘partnering up’.

Let's not forget that LG invested 19 billion USD on R&D. That's about 20 trillion KRW - of which 14 trillion will be used for expanding factory lines. In 2012 they spent about 11.8 trillion. It will be interesting to see how LG will compete with Sony! Watch this space!

Related Articles:

• [Part I] On the LG Investment: 3 major reasons why LG loves their Smart TV Alliance
• [Part II] On the LG Investment: what about Samsung?
• How will LG spend its 19 billion USD investment?
• TV Wars at CES 2013 – And the Winner is…Sony

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