Samsung Display Makes Full-Scale Entry into Micro LED… Changing the Ecosystem
Samsung Display held its first employee communication event, Detox (D- Talks), since President Lee Chung took office. At this event, President Lee clarified the future strategic direction of Samsung Display and expressed his strong will to sustainably expand global competitiveness through securing ultra-differentiated technologies. In particular, he emphasized the need for business diversification beyond the conventional OLED-centered structure in a situation where the display industry is rapidly undergoing a transition, and clearly mentioned the technological advancement and product expansion in the Micro LED field as part of such diversification.
President Lee Chung’s statement is more than a simple statement of direction; it can be taken as a declaration that Samsung Display will secure a competitive advantage in panels, materials, and processes in general, rather than simply supplying backplanes for the Micro LED business. This is interpreted as a signal that the Micro LED TV business, which has been led by Samsung Electronics, may break away from its focus on set manufacturing and expand into the overall display sector.
Samsung Electronics has been leading the Micro LED industry ecosystem domestically, but in terms of actual device supply and panel production, it has had to work with partner companies in Taiwan and China. (Taiwan) and Sanan Optoelectronics (China), and backplane drive technology cooperation with AUO (Taiwan) and BOE (China), reflecting the situation where Korea’s core components and materials ecosystem has not been fully internalized. While such cooperation has the advantage of global technology integration, it has been a disappointing structure in terms of technological independence of the domestic Micro LED industry and the establishment of an independent ecosystem.
With Samsung Display’s full-scale expansion of technology investment and clarification of its position on applying ultra-differentiated technology to Micro LEDs, the Korean ecosystem is expected to reach a qualitatively different turning point. Samsung Display already possesses the world’s best TFE (thin film encapsulation), LTPO, low power design, and backplane drive technologies for OLEDs, and these technologies can be applied to driving high resolution, improving yield, and ensuring transfer accuracy of Micro LED devices. In particular, highly integrated drive circuit design, ensuring low current drive characteristics, and process automation are areas of relative advantage for Samsung Display, which is based on OLED technology.
Beyond simple technological sophistication, Samsung Display’s participation may serve as a signal to promote stronger cooperation with Korean material, component, and equipment manufacturers. This could serve as a foundation for Samsung Electronics to simultaneously strengthen its internal technological capabilities and promote domestic production of its supply chain in core areas such as chip supply and demand, company-wide equipment, and process equipment, on which it has long relied externally, and in the long run could serve as a catalyst for the formation of a domestic Micro LED cluster.
President Lee’s comments can be interpreted as a strategic declaration to redefine the next-generation technology initiative in the display industry within the domestic ecosystem, beyond simply strengthening the development of Micro LED technology. In that Samsung Display has begun to seriously nurture a new axis of Micro LED in preparation for OLED and beyond, the time has come when new opportunities may open up not only for changes in the industrial foundation but also for small and medium-sized Korean partners and investors in the future.
Joohan Kim, Analyst at UBI Research (joohanus@ubiresearch.com)
UBI Research’s Micro Display Report
