Chinese display maker BOE surpassed LG Display in the monthly market share of the large LCD panel market based on the surface size. The display industry has reacted to this change as "happening as expected but sooner than predicted."
The IHS Markets reported on the 3rd that BOE topped LG Display to be ranked at the number one in February for the first time in the market survey of over 9-inch large LCD panels. The market share difference between BOE (19.9%) and LG Display (19.0%) was 0.9%, in February. For the same month of the last year, LG Display’s market share was 21.6% and BOE’s was 15.9%.
According to a shipment-based market survey, little changed after BOE topped LG Display in January 2017 to be ranked at number one based on the monthly statistics, and BOE has maintained its position in 2018. In February, the market share of BOE was 24.5% and that of LG Display was 17.9% based on the number of shipments.
Seok Joon-Hyung, a professor at Hanyang University, said, "Chinese corporations are chasing following more quickly than expected. It’s common knowledge--it’s structurally impossible to surpass Chinese corporations in terms of the supply quantity and price.”
Last year, BOE started mass production of the 10.5-generation LCD factory (B9) in Hefei, Anhui Province. In the fourth quarter of this year, the second 10.5-generation plant (B17) in Wuhan, Hubei Province, is planned to start mass production. It means that the gap between Chinese corporations and Korean ones can widen.
It has been reported that LG Display is still maintaining its position as the top player in the high-definition (UHD, 4K) TV panel sector. Based on the Februaray shipment numbers, LG Display's market share was 19.0%, followed by BOE with 16.7% and Samsung Display with 16.2%
The statistics in this field, however, may also follow the suit of the trends in the 'shipments' and ‘surface size’ fields. In February of last year, LG Display and Samsung Display recorded the market share of 25.0% and 24.0%, respectively, and BOE was not even in the top five.
Professor Seok also said, "Korean companies must show differentiated technologies like large OLED and flexible OLED technologies. In terms of the LCD technology, Chinese corporations are yet to implement technologies such as the color filter on array. They must utilize government support and other factors to lead the next-generation technology."
