SEOUL—The OLED market is getting bigger, both in its market presence and in its physical models. According to a current UBI Research report—the “2019 OLED Equipment Report”—the total substrate area of display companies in 2019 will be 34.9 million square meters, and that number is projected to increase to 68.5 million square meters by 2023.
OLED substrate area is measured by investments made by OLED lines for TVs, specifically driven by Samsung Display and LG Display.
In the current market, OLED manufacturing lines for TVs are 8G lines optimized for 55-inch panel production. The demand is shifting, however, from those 55-inch OLED TVs to 65-inch panels. By 2021, the 65-inch OLED TV market is expected to account for more than 40%. As a result, LG is investing in 10.5G lines. By 2023, the substrate area of a large OLED line is likely to make up 42% of the total substrate area.
China will continue to invest in the 6G line of the market, helping to grow its substrate area from 13 million square meters to 19.3 million square meters in 2019. Much of this is for smartphones, which accounts for 40% of the global market in China.
Korea is the largest market for the OLED industry, with its OLED production capacity accounting for 80% of its market. The country’s 2019 OLED substrate area will hti 27.9 million square meters and is expected to see a growth to 54.8 million square meters by 2023.
From 2019-2022, the investment costs for the OLED manufacturing equipment market is expected to reach $28.4 billion, with the most coming from the 6G line ($17.2 billion).
