LG Display secures $1b funding in renewed push for smaller OLED

LG Display said Wednesday it has secured fresh funding worth $1 billion from multiple global banks with the aim to expand its presence in the smaller OLED market which is dominated by its archrival Samsung Display.

LG Display is the world’s largest manufacturer of large OLED panels for TVs, but still remains a distant No. 2 in the smaller OLED market for smartphones and other mobile devices.

The firm said it has raised long-term loans from the Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, HSBC, Citibank and Spain’s Caixa Bank, with payment guarantee offered by the nation’s state-run Export-Import Bank and Korea Export Insurance Corp.

“Despite uncertainty over rate hikes and the Ukraine war, several global financial institutions have joined the funding scheme, which proves LG Display’s OLED expertise and growth potential,” the company said in a statement.

Last year, LG Display announced plans to invest about 3.3 trillion won ($2.5 billion) into its production lines in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, and Vietnam as part of efforts to shore up its competitiveness in the smaller OLED market.

The firm said the latest funding will be poured into the expansion of its module plant in Vietnam.

Almost 90 percent of the global smaller OLED market is dominated by Korean players. According to market tracker Omdia, Samsung Display makes up 73.1 percent of the market, while LG Display’s share stands at 12.3 percent.

LG’s market share has continued growing as its OLED panels are increasingly being adopted by Apple that used to rely on a single supplier – Samsung. Both Samsung and LG are investing heavily into their OLED business to widen the gap with fast-growing Chinese rivals.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)