“Apple is reportedly in talks with LG Display to invest about 2 to 3 trillion won (US$1.75-2.62 billion) into the Korean display maker’s new OLED production lines exclusively dedicated to Apple orders,” The Korea Herald reports.
“According to news reports on June 3, the two firms have tentatively agreed on the investment plans, even though details, including investment timing and size, have not yet been finalized,” The Korea Herald reports. “The final decision is expected to be made after the company’s board meeting later this month.”
“Currently, Samsung Display dominates more than 95 percent of the smartphone OLED market, supplying OLED screens to a limited number of big clients, including Samsung Electronics and Apple,” The Korea Herald reports. “Apple’s fresh investment is expected to be poured into LG Display’s new plant, called E6, which has been widely rumored to be dedicated to iPhone orders. About 3.5 trillion won is needed for an OLED production line with a monthly capacity of 30,000 units of the sixth-generation OLED mother glass.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Anything that lessens Samsung’s role in Apple’s supply chain is a good thing.
30,000 a month…
Is not that less than 4% of what Apple needs each month, assuming sales continue per historical rates.
“OLED mother glass”
I suspect these are large sheets.
Re: MDN take:
What exactly is the difference between the two Korean companies, Lucky Goldstar and Samsung? Both from same country with same culture of IP “borrowing”. Both companies make diverse consumer and commercial products, including Android phones in direct competition to the iPhone and sub components in support of Apple’s outsourcing initiatives approved by Cook.
Sounds to me like MDN has no principles or clearly stated standards for its evaluations, you just love to pick specific people or companies to attack as the wind blows. Fanboys with an ad laden blog.
Cant remember when Apple invested that sort of money into Samsung can you? With such an investment of that nature you can guarantee that is comes with commitments and caveats and some considerable influence that is a totally different scenario to the situation with the relationship with Samsung. Equally LG is in no way certainly for the foreseeable future a competitor in phones with Apple that Samsung is and again is of a totally different nature and magnitude.
And finally i suspect that there are only limited companies to be able to deal with in this sector, at least who could supply both quality and numbers that Apple requires while even if they are just another devil like Samsung its best to be able to jiggle your relationship between to competing devils than one all powerful one who has you by the throat if it is the exclusive supplier. But then I suspect you are bright enough to work out most of that for yourself I reckon (if not Im worried for you), It just doesn’t suit your purpose.
Realist — you have a remarkable talent to be bombastic and petulant at the same time.
Got anything of substance to say or are you just doing a botty imitation? If you can’t bring any facts to the discussion, why don’t you keep your juvenile insults to yourself?
LG owns some key OLED patents. Which is why their TVs ( at least the high end ones ) generally are better than Samsung’s. Samsung’s QLED is essentially their version of LG’s high-end OLED tech… which has some workarounds (compromises) to avoid patent issues.
Samsung has the coin to build new factories, but in terms of OLED, LG is the best out there… until some new technology comes out and does better.
QLED is Samsung’s marketing term for their high end TVs. They are still back-lit LED panels and use a totally different technology than OLED.
MDN’s take, wow.
Macdailynews, the source for empty, dry, salty energy for your apple fanboy-ism. No backbone, no reasons, only pure molten hate of everything not apple.
What is wrong with you guys? Because MDN rightfully wants to see Apple’s dependency on Samsung reduced, they are rabid fanboys who hate all things not Apple? That is beyond a stretch and more like an ignorant uninformed comment that displays the Writers’ ignorance of the patent theft issues Apple has been through with Samsung. If you don’t understand the context, keep your opinions to yourself.
Some have criticized Apple for not putting its cash hoard into high yielding monetary investments, on the assumption that it is sitting idle in low yield bonds and various government investment vehicles.
But I can think of no better way to invest than to secure the company’s long term supply chain and technology interests. The investment in LG is another example of the Bank of Apple investing its money wisely. The long term returns will secure it first in line access to chip fabrication, ensure that the factory specs align with Apple’s needs, and put Apple in a position of strength when negotiating with Samsung and other potential suppliers.
Tim Cook can fairly be criticized for not pushing the Mac and AppleTV enough. But he has a clear vision when when it comes to strategic investments of Apple’s cash. This is what Tim does best. Continued wise use of that cash will put Apple in an almost unassailable position as only a handful of companies in the world have the cash position to do this. Apple’s competitors should be fearful of what this cash hoard can do to their long term prospects.