Samsung is currently planning major new investments for the production of large OLED displays and could have one important customer in mind. Allegedly, Samsung’s display wants to build a new plant that has one goal, namely to win Apple as a customer.
According to a report by Korean magazine The Elec , Samsung is currently preparing to build its first so-called Gen 8.5 OLED production line. This will initially have a capacity of around 15,000 substrates, i.e. it will be able to produce large OLED structures in considerable quantities. At 2200×2500 millimeters, the new Gen 8.5 substrates would be significantly larger than the Gen 6 substrates previously manufactured by Samsung.

Production of small OLED panels at Winstar Taiwan
 

While the current substrates are mainly used for the production of displays for smartphones, the next generation should be better suited for tablets and laptops. This is mainly because the larger substrates can be manufactured more efficiently and productively when used for larger panels, which are common in larger mobile devices.

There is talk that Samsung probably wants to establish the new OLED production at the point where LCD panels were still being manufactured until last year. The budget required for this is currently still in the planning stage, with a decision expected before the end of this year. The necessary machines should then be purchased from 2023. Samsung actually wanted to implement its plan earlier, but the development of the production facilities by the supplier is taking longer than expected.

Target Apple

Samsung is said to be primarily targeting Apple as a buyer for the larger next-generation OLED panels. In this way, the Korean electronics giant wants to tie Apple even more closely to itself and, in addition to iPhones, also wants to win panels for notebooks and tablets for its display division.

There have been rumors for a long time that Apple will soon be launching iPads with OLED displays with diagonals of 11 and 12.9 inches. However, these should still use panels that are produced by LG and Samsung in their Gen 6 production. Samsung’s new Apple-specific OLED factory is unlikely to start production until 2024 at the earliest.