LG Display

LG Display Co., Ltd.
LG디스플레이
Company typePublic
IndustryElectronics
Founded1999; 26 years ago (1999)
Headquarters
Seoul
,
South Korea
Key people
Chung Chul-dong (CEO)
Products
RevenueDecrease ₩26.152 trillion (approx. 20 billion USD) (2022)[1]
Decrease US$76.45 million (2018)
Decrease -US$147.138 million (2018)
OwnerLG Electronics (37%)
Number of employees
70,707 (2023)[2]
Websitelgdisplay.com
LG Display
Hangul
LG디스플레이
Revised RomanizationLG Diseupeullei
McCune–ReischauerLG Tisŭp'ŭllei
Former logo of LG.Phillips LCD

LG Display Co., Ltd. (Korean: LG 디스플레이) is one of the world's largest manufacturers and supplier of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panels, OLEDs and flexible displays. LG Display is headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, and currently operates nine fabrication facilities and seven back-end assembly facilities in South Korea, China, Poland and Mexico.

LG Display has manufactured displays used in products such as the iPhone 14 Pro and Sony's OLED TVs.

History

LG Display was originally formed as a joint venture by the Korean electronics company LG Electronics and the Dutch company Philips in 1999 to manufacture active matrix liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and was formerly known as LG.Philips LCD, but Philips sold off all its shares in late 2008.[3] Both companies also had another joint venture, called LG.Philips Displays, dedicated to manufacturing cathode ray tubes, deflection yokes, and related materials such as glass and phosphors.

On 12 December 2008, LG.Philips LCD announced its plan to change its corporate name to LG Display upon receiving approval at the company's annual general meeting of shareholders on 29 February. The company claimed the name change reflected changes following the reduction of Philips' equity stake.

The company has eight manufacturing plants in Gumi and Paju, South Korea. It also has a module assembly plant in Nanjing and Guangzhou in China and Wroclaw in Poland.

LG Display became an independent company in July 2004 when it was concurrently listed on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: LPL) and the South Korean Stock Exchange (KRX: 034220).

They are one of the main licensed manufacturers of the more color-accurate IPS panels used by Dell, NEC, ASUS, Apple (including iMacs, iPads, iPhones, iPod Touches) and others, which were developed by Hitachi.

LG Display discontinued its LCD production lines in South Korea in late 2022,[4] and will completely exit the LCD manufacturing business with the sale of its last remaining plant in Guangzhou, China to be completed in June 2024, focusing more of its budget and production on OLED panels.[5] LG Display said September 26, 2024. it has sold its facilities in China to a subsidiary of Chinese tech giant TCL Group for 2 trillion won (US$1.5 billion) as part of its business reorganizing effort.[6]

LCD price fixing

In December 2010, the EU fined LG Display €215 million for its part in an LCD price fixing scheme.[7] Other companies were also fined for a combined total of €648.9 million, including Chimei Innolux, AU Optronics, Chunghwa Picture Tubes Ltd., and HannStar Display Corp.[8] LG Display has said it is considering appealing the fine.[9]

This followed the 2008 case in the US, when LG Display, Chunghwa Picture Tubes and Sharp Corp., agreed to plead guilty and pay $585 million in criminal fines[10][11] for conspiring to fix prices of liquid crystal display panels. LG Display would pay $400 million, the second-highest criminal fine that the US Justice Department antitrust division had ever imposed.[12]

Corporate Governance

As of 2023

Shareholder Stake (%) Flag
LG Electronics 37.90%
National Pension Service 4.70%

Business

This company is considered one of the top players in the display industry, renowned for its cutting-edge technology. It was also the first to develop glasses-free 3D displays and continues to dominate in the mid-to-large OLED market. While it once performed exceptionally well in the LCD sector, it is now facing challenges due to aggressive low-cost competition from Chinese companies like BOE and CSOT, which have been heavily supported by the Chinese government.

Products

Some examples of products that use LCD panels from LG display are Apple's 2009 27-inch iMac, Apple's Thunderbolt Display, and Dell's U2711 LCD Monitor.[13]

Additional products include Apple's 20-inch Cinema Display and Dell's UltraSharp 2005FPW LCD Monitor. These use the "LG.Philips" branding.[14]

As of 2022, LG Display is the manufacturer of the OLED panels used in Sony's OLED TVs.[15]

As of late 2022, LG Display was one of the two suppliers for displays for the iPhone 14 Pro, along with Samsung Display.[16][17]

LG was one of the two suppliers of LCD Displays for the first "Retina" model of the MacBook Pro in 2012, along with Samsung.[18]

LG Display showcased stretchable displays at Seoul Fashion Week 2025, integrated into clothing and bags, offering dynamic design flexibility.[19]

Controversies

Main article: TFT-LCD (Flat Panel) Antitrust Litigation

In November 2008, LG ("LG Philips" at that time) plead guilty and was sentenced to pay criminal fines by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), European Commission and South Korea Fair Trade Commission, for its participation in a five-year conspiracy to fix the prices of thin-film transistor LCD panels sold worldwide.

See also

References

  1. ^ "LG Display Co., Ltd. (NYSE:LPL) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript". 30 January 2023.
  2. ^ "LG Display Wins 2023 Bosch Global Supplier Award". 6 August 2023.
  3. ^ "LG Display shares drop 5.4 percent on Philips stake sale". Reuters. 12 March 2009.
  4. ^ Lee, Joyce; Yang, Heekyong (27 January 2023). "LG Display flags turnaround in H2 after record loss in Q4". Reuters. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  5. ^ Cha, Jun-Ho (20 February 2024). "LG Display to pull out of LCD business; BOE, CSOT eye Guangzhou plant". The Korea Economic Daily. Retrieved 4 May 2024.
  6. ^ "LG Display sells its China plant to TCL subsidiary for 2 tln won". Yonhap News. 2024.
  7. ^ Aoife White (8 December 2010). "LCD-Panel Makers Fined $649 Million by European Union for Price Fixing". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  8. ^ "EUROPA – PRESS RELEASES – Press release – Joaquín Almunia Vice President of the European Commission responsible for Competition Policy Press conference on LCD cartel, Visa and French chemists' association decisions Press conference Brussels, 8 December 2010". Europa (web portal). Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  9. ^ "2 LCD giants face contrasting fates". The Korea Times. 9 December 2010. Retrieved 11 December 2010.
  10. ^ Frieden, Terry; Producer, Justice (12 November 2008). "$585 million LCD price-fixing fine". CNN.
  11. ^ "#08-1002: LG, Sharp, Chunghwa Agree to Plead Guilty, Pay Total of $585 Million in Fines for Participating in LCD Price-fixing Conspiracies (2008-11-12)". Justice.gov. Retrieved 25 March 2012.
  12. ^ "LCD Makers Will Plead Guilty in Price-Fixing Scheme (Update2)". Bloomberg News. 12 November 2008.
  13. ^ Oliver, Sam (28 September 2011). "Teardown of Apple's Thunderbolt Display finds same LG panel used in 2009 iMac". Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  14. ^ Kubicki, Kristopher (27 April 2005). "The 20" LCD Shootout: Dell versus Apple - Specifications". Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  15. ^ Welch, Chris (4 January 2022). "Sony announces the world's first QD-OLED 4K TV, coming later this year". Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  16. ^ Owen, Malcom. "LG Display joins OLED panel supply chain for the iPhone 14 Pro".
  17. ^ Park, Sora. "LG Display supplies OLED to Apple's 'iPhone 14 Pro'".
  18. ^ Kahn, Jordan (20 March 2013). "MacBook Pro with Retina display: Problems in every dimension". Retrieved 21 September 2023.
  19. ^ Gupta, Jitendra. "LG launches stretchable display at Seoul Fashion Week". Trendytechdev. Jitendra Gupta. Retrieved 21 September 2024.
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