Samsung Display to invest $2.5 billion more in Vietnam for expansion

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The display panel subsidiary of South Korea’s tech giant Samsung Electronics has received a license to invest another 2.5 billion US dollars in Vietnam to boost capacity, according to Vietnam’s State Television (VTV) on Friday.

The additional funding will increase Samsung Display’s total investment in the country to 6.5 billion US dollars, and increase the South Korean firm’s screen-making capacity to 220 million products a year from 180 million currently, according to the VTV.

Samsung Electronics' first curved, super-thin OLED TV set on display in Seoul. /CFP Photo

Vietnam is a major smartphone manufacturing base for Samsung Electronics and its subsidiaries, which have already invested billions of dollars in the country.

Days ahead, South Korea’s newspaper The Korea Herald reported that Samsung Display has sealed a deal with Apple to supply 160 million OLED panels for the latter. Yonhap news agency had already reported in April 2016 that Samsung Display will supply about 100 million units of 5.5-inch panels annually to Apple.

But neither company has confirmed the reports so far, and it remains unclear whether the extra investment in Vietnam was aiming to meet the increasing demands of the OLED displays for Apple Inc.

Samsung's intelligent watches equipped with OLED screens on display in Germany. /CFP Photo

Apple's iPhones placed on shelf. /CFP Photo

An increasing number of mobile phone manufacturers have been switching to OLED displays, given their obvious advantages compared to the liquid crystal displays (LCD) – thinner, brighter, more flexible and consume less power.

IHS Market, a UK research firm, forecast in one of its reports in 2016 that the OLED displays will replace LCDs as the dominant smartphone technology. According to its report, Samsung Display has dominated the world’s smartphone OLED market, with its market share as high as 99 percent.