Universal Display (OLED) 28th Annual Needham Growth Conference Virtual summary

OLED market overview

• Smartphone OLED penetration exceeds 60%, with growth driven by premium, mid-tier, and increasingly low-end models adopting OLED displays.

• Foldable smartphones are gaining momentum, offering larger display areas and driving a potential refresh cycle.

• OLED TVs represent about 3% of the TV market, with LG Display leading and expecting continued growth as price gaps with LCD narrow.

• IT market (tablets, laptops, monitors) has about 5% OLED penetration, with significant investments and new capacity expected to drive rapid growth.

• Major OEMs are introducing more OLED products, with new capacity coming online to meet anticipated demand.

Industry announcements and technology trends

• CES 2024 showcased numerous new OLED IT products, confirming industry forecasts for strong growth in the sector.

• Samsung announced a creaseless foldable OLED panel, addressing a key consumer concern and expected to boost adoption.

• OLED TVs continue to win top performance awards, and the price gap with premium LCDs has narrowed, supporting further adoption.

• Tandem OLED architecture, offering greater brightness and longer lifetimes, is increasingly used in IT and automotive, with premium products likely to adopt it.

Capacity expansion and investment

• Samsung and BOE are bringing new Gen 8.6 OLED fabs online in 2024, representing over $12 billion in investment and expected to provide a tailwind for the business.

• Visionox and China Star are also investing in Gen 8.6 capacity, with production expected to start in 2027–2028.

• New capacity is expected to drive incremental revenue, with the impact from Samsung and BOE likely in the second half of 2024.

• Over $20 billion has been allocated industry-wide for new OLED capacity, supporting long-term growth.