The costs of producing QD-OLED and WOLED television panels is expected to drop by around 30 per cent this year, as demand returns and panel makers can return to more efficient factory lines.
2022 was a horror year for display makers as the glut of product produced during the pandemic led to unseasonably low demand.
LG’s OLED TV panel factory in South Korea was running at below 50 per cent capacity during the September quarter of 2022 – leading to a higher cost-per-panel.
As demand bounces back, the market is expected to normalise, which will drive costs down. Increased efficiency will see WOLED production costs drop each year through to 2026, according to projections from Display Supply Chain Consultants (DSCC).
The below chart shows production cost forecast for 55-inch WOLED panels produced by LG in China.
“By our estimates Samsung greatly improved QD-OLED yield throughout the year in 2022, but the average yield for the year for 65” QD-OLED panels was only 68 per cent in 2022,” wrote Bob O’Brien, Co-Founder of DSCC (as seen in the below figure).
“We expect that to improve to 84 per cent in 2023 and 85 per cent in 2024, and the big jump in yield in 2023 allows for a substantial improvement in total cost per unit.
“In addition to the yield improvement, the average fab utilisation of SDC’s QD-OLED lines improves from 77 per cent to 89 per cent.
“The combination of these two factors, plus modest reductions in some component costs, allows for a 30% reduction in the 65” QD-OLED panel total cost in 2023 compared with 2022.”
Of course, when production costs are down, so are consumer prices, meaning that the overall OLED TV market should see some significant bargains for customers.