Samsung Display announced its new beginning and signaled a change in the global display industry as it held a launching ceremony in its plant in Tangjeong, South Chungcheong Province on Monday.

Headed by new chief executive Park Dong-gun, the spin-off of the electronics arm’s liquid-crystal unit will start its business, which recorded accumulated yearly sales of 22.7 trillion won last year, with about 20,000 employees.

Park, who formerly served as the executive vice president of LCD businesses, emphasized during the launching ceremony that the spin-off was another step taken to rise as the No. 1 firm in the global display market.

The launch of the new display entity comes at a time when the local firms, such as Samsung and LG Display, are facing global competition from its Japanese rivals. Sony, Hitachi and Toshiba are currently getting ready to launch a new display firm called the Japan Display, which is a result of its merger.

“We will claim victory in the competition if we take one step ahead of others and Samsung Display will inevitably become the strongest player in the market,” he said.

The firm is expected to start its operations after registering its corporation establishment on Tuesday.

It now remains as a question on when the firm will merge with another affiliate of Samsung Electronics ― Samsung Mobile Display.

With the merger projected to occur as early as the first half of this year, it is likely to create synergy, assisting the transition of its business focus from LCD to organic light-emitting diodes, according to industry sources.

The merger will enable the display business to move onto bigger size OLED displays and widen the gap with its competitors in that particular field, they say.

In the meantime, Samsung Display is reported to be increasing production of its TV displays in the second quarter of this year, while supplying the touch screen panels for Apple’s new iPad.

By Cho Ji-hyun (sharon@heraldcorp.com)