[THE INVESTOR] Samsung Display will reportedly beef up its production capacity for organic light-emitting diode displays at its manufacturing complex in Asan City, South Chungcheong Province, in a bid to maintain the lead in the growing market for display technology.

The Nikkei, a Japanese financial newspaper, reported last week that the company will spend around 10 trillion won ($8.5 billion) in newly building production facilities for display panels and updating existing ones this year. Around 80 percent of the investment will be funneled into producing OLEDs.


It is forecast that the Korean display maker will be able to increase its production capacity by around 50 percent to 200 million sheets of smartphone panels a year.

The move is aimed at meeting the increasing demand for the self-luminous OLEDs in China and the U.S.

U.S.-based Apple is expected to deploy OLED displays for its next flagship smartphone, presumably the iPhone 7, and other smartphone makers around the world will likely follow suit.

Samsung Display is currently leading the global OLED market, boasting a nearly 98-percent market share in the first three months, according to market research firm IHS.

By Kim Young-won (wone0102@heraldcorp.com)