PAJU -- The chief of LG Display, the world’s largest maker of liquid-crystal displays, said he will invest in panels powered by organic light-emitting diodes, particularly for mobiles, admitting that the company is a latecomer in the segment.

“Small and medium-sized OLED panels are the mega-trend and it is the right path to follow,” said Han Sang-beom, the CEO of LG Display at the company’s manufacturing cluster in Paju near the inter-Korean border on Tuesday afternoon.

“For now, (LG Display) seems to be a bit late (in the mobile segment) as we have plastic OLED applied only to a limited number of products such as wearable watches. But we are making steady progress. This year, next year and the year 2018 will be a crucial timeline for us in setting up a clear direction for future growth,” he said.

His comments come as LG Display is facing growing demand from its top customers that include Apple Inc. which plans to apply plastic OLED screens for iPhones, possibly next year. LG is a dominant player in the OLED TV market, but it has lagged behind its rival Samsung in the mobile sector. Samsung Display holds more than 90 percent of market share in OLED screens for mobiles, and it is reportedly in talks with Apple to supply OLED panels next year.

Han said LG Display will seek ways to balance the dual production of OLED TVs and plastic OLEDs for smartphones, starting this year, saying the company’s strategy on OLED will be a game changer in the world’s display market.

Plastic OLED displays refer to unbreakable and flexible screens that defy the conventional flat and squared forms of mobile devices. Apple is reportedly developing foldable devices for its next-generation iPhones.

“Currently, LG Display is developing foldable displays. … But I cannot provide a detailed investment plan,” he said.

The company is building a new manufacturing line called P10 at its Paju cluster for production of large-sized OLED panels and flexible OLEDs for smartphones. The production line, which costs 10 trillion won, is expected to start operating within the first half of 2018.

The shift in the world market to OLED mobile displays imposes a huge burden on LG, as it still heavily relies on LCDs. Sales generated by OLEDs make up less than 10 percent of its total sales, and the rest is mostly made up by LCDs, said Han.

“I know that our competitors are shutting down their LCD businesses, but our business portfolio is different from theirs,” he said. “We cannot give up on LCD as the size of OLED revenue stands at less than 10 percent. We need LCDs in order to make investments for OLEDs in the future.”

Stressing LG’s focus on OLED, he played down the prospect of the rival’s planned release of quantum dot displays within two years.

Samsung has been setting its future strategy on the TV segment with quantum dot technology, in apparent marketing efforts to break LG’s dominance in the OLED TV market.

QD displays consist of nanoparticles of semiconductor materials that produce better picture quality than traditional LCD displays.

“We are also conducting studies on Quantum dots,” said Han.

“But I don’t think it will be possible (for the competitor) to roll out QD displays within two to three years as it should find components including layers that correspond well to quantum technology. But it is difficult for now,” he said.

By Cho Chung-un (christory@heraldcorp.com)