LG Display said Wednesday it posted record-breaking profits in the first quarter of the year due to the growing demand for large-size televisions and high-end devices.

The Korean display maker said it posted 7 trillion won ($6.2 billion) in sales and 1.02 trillion won in operating profits, 17.9 percent and 2,498 percent increases, respectively, year-on-year. 

“The record-breaking operating profits were driven by the growing demand for lucrative products such as large-size ultra-high-definition televisions and high-end digital devices,” a LG Display spokesperson said.

During the quarter, sales of television panels took up 43 percent of the total revenue, followed by mobile panels with 26 percent, laptop and tablet panels with 16 percent and monitor panels with 15 percent.

The company showed confidence in the 60-inch-plus organic light-emitting diode TV market, with Ko Kyu-young, head of TV marketing, saying, “LG Display holds a significant share in the 60-inch-plus OLED TV market and this is expected to continue for the time being. ... Our client Sony has recently launched its OLED TV in China and (the product) appears to be well received in the market despite the high price.”

He added that the supersized television market will grow 30 percent in the future.

LG Display said its panel shipment for OLED TV is estimated to be around 300,000 units per quarter in the first half of the year and the figure is predicted to be around 500,000 units per quarter in the second half of this year.

The company plans to invest 70 percent of the total capital expenditure in OLED this year especially in mobile and plastic OLED panels.

“We plan to invest more than 5.5 trillion won in shifting LCD (liquid-crystal display) to large OLED panels and in preparing for the sixth generation POLED (plastic OLED),” said Chief Financial Officer Kim Sang-don .

The company still plans to make an investment conservatively based on clients’ confidence and the certainty of market demand. 

By Shin Ji-hye

(shinjh@heraldcorp.com)