BOE Technology Group Chair Chen Yanshun (BOE Technology Group)
BOE Technology Group Chair Chen Yanshun (BOE Technology Group)

China's BOE Technology Group Chair Chen Yanshun visited Samsung Electronics’ headquarters in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, on Monday for a high-level meeting with Yong Seok-woo, president and head of the visual display business at Samsung Electronics, industry sources said.

The rare in-person meeting comes five months after Yong visited China in July, signaling a deepening of strategic dialogue between the two tech titans.

During the closed-door talks, the two reportedly discussed expanding BOE’s supply of LCD panels for Samsung’s television products -- a potential shift in Samsung’s sourcing strategy as it seeks to recalibrate its supplier portfolio.

BOE, the world’s largest LCD panel maker by shipment, is both a supplier and a competitor to Samsung — a dynamic that reflects the complex landscape of the global display industry. With Korean players, including Samsung and LG, having exited the LCD market, Chinese companies such as BOE and TCL CSOT have seized near-total control.

Currently, Samsung sources a significant volume of LCD panels from CSOT. However, CSOT’s parent company TCL is also Samsung’s direct rival in the global TV market, prompting Samsung to seek alternative supply routes that reduce dependency on its competitors.

Yet expanding ties with BOE has not been straightforward.

Since 2022, Samsung Display has been embroiled in a legal battle with BOE over alleged OLED patent infringements and misappropriation of trade secrets. In December 2022, Samsung Display filed a complaint with the US International Trade Commission and, in October 2023, it added trade secret violations to the legal action.

In a decisive win for Samsung, the ITC issued a limited exclusion order in July this year, barring the import of BOE’s OLED panels into the US for 14 years and 8 months. However, in a recent turn of events, both companies reached a settlement, with BOE agreeing to pay undisclosed royalties to Samsung Display.

Industry watchers believe Chen’s visit may serve as a follow-up to the settlement, possibly signaling a new phase of collaboration between BOE and Samsung.


yeeun@heraldcorp.com