Samsung Display gets approval to export OLED to Huawei

Samsung Display has received licence the US Department of Commerce to export some OLED panels to Huawei, TheElec has learned.

The company is the first to receive the licence for a South Korean firm.

US sanctions against Huawei went into effect on September 15.

LG Display, Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix are yet to receive licences to export to the Chinese tech giant.

Huawei already has BOE as a display panel supplier and display panel was a relatively less sensitive area compared to semiconductors, people knowledgeable on the matter said.

BOE is the major supplier of OLED panels to Huawei __ Samsung Display’s volume is less than this and the Chinese tech giant accounts for around 10% of its annual shipment.

It remains to be seen whether Huawei will expand its procurement of display panels. 

In August, the US Department of Commerce expanded its scope of ban against Huawei. It prohibited any foreign made chips with US technology to be included in its sanction.

Driver IC and touch IC used in display panels is owned by UK’s Arm. Arm uses US technology, and therefore display panels are included in the ban.

Samsung Display applied for the licence last month. Intel and AMD reportedly also secured licences to export some products to Huawei.