LG Chem halts LCD glass substrate business

LG Chem will be shuttering its LCD glass substrate business before the year is out, according to the company on Feb. 3.

“Based on calculations that the business would be difficult to turn around, we have reached the decision to shut down,” the company said in a regulatory filing. The division has so far posted an annual sales of around KRW 50 billion.

The move comes eight years after the firm decided on a KRW 700 billion investment for its LCD facilities in Paju, among which 272.4 billion have been injected as of the end of January.

Major Korean display makers including Samsung Display and LG Display has been cutting down LCD production on slowing demand. In 2019, both of the firms shut down parts of their LCD lines in Korea as they turned towards OLED panels. Samsung Display will be closing more LCD units to make room for QD display line also known as the Q1 line.

Two glass substrates will be used to manufacture the QD displays that are to be produced from Q1.

In 2019, LG Display halted the operation of its production lines for Gen-8 LCDs for TVs in Paju. Thefirm also plans on closing down its Gen-y LCD lines by the end of this year so that beginning in 2021, it won’t be producing any more LCD panels for TVs.

Meanwhile, Corning has recently been receiving voluntary resignations. In 2014, Corning took over the 42.6% stake held by Samsung Display. Afterwards, the firm has been selling glass substrates to the Samsung affiliate, along with its rival LG Display — not to mention exporting overseas. In 2018, the firm posted sales of KRW 1.71 trillion and an operating profit of 379 billion.

The Elec is South Korea’s No.1 tech news platform.