CLSA released an interesting investment note and details Samsung Display's 2019 plans and expectations. Samsung's A3 flexible OLED line suffered from low utilization (52% in 2018) and Samsung hopes to improve this to 70% in 2019. Samsung shipped 145 million flexible OLEDs in 2018 and aims to sell 215 million in 2019 (a 48% increase).
In 2018 Samsung shipped 7 million flexible OLEDs to Chinese phone makers, and it aims to increase this to 40-45 million in 2019 (CLSA is skeptical of Samsung's ability to meet its target - even though the company seeks to cut its prices and offer volume discounts and offer the lower specification panels to mid-range smartphones). CLSA sees SDC's average flexible OLED price declining 15% in 2019.
CLSA expects SDC's OLED shipments (rigid + flexible) to increase 14% in 2019 to reach 485 million units.
Finally, CLSA says that its channel checks suggest that Samsung's plan to establish an QD-OLED line is likely to be approved in April. Samsung's plan it to convert its LCD L8-1 line to QD-OLED production (25,000 - 30,000 monthly QD-OLED substrates). Mass production will begin in Q4 2020.
