According to industry insiders, Samsung is considering to invest in a 6.5-Gen (1500x1800 mm) AMOLED fab to produce tablet and laptop OLED displays. The company is currently producing AMOLED displays in a 5.5-Gen (1300x1500 mm) fab, but this is geared mostly for small sized panels (up to 5" in size or so), and their upcoming 8-Gen (2200x2500 mm) fab will make larger panels for OLED TV applications, and the pilot line yields are too low for medium panels.
According to our source, Samsung thinks that the market is now ready for medium sized OLED panels. If this is true, then indeed they need to have an AMOLED fab that's somewhere between the 5.5-Gen and the 8-Gen ones.
The new 6.5-Gen line will be the A3 line in the Tang jeong, Chungcheongnam-do. Originally the company intended to add another 5.5-Gen line there, but they are now thinking of increasing the substrate size. The decision will be made during 2013 (towards the end of this year). If this is true it may mean a delay in Samsung's capacity increase to 2014. Perhaps Samsung thinks that the market for small sized OLEDs will not grow and they prefer to go after the medium sized market next year.
Samsung are in fact making some 7.7" (Super AMOLED Plus, 1280x800) OLED displays already, but in low volume. These panels are used in Samsung's Galaxy Tab 7.7 tablet, Toshiba's Excite 7.7 tablet and some professional monitors.
