Earlier this year, reports suggested that Samsung Display is considering a new flexible OLED plant, its largest OLED fab yet. The so called A5 fab was reportedly to have a monthly capacity of between 180,000 to 270,000 6-Gen substrates (it's current largest OLED fab, the A3, will have a monthly capacity of 135,000 substrates when the current expansion phase ends later this year).
A new report from Business Korea suggests that Samsung has confirmed the new fab, and is now debating whether the first phase in the A5 fab will have a capacity of 30,000 or 60,000 monthly substrates. Samsung will start constructing the fab in December 2017. The new fab building alone is estimated at $1.75 billion.
Capacity may be lower than expected as Samsung's yield at the A3 is better than expected and so it can produce more displays from the same substrates. In addition, as competing OLED makers (mainly LGD) still struggle with low yields and low display quality, Samsung is reluctant to increase capacity too much as an over-demand market means that prices can remain high for its high-end flexible OLED panels.
