LG Display is expected to ship 1.43 million OLED TV panels in the third quarter of this year, opening the era of rolling out 1 million OLED panels per quarter.

The company’s 8.5th-generation (2,200 mm×2,500 mm) production lines in Guangzhou, China, have finally started to operate normally after a long period of efforts to raise its yields.

The Guangzhou fab started to mass-produce OLED panels in July, creating synergies with LG Display’s Paju fab, said an industry insider. "This third quarter will be a watershed for LG Display's large OLED business."

Market research company Omdia predicted that LG Display's OLED TV panel shipment in the third quarter of 2020 will exceed 1.43 million. The figure is more than double the 652,500 recorded in the second quarter.

LG Display is planning to start to operate the Guangzhou plant at full throttle as early as September. The plant produces 48-, 55-, 65- and 77-inch panels. It can process up to 60,000 sheets of mother glass per month. Currently, the Paju fab processes about 70,000 sheets per month. LG Display is planning to ramp up Guangzhou plant’s production capacity to 90,000 sheets per month, boosting its total production capacity to 160,000 sheets per month.

The yield of the Guangzhou fab has rapidly stabilized and is maintaining a level similar to that of the Paju fab, which stands at around 80 percent.

Experts forecast that LG Display's shipments of OLED TV panels will increase even more in the fourth quarter. Omdia predicted that shipments will top 2.01 million in the fourth quarter, which represents more than 60 percent of the total 3.29 million units shipped in 2019. Shipments for the whole of 2020 are expected to reach 4.93 million units. Omdia expected the figure to rise to 8 million units in 2021.

LG Display expects that it will be able to produce more than 10 million units (55-inch OLED panels) per year if it maximizes its production capacity of the fabs in Guangzhou and Paju.