Smartphone OLED Driving Chips Face Shortage Soon

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] As the adoption rate of active-matrix OLED (AMOLED) by major smartphone manufacturers increases, there are forecasts that the supply of the corresponding driver chips will become tight. If the shortage of driver chips leads to a decline in panel production, it could also impact the production of finished smartphones.

According to market research firm TrendForce on the 26th, the adoption rate of AMOLED panels by major smartphone companies is expected to rise from 39.8% this year to 45% next year. However, despite this high adoption rate, TrendForce analyzed that the increase in AMOLED panel shipments next year may be limited due to the current lack of AMOLED driver chip manufacturing process technology and some foundry companies not finalizing their production schedules.

AMOLED driver chips are mainly produced using 12-inch wafer processes, and the global allocation of 12-inch lines for smartphone AMOLED is limited. Chinese foundries such as SMIC, HLMC, and Nexchip are each developing AMOLED driver chip process technologies, but mass production schedules have not yet been finalized.

In particular, AMOLED driver chips for smartphones are more difficult to produce because each panel manufacturer requests customized production. Driver chip manufacturers require a long verification period and development efforts to achieve large-scale mass production.

To overcome these difficulties, TrendForce advised fabless AMOLED companies to secure stable and capable foundry lines. An industry insider said, "Recently, due to a shortage of display driver ICs (DDI) for TVs, panel production has been limited, causing difficulties in TV set production, and this phenomenon is now spreading to smartphones," adding, "Securing foundries with mass production capabilities is the issue."

Meanwhile, the smartphone industry is responding to the semiconductor driver chip shortage by focusing on releasing flagship models. However, mid-range smartphones and tablet PCs are expected to be affected by the semiconductor shortage. At Samsung Electronics' shareholders meeting last March, Go Dong-jin, head of the IM division, mentioned, "The global imbalance in semiconductor supply is severe," and added, "The second quarter is somewhat problematic."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.