Last Year Display Exports $18.6 Billion, Down 12% YoY... OLED Shows 'Plus'

Analysis by Diple Association... OLED Export Share Hits Record High of 76%

Despite the economic downturn last year, South Korea's display exports decreased, but the export share of high value-added organic light-emitting diode (OLED) reached an all-time high.

According to the '2023 Display Export Performance and 2024 Export Outlook Analysis' report published by the Korea Display Industry Association on the 27th, last year's display export performance was $18.6 billion (approximately 24.8 trillion KRW), down 12.1% from the previous year.

The annual export decline was due to shrinking global front-end industry demand amid a high interest rate environment and reduced domestic liquid crystal display (LCD) panel production.

Samsung Display showcased the 'Flex In&Out Flip' at CES 2024, the world's largest electronics and IT exhibition held in Las Vegas, USA, from the 9th to the 12th of last month (local time). It is designed to fold both inward and outward.
[Photo by Samsung Display]

In the case of OLED, exports recorded six consecutive months of positive growth from August last year through last month, driven by strong sales of flagship smartphones.

The export share last year reached a record high of 75.8%, up 3.5 percentage points from 72.3% in 2022. This is the result of domestic companies shifting their business structure to focus on OLED since 2019.

The OLED export share grew from 50% in 2019 to 67.9% in 2021 and 75.8% last year. Meanwhile, the LCD export share declined from 50% in 2019 to 32.1% in 2021 and 24% last year.

This year, the association forecasts that the OLED export share will increase further to 78.5% as OLED applications expand to IT products such as tablets.

The association has supported companies' business transitions by establishing a consultative body for OLED application companies in the automotive, transparent, and extended reality (XR) sectors and holding meetings.

Lee Dong-wook, the association's vice chairman, said, "We will actively present corporate demands to the government by operating the 'Export and Investment Difficulty Support Center' and strategically utilize the association's car, transparent, and XR consultative bodies as well as the global cooperation subcommittee."

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