Samsung Display's Choi Ju-seon Appointed as Display Association Chairman..."Korea Playing on a Tilted Field"

9th President of the Korea Display Association
Expresses Concern Over Narrowing Gap with China

Choi Ju-seon, President of Samsung Display, has been inaugurated as the 9th Chairman of the Korea Display Industry Association. Regarding the pursuit by the Chinese display industry, he said, "There is a technology gap of about one to one and a half years, but it is also true that the gap is narrowing." He also expressed concern that the domestic industry is "playing a game on a tilted field." To improve this, his opinion is that efforts must be made to secure next-generation technologies, protect technology, and nurture talent.

President Choi made these remarks on the 7th before attending the Korea Display Industry Association’s regular general meeting held at Lotte Hotel World in Songpa-gu, Seoul.

Choi Ju-seon, President of Samsung Display, who was inaugurated as the 9th President of the Korea Display Industry Association, is delivering his inaugural speech. /
[Photo by Korea Display Industry Association]

Regarding the government's goal of "regaining the world's number one display position by 2027," President Choi said, "I firmly believe that we will be able to reclaim the number one spot by 2027." However, he added, "It is quite variable, but it seems to depend on the sales scale of the LCD market," and further explained, "The important thing is that Chinese companies are also realizing the performance limits of LCD and are switching to OLED a lot, so it will depend on the speed of OLED transition and the market size."

Regarding the trend of OLED adoption expanding to IT devices, he evaluated that the domestic industry has a significant advantage. He said, "As the display panel size in the IT market increases, the level of technological requirements is rising. I think this aspect gives us a more favorable position compared to our competitor, Chinese companies, and I will strive to maintain this trend." He also added, "I think IT OLED requires more time compared to smartphones, but I judge that it is continuously on the rise."

Ultimately, his view is that the weapon to beat competitors such as China is 'talent.' President Choi said, "We have no choice but to increase the hit ratio in various research and development (R&D) areas, focus our selection and concentration, and secure more excellent talent to stay ahead."

Inauguration as the 9th Chairman of the Korea Display Industry Association

On the same day, through the regular general meeting, President Choi was inaugurated as the Chairman of the Korea Display Industry Association for a three-year term. As the 9th chairman, he expressed his ambition in his inaugural speech, saying, "During my term, I will strive to contribute, even if only a little, to the Korean display industry by cooperating with the association’s executives, staff, and member companies."

He also said, "When the association was established in 2007, the LCD industry was rapidly growing, but now Korean LCD has disappeared, and even the status as the OLED pioneer country is being shaken. However, OLED remains an industry with great potential and possibilities, and if it begins to bloom now and combines with new applications such as foldables, IT, extended reality (XR), and automobiles, becoming more segmented and advanced, it can grow more than the past decade centered on smartphones and TVs."

To this end, President Choi emphasized, "All players in the ecosystem, including industry, academia, and government, must cooperate organically." In particular, he explained, "Under active government support, industry-academia-research collaboration must unite to secure next-generation technologies that will determine the success or failure of new businesses such as foldable, rollable, OLEDOS, REDOS, and transparent displays."

He continued, "While strengthening the legal safety net to protect technological assets and industrial competitiveness, we must nurture excellent talent and enhance investment and support so that they become the pillars of future growth," and added, "We must actively pursue 'green transition' starting now to avoid falling behind the increasingly stringent eco-friendly and low-carbon demands in the global supply chain."

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