www.oled-a.org/...ring-its-a5-oled-investment_feb-03-2018.html
A local South Korean news outlet has stated that Samsung Display is reconsidering its ~$18b investment in the A5 OLED fab it was planning to build in Asan (announced in July 2017). The fab, known as A5, was planned to be a four phase Gen 6 flexible OLED fab, with a total gross capacity of 120,000 sheets and using LTPS backplanes, but the project is said to be on hold currently, even though land development continues without physical construction. The article states that Samsung Display is reevaluating plans due to concerns about the growth of the smartphone market and therefore the need for additional small panel OLED capacity, despite the increasing adoption of OLED displays. The A5 fab, when fully built out, was expected to represent ~21.6% of Samsung Display’s OLED capacity, and coupled with the A4 fab, is the basis for Samsung Display’s small panel OLED capacity growth in 2019 and 2020, which makes it a key investment for both Samsung Display and the OLED industry. Samsung will watch the results of smartphones sales during the Chinese New Year holiday and further, the results of Apple’s iPhone X sales before making any decisions about the A5 fab.