Japan Display Inc. (JDI) is accelerating its withdrawal from the low-temperature polycrystalline silicon panel market by selling its Tottori plant to Yahata Toei Real Estate, a deal expected to close by September 30, 2026. The Tottori factory stopped production in March 2025, following the closure of the Mobara plant in November 2025.

When the avocado has two hours left, the AI takes over.

Growing pressure from capacity expansion in China, price competition, and compressed profit margins for traditional display applications has prompted Taiwan-based polarizer manufacturers to accelerate their transformation. Companies including BenQ Materials, Cheng Mei Materials Technology (CMMT), and Optimax Technology are diversifying their roles across medical, semiconductor materials, and automotive applications. Their objective is to mitigate industry risk and obtain a second growth curve.

LED packaging maker Brightek reported consolidated revenue of NT$161 million (US$5.1 million) in the first quarter of 2026, down 9.7% year on year, impacted by the transition period at its new Nantong plant in Jiangsu, China, which began operations at the end of 2025. The company posted a net loss after tax of NT$3.95 million for March alone, widening its losses from the same month last year, with a loss per share of NT$0.06.

Panel suppliers kicked off a round of earnings briefings this week, with Radiant Optoelectronics opening on April 24 and peers Coretronic, AUO, and BenQ Materials following through early May, as companies describe strategic pivots to stabilize profits amid intense price competition.

According to The Korea Economic Daily, market research firm Omdia statistics show that in the 2025 iPhone display market, Samsung Display (SDC) ranked first with a 56.8% supply share, up about 8pp year-over-year. In terms of shipments, SDC's supply volume increased to around 142 million units in 2025, a year-over-year growth of about 15%.

Counterpoint Research expects overall OLED panel shipments to be flat year-over-year in 2026, a shift that tightens smartphone supply, boosts demand for premium and IT applications, and signals cost-driven portfolio changes for manufacturers worldwide.

Entering the second quarter of 2026, the smartphone panel market continues to carry the weak momentum carried over from the first quarter of 2026. As memory prices rise further alongside escalating bulk raw material costs, brand vendors have adopted more conservative procurement strategies, further intensifying competition across the panel supply chain.

E Ink Holdings chairman Johnson Lee said the display industry is at a turning point as mainstream technologies push for greater brightness, refresh rates, and color saturation. At the same time, energy and environmental constraints become more pressing. He argued that 80–90% of current display demand remains tied to established endpoints such as smartphones, televisions, tablets, and monitors, and that a focus on incremental performance improvements is reaching diminishing returns.

Taiwan's leading cable TV operator, Homeplus Digital, has entered the free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST TV) market through its subsidiary Global Digital Media with the launch of the "Waqu TV" platform, aiming to capture growing demand for no-subscription viewing as the island's paid over-the-top (OTT) sector nears saturation.

According to industry sources cited by The Elec, Samsung Display's (SDC) 8.6G OLED line has recently surpassed an 85% yield rate, approaching the industry's "golden yield" threshold of 90%. The initial ramp-up of the line has stabilized, and sample production is currently underway. Mass production expected to begin in June–July 2026. The panels are slated for Apple's 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models, with shipments potentially reaching around 2 million units in 2026.