AI-driven demand for advanced packaging is giving old-generation panel fabs and equipment new value. As Taiwan's panel makers accelerate the phaseout of LCD capacity at the 5.5 generation and below, they are splitting into two tracks: selling factories to foundries and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) providers, or keeping lines in-house to develop fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP), through-glass via (TGV), redistribution layer (RDL), and glass core technologies.
A Chinese equipment maker has sold OLED production tools directly to LG Display for the first time, a small order that gives a Chinese supplier a foothold in a production network long served by Korean equipment makers.
AUO said panel demand will come under pressure in the second half. IT channel inventories remain elevated, with notebook inventories particularly high. TV inventories, however, stay healthy, supported by the 2026 FIFA World Cup and year-end promotion campaigns.
China's leading display manufacturers are stepping up investments across both LCD and OLED technologies, targeting larger TV panels and expanding into the fast-growing notebook OLED market as they seek new growth opportunities.
AUO, Taiwan's largest display panel maker, has spent recent years shifting away from consumer LCD panels toward higher-value markets such as automotive, healthcare and industrial displays. That transformation is now under intense scrutiny.
LCD panels still account for more than 90% of automotive display shipments, but OLED has now crossed a critical qualification threshold in the sector. That progress stems from advances in Tandem OLED technology, which have significantly improved lifetime and reliability. As validation data accumulates and production costs decline, industry researchers expect automotive OLED adoption to accelerate after 2030.
Chinese display suppliers are expanding into South Korea's automotive supply chain as competition shifts beyond televisions and smartphones toward software-defined vehicles, where cockpit displays are becoming a defining part of the user experience.
AUO's board of directors on July 30 approved a change in senior management, appointing Chief Financial Officer Chang Po-Yi as the company's new president, following Frank Ko's resignation as president for personal reasons.
Apple is developing a new MacBook Pro with OLED touch panels and is expected to rely solely on Samsung Display for the screens, according to South Korean media reports citing industry sources. The 14-inch and 16-inch models are said to be targeted for a launch in late 2026 or 2027.
Apple is pressing Samsung Display (SDC) and LG Display (LGD) for steep price reductions on OLED panels for the iPhone 18 series as rising memory and storage costs increase handset production expenses.
