At the K-Display 2025 exhibition in South Korea, Samsung Display (SDC) and LG Display (LGD) presented advancements in microdisplay technologies aimed at future market growth. Both companies introduced innovations across OLED-on-Silicon (OLEDoS) and Micro LED displays, highlighting ongoing research despite current market challenges.

Samsung Display (SDC) recently launched its foldable panel brand, MONT FLEX, at the K-Display 2025, marking an ongoing effort in foldable display innovation. Despite progress, Samsung Display acknowledged that the technology is not yet a finished product.

Major panel suppliers AU Optronics (AUO), Innolux Corporation, and HannStar have tempered expectations for the traditional third-quarter peak season in 2025. The cautious outlook is largely driven by customers' advanced inventory buildup in the first half of the year and ongoing tariff uncertainties affecting ordering patterns.

Taiwanese display manufacturers, including AUO Corporation, Innolux, and HannStar, are tempering expectations for the third quarter's traditional high season. After customers front-loaded orders in the first half of the year, suppliers expect seasonal demand to be more dispersed in the months ahead.

Japan Display (JDI) reported a 42% on-year revenue drop in the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, ended June 30, 2025, falling to JPY32.4 billion (US$219.43 million). The net loss grew sharply to JPY20.2 billion, significantly higher than the JPY6.5 billion loss from the previous year, report Nikkei and Mynvi.

Sharp Corporation reported a net profit of JPY27.2 billion (approx. US$184.21 million) for the April to June 2025 quarter, reversing a loss of JPY1.2 billion in the same period last year despite an 11% decline in revenue. The profit turnaround was partly driven by gains from the sale of assets at its Sakai, Osaka LCD panel factory to KDDI Corporation.

In response to US tariffs and China's "trade-in" policy, end-market players accelerated their purchases, leading to growth in LCD TV panel shipments and shipment area in the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2024. However, after a demand surge in the first quarter of 2025, demand began to cool in the second quarter, prompting end-market players to adjust inventories and panel manufacturers to follow suit by adjusting capacity utilization rates, resulting in price corrections for LCD TV panels.

Small-to-medium-sized panel maker HannStar Display continued to incur losses in the second quarter of 2025, marking its twelfth consecutive quarter of accumulated losses. To simplify its organizational structure and reduce operating costs, HannStar's board of directors decided to merge three wholly owned subsidiaries: Far Leader, Tong Xin Automation, and Lensme, all of which are investment holding companies. The planned merger is scheduled for October 1, 2025.

China's LCD panel market share has surpassed 70%, establishing absolute dominance in the global market. In recent years, Chinese panel manufacturers have primarily focused on expanding high-generation production lines such as 8.5G, 8.6G, and 10.5G, or directly increasing capacity and market share through mergers and acquisitions. For example, TCL CSOT took over LG Display's Guangzhou 8.5G fab.

As Samsung Display (SDC) secures its first-ever OLED panel order for Apple's MacBook, Chinese panel maker Beijing Oriental Electronics (BOE) is positioning itself to target any supply gaps, pushing to become a supplier for OLED panels used in iPads. If successful, this could threaten South Korea's dominance in OLED technology.

AUO has confirmed that the sale of its Singapore plant is still underway, aligning with its strategy to streamline global operations. The move follows a similar step by Taiwanese peer Innolux, which recently shut down its Fab 5 to adjust capacity.

Supply and demand in the LCD monitor panel market remain weak, keeping prices stable in July 2025 and resulting in an expected similar trend for August 2025.

Samsung Electronics has long dominated the global TV market, but Chinese TV brands have grown rapidly in recent years, steadily challenging Samsung's top spot. As of the first half of 2025, second-place TCL's global TV shipments trailed behind Samsung by less than 3 million units, stepping up to challenge to the global leader.

Taiwanese display manufacturer Innolux reported a net loss in the second quarter of 2025, with core operations remaining in the red for the fourth consecutive quarter. The company warned of a more subdued demand outlook for the second half of the year, citing trade uncertainties and an early inventory pull-in by customers during the first half.

The US Congress has added a new clause to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), requiring the Pentagon to evaluate whether BOE Technology — China's top display panel manufacturer — should be labeled a "Chinese military company" (CMC).

Taiwanese display maker Innolux has officially entered volume production of its fan-out panel-level packaging (FOPLP) technology, a cornerstone of its broader transformation strategy. Chairman and CEO Jim Hung announced during an August 1, 2025, earnings call that shipments reached over 2 million units in a single month during the second quarter of 2025, with output projected to scale into the tens of millions by the end of 2025.

On July 31, 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order slapping Taiwan with a 20% reciprocal tariff. Taiwanese President William Lai stated that this is a "temporary" tariff rate announced by the US to Taiwan and could be reduced if subsequent agreements are reached.

Early panel procurement, fueled by US tariffs and China's "trade-in" incentives, drove up global LCD TV panel shipments and total shipment area in the first half of 2025. Taiwan's Innolux overtook China's HKC in unit shipments, rising to the third position globally and reshaping the competitive landscape.

Global overall OLED panel revenue saw modest year-over-year growth in the first quarter of 2025, buoyed by rising demand across emerging segments such as augmented reality glasses, automotive displays, smartwatches, TVs, and monitors. However, in a significant market shift, Samsung Display (SDC) lost its leadership position in the foldable OLED segment to Chinese rival BOE Technology Group, according to Chosun Biz and News1, citing data from Counterpoint Research.

Coretronic Corporation expects a divergence in performance across its two core product segments in the third quarter of 2025, with energy-saving solutions projected to rebound while imaging systems face continued headwinds from tariff uncertainty and currency volatility.

BOE Technology is on track to surpass LG Display (LGD) as Apple's top MacBook LCD panel supplier in 2025, marking a significant shift in Apple's display sourcing as the company edges toward OLED adoption.

Taiwanese panel players are prepared for their Investor conferences, with Coretronic to be the first to host, followed by AUO, BenQ Materials, Innolux, and Cheng Mei Materials Technology. For the factors that may influence their second-half performance, in addition to the US's reciprocal tariffs on Taiwan's exports, panel demand in the third quarter of 2025 is likely to be weak despite the period being the traditional strong season. However, each company will still prepare the needed measures to maximize its results.

LG Display (LGD) has announced that it will ship around 6.5 million large-size OLED TVs and monitors in 2025, a year-over-year increase of 14.04%. With the depreciation of equipment at the Guangzhou OLED plant in China ending, LGD has outlined major plans to turn its operations profitable by the end of the year.

To secure its market leadership, Samsung Electronics has positioned MicroLED technology as the exclusive feature for its flagship models. However, Samsung reportedly plans to market an advanced model of Mini LED TVs as "non-self-emissive RGB MicroLED", confusing the original product strategy of MicroLED, which aimed for the very top-tier customers.