SAMSUNG DISPLAY BETS ON FOLDABLE GLASS

Abstract

SAMSUNG DISPLAY HAS MADE A substantial investment in the ultra-thin glass substrate firm Dowoo Insys, whose technology will be used by Samsung Electronics for its next generation of Galaxy Fold devices. In late December, Samsung Display acquired 600,000 shares of Dowoo Insys for 13.5 billion won, or $11.6 million, through a collaborative fund with Samsung Venture Investment Corp. The purchase makes Samsung the company's largest shareholder, with a 27.7 percent stake. Samsung Display has invested a total of 48.5 billion won, or $41.5 million, in Dowoo Insys since May 2018. According to Ross Young, CEO of the market research firm Display Supply Chain Consultants, Samsung's move to gain a controlling interest in Dowoo Insys makes sense as it looks to gain a competitive advantage in the nascent foldable market. Ultra-thin glass is expected to produce a more robust display than the colorless polyimides that Samsung used in its first Galaxy Fold product, providing a better feel and eliminating the visible crease in the flexible OLED display. “They think it's a strategic technology to make foldable more successful,” he said. Young notes that the ultra-thin glass Samsung will be using is actually produced by the German firm Schott, and that Dowoo Insys has a proprietary method for processing the glass. Opting for Ultra-Thin Glass Young believes a 1.5 mm radius will be implemented on the next Samsung foldable phone with Schott's ultra-thin glass. It was 3 mm in the first Galaxy Fold. Image: Samsung “Our understanding is that it could potentially be more than a single piece of glass in order to deal with the elongation,” Young said, adding that Dowoo Insys may also be helping to thin the glass and is expected to be laminating a protective film over it from another Korean supplier in case of any unforeseen cracking. Details from Dowoo Insys about its process are scarce, he said. As the foldable market expands, Young sees Schott having an early edge with its ultra-thin glass, which can be chemically strengthened and made thinner than some competing products. “They've talked about going as thin as 10 microns, but what's more likely is around 30 microns,” he said. “As the glass gets thinner, the fold radius gets smaller. We believe that they're going to be implementing a 1.5 millimeter (mm) radius on the next Samsung foldable phone with the ultra-thin glass.” In comparison, the radius of the first Galaxy Fold was 3 mm. The new Galaxy Fold, which is expected to use a clamshell design, will officially be unveiled in February. Although Samsung Display doesn't have an exclusive deal with Schott for its glass, it does have an exclusive deal with Dowoo Insys through its investment, which means that Samsung alone has access to the company's processing and laminating technology. Young says the Dowoo Insys deal is consistent with Samsung's recent emphasis on sourcing key technology from Korean suppliers in the wake of trade tensions with Japan. “They've become a lot more focused on self-sufficiency within Korea,” Young said. —Glen Dickson U.S. carriers may have launched limited 5G services months ahead of their Chinese counterparts, but at the close of 2019, Chinese carriers recorded almost 17 times the number of 5G phone sales, according to data from the market research firm M Science. Chinese carriers, the firm reports, have been selling more than 100,000 5G-phones every week since early November, while U.S. carriers haven't moved more than 15,000 5G phones per week since September. Why? Varied and competing 5G technologies on the U.S. end versus a standardized market in China (led by Huawei) are key. For the week of Dec. 7, the 5G adoption rate in the U.S. was 1.9 percent, having received a sizable bump after T Mobile launched its 5G network on Dec. 2, while in China the penetration rate was 3.42 percent, according to M Science. —Nicole Saunders Image: vchal/Shutterstock Image: vchal/Shutterstock