In the DSCC's recently updated Advanced TV Display Cost Report, the Advanced panel costs for each technology category are analyzed. Although our cost report shows that the total cost of panels made in China in 2020 was higher than the cost of similar panels made in South Korea as the production line started to climb. But by 2021, the overall cost started to fall because of the advantage of Chinese production, and by 2022, the yield advantage of South Korean production had been eliminated. China has lower costs in labor, overhead and SG&A. But the depreciation costs are higher in China than in South Korea, where production lines are fully depreciated. So the total cost is comparable between the two regions. But the cash cost of manufacturing in China is lower.
LGD has significantly increased the size range of WOLED products over the past two years, and our report also covers additional display products to be introduced in 2022 including 27-inch FHD, 31-inch QHD, and 42-inch UHD panels as well as 45-inch WQHD panel analysis with an ultra-wide (21.5:9) aspect ratio. The 45-inch WQHD panel will target the high-end gaming display market, where deep contrast and fast response times are key features compared to LCD based displays. The addition of 45-inch panels and other display sizes such as 27-inch, 31-inch and 42-inch will allow LGD to capture more revenue from its 8.5-generation WOLED production line.
In this report, we also cover the new cost model for Inkjet printing (IJP) OLED. If IJP can move to mass production, we expect CSOT to be the first panel manufacturer to introduce IJP. CSOT has a joint development agreement with JOLED for IJP technology and has demonstrated IJP OLED products at various trade shows. We have analyzed the cost comparison between IJP OLED and WOLED, as shown in the chart below. Both types of products will be produced on the 8.5 generation production line in China. In our cost model, we assume that the IJP panel does not require color filters, thus saving additional costs. Most early IJP OLED prototypes already included color filters. The chart here shows that even with these advantages, the cost of IJP is comparable to WOLED and does not yield a significant advantage. When the WOLED production line is fully depreciated, the total cost of WOLED can even be lower than that of IJP.
Starting in 2022, we include QD-OLED panel costs in this report. We estimate that in the first year, QD-OLED panels cost substantially more than any other panel of the same screen size due to relatively low production volumes. Although SDC is said to have boosted QD-OLED production. As production increases, the cost of QD-OLED panels will drop dramatically. We estimate that QD-OLED panel costs will decrease by 20%-25% in 2023.
2023, mainly based on the impact of higher yields. Higher yields allow fixed costs, including depreciation and most personnel and overhead costs to be amortized. Subscribers to the report can see detailed cost models for both 55-inch and 65-inch QD-OLED panels, including quarterly cost estimates from 2022 to 2026, broken down by cost composition, and corresponding estimates of output and plant utilization.
The chart below shows the cost profile of 75"/77 "panels based on different technologies in 2022. The LCD product is based on the 10.5 generation production line in China, and the WOLED product is based on the 8.5 generation line cut in China. Needless to say, traditional LCDS with UHD resolution and 60Hz refresh rate have the lowest cost, which is more than 50% lower than the UHD WOLED of the same specification. LCD products with 120Hz and QDEF add only a small amount of cost, about 5% and 10% extra cost, respectively. However, MiniLED UHD and 8K QD LCD are the products with higher cost among high-end products, increasing the total cost by about 50% respectively.
But the total cost of 75-inch 8K MiniLED LCD TV panels is almost as high as that of 77-inch WOLED UHD panels when combined with high-end specifications.
