LG Display has confirmed its plan to cut jobs through voluntary retirement as the company intends to shift its product portfolio from LCD display to OLED display which requires less production workforce, reported Reuters.

(Image: LG Display)

The falling panel price resulting from Chinese competition has led to continuous quarterly losses for the Korean panel maker. LG Display has thus announced that it would slash its investment plans by US$ 2.7 billion to 2020 and move its business focus from LCD to OLED. The company has taken another big move by cutting down employees in production which account for 65 percent of its workforce to intensify its strategy targeting OLED panels which can be produced automatically and requires fewer personnel.

According to the report of Reuters, LG Display would begin to receive the applications of voluntary retirement in October but the target size of the voluntary redundancy has not been decided yet.

Korean panel makers including Samsung and LG used to be big players in the LCD market. Since they both decreased their LCD businesses, other panel makers from Taiwan and China are expected to take over their market share. Chinese company BOE has surpassed LG Display to become the top LCD TV panel supplier in 1H18. On the other hand, Taiwan-based Innolux and AUO have continued to target the high-end panel market including large size TVs and automotive displays. They have also announced their strategy to boost Mini LED and Micro LED technology development in order to compete with OLED.