LG Display also achieved operating profit in the first quarter of this year, following the fourth quarter of last year. This is the first time the company has achieved operating profit for two consecutive quarters in three years since the first quarter of 2022. LG Display said on April 24 that its sales in the first quarter of this year were 6.653 trillion won (equivalent to RMB 33.86 billion) and its operating profit was 33.5 billion won (equivalent to RMB 170 million). Compared with the same period last year, sales increased by 15% and operating profit turned positive.

The background of operating profit in the first quarter was mainly due to the favorable exchange rate environment and the inventory stocking demand of customer companies. Apple, Samsung Electronics and other complete machine manufacturers increased their inventory of parts and finished products. This was mainly due to US President Trump's announcement that he would impose tariffs on imported US products. Representative examples include: Apple's inventory stocking for iPhone organic light-emitting diodes (OLED); Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics' inventory stocking for large OLED and large liquid crystal displays (LCD) for TVs.

LG Display currently only produces low-temperature polycrystalline oxide (LTPO) OLED panels for Apple's iPhone 16 series flagship models Pro/Pro Max, which were launched last year. Although the overall sales of the iPhone 16 series are sluggish, the demand for Pro/Pro Max is relatively strong. The OLED panels used in the popular iPhone 16e launched in the first quarter also had a positive impact on LG Display's performance. It is worth noting that the iPhone 16e is not a fixed model launched every year.

In the field of OLED TV, North America and Europe dominate sales. Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics are reported to have reserved OLED TV and panel stocks in the North American market in advance. Although LG Display's large-scale OLED business is still in a loss-making state, it is expected to reduce the loss as shipments increase.

In addition, the first quarter is the last period for LG Display to produce LCD panels for TVs at its LCD factory in Guangzhou, China. The operation of the factory has been transferred to China Star Optoelectronics Technology Co., Ltd. (CSOT) since the 1st of this month.

As LG Display achieved sales of 6.653 trillion won in the first quarter, the performance of its competitor Samsung Display in the same period has also attracted much attention. Samsung Electronics released preliminary results on the 8th, showing that Samsung Display's first-quarter revenue is expected to be 5.8-6.1 trillion won, and operating profit is 450-500 billion won. If LG Display's first-quarter revenue exceeds Samsung Display, it will be the first time since the second quarter of 2021 that it has surpassed Samsung Display in 15 quarters.

However, it should be noted that even if LG Display's revenue in the first quarter exceeds that of Samsung Display, this situation may not be maintained for a long time. This is because from the second quarter, LG Display will no longer enjoy the revenue contribution of the Guangzhou LCD factory, which has a quarterly revenue of about 500 billion won and a full-year revenue of about 2 trillion won.

The scale of cash repatriation after the sale of the Guangzhou LCD factory has also attracted attention. Because the actual amount of cash repatriated to South Korea out of the total sale price of 2.2 trillion won of the factory is still uncertain. Refer to the case of Samsung Display's sale of the Suzhou LCD factory in August 2020: at that time, only 32% of the total sale price of US$1.08 billion was repatriated in cash, and the remaining US$739 million was used to acquire a 12% stake in CSOT.

There are also reports that Samsung Display plans to increase additional iPhone OLED orders in the second quarter. Currently, Samsung Display has mass-produced four OLED panels for the iPhone 16 series.