On the 10th (local time), Lee Joo-hyung, head of the small and medium display business unit at Samsung Display (executive vice president), took part in a conference at "IAA Mobility 2025" and stressed that "Samsung organic light-emitting diode (OLED) will become the digital platform that links autonomous-driving future mobility and people."
"IAA 2025," held in Munich, Germany, is one of the world's three largest motor shows. In addition to exhibitions by major corporations in the mobility field, a conference is held where leaders from politics, business, research and development, and startups attend to share insights on the future of mobility and development tasks.
On the main IAA stage that day, Lee joined as a panelist in a conference themed "Innovation at speed: evolving to meet the market," alongside Amy McLaughlin, president of the 3M Advanced Materials and Transportation Products platform institutional sector, and Geoffrey Bouquot, a member of the Audi AG board for technical development.
He said, "As vehicles evolve into SDVs (software-defined vehicles) that drive autonomously, the display is emerging as the point of consolidation between the car and people as well as a digital platform," adding, "In particular, by combining with AI, OLED will create diverse value as core infrastructure for future mobility, such as recognizing surrounding objects or providing safe driving solutions through deep learning."
Samsung Display has recently underscored its determination to nurture automotive OLEDs as a new growth engine, including unveiling the in-vehicle OLED brand "DRIVE™." Lee said, "Samsung OLED can deliver a thrilling delight to consumers who want something new and special," and forecast, "Future concepts such as sliderble, bendable, and rollable are now becoming reality."
He added, "Through FMP (Flex Magic Pixel), which controls viewing angles, and UPC (Under Panel Camera) technology, which embeds the camera in the display to eliminate holes, we can not only aesthetically improve vehicle interiors but also, when combined with AI functions, remove various factors that impede safe driving," noting, "OLED's premium picture quality, such as perfect black rendering and contrast ratio—differentiating it from LCD—also doubles the sense of luxury in vehicles."
He also explained that Samsung Display can respond cost-effectively to customer demand for larger and more diverse displays. At this IAA exhibition, Samsung Display proposed a "Multi-Lamination" solution that creates a large screen by combining two or more displays. The concept is that customers can pick and combine from various display sizes offered by Samsung Display as if shopping in a supermarket to suit their taste. Through this, customers can freely design products while also reducing the time invested in product development.
Lee emphasized that Samsung Display is a partner that can work together from the new-car planning stage through the mid- to long-term future. He said, "Customers can test new technologies and materials on the Samsung Display platform as if assembling Lego blocks, and from this, map out a mid- to long-term infotainment roadmap," adding, "We will synchronize Samsung Display's technology development roadmap with this and quickly provide OLED solutions at the necessary points in time."
Meanwhile, according to market research firm Omdia, the market size (by revenue) of automotive OLEDs is expected to grow from about $880 million last year (about 1.2 trillion won) to $4.86 billion by 2030 (about 6.7 trillion won). With a compound annual growth rate of 33%, its share within the overall automotive display market is also projected to surge from 7% to 23.6%. Samsung Display recorded a 55.9% market share in automotive OLEDs last year.