Chen Yanshun, chair of Chinese display maker BOE, is reported to have visited Samsung Electronics business sites.
According to the industry on the 15th, he visited Samsung Electronics' Suwon headquarters and met with Samsung Electronics management including President Yong Seok-woo, head of the VD (visual display) division. BOE is the No. 1 company in the global LCD (liquid crystal display) market and supplies LCD panels for Samsung Electronics TVs. An industry official said, "At the meeting that day, Samsung Electronics discussed with BOE the supply of BOE liquid crystal displays (LCDs) to be installed in the company's TVs."
As Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics fully withdrew from the global LCD market, Chinese companies such as BOE and CSOT filled the gap. LCD panels that go into Samsung Electronics TVs have no choice but to be supplied entirely by Chinese companies. Samsung Electronics is currently receiving large supplies of LCD panels from CSOT, a competitor to BOE, but TCL, CSOT's parent company, is also the biggest competitor threatening the profitability of Samsung Electronics' VD division.
Since 2022, relations with BOE have become even more complicated as Samsung Display, a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics, has pursued patent infringement lawsuits against BOE. In Dec. 2022, Samsung Display filed a patent infringement lawsuit with the U.S. International Trade Commission (ITC) against BOE and U.S. component wholesalers, and in Oct. 2023 it accused BOE of trade secret misappropriation.
In July, the ITC issued a "limited exclusion order" (LEO) in a preliminary ruling on the trade secret case, stating that BOE's OLED panels could not be imported into the United States for 14 years and 8 months, effectively ending the legal battle as a complete victory for Samsung Display. Recently, after a settlement, BOE agreed to pay royalties to Samsung Display for patent use, and the lawsuit was halted.