We need to change our identity from a manufacturer to a technology company.
President Jeong Chul-dong of LG Display, who achieved a turnaround to an annual surplus three years after taking office, has often made remarks to this effect in public. The idea is to secure profitability by shifting to a technology-centered company to achieve cost reductions and differentiated quality. It is being observed that this strategy has shown notable results recently.
According to the Financial Supervisory Service's electronic disclosure system on the 9th, LG Display poured 221.14 billion won into research and development (R&D) last year. It spent an amount equivalent to 8.6% of annual sales on securing technology. Newly registered patents last year totaled 4,073 (1,817 domestic and 2,256 overseas). The patent registration rate stayed above 95%, and as of the end of last year, the cumulative number of registered patents came to 70,335 (31,645 domestic and 38,690 overseas).
LG Display is running its business not only to use its technology development achievements to improve quality and production efficiency but also to make them revenue in themselves. Through its newsroom recently, LG Display said, "Annual royalty (patent licensing fee) revenue is gradually increasing every year, and we are securing stable revenue based on patents for core processes and structural designs."
As of the cumulative third quarter last year, LG Display's patent royalties were 99.9 billion won. The 2025 business report did not specify the size of patent royalties, but "other sales," which includes them, came to 242.5 billion won. LG Display's annual patent royalty revenue can be estimated at around 110 billion to 120 billion won.
◇ Withdrawal from large LCD panel business… expansion of patent licensing business
LG Display's patent royalty revenue has increased every year, from 12.4 billion won in 2022 to 16.3 billion won in 2023 and 60.6 billion won in 2024.
The industry cites LG Display's withdrawal from the large liquid crystal display (LCD) panel business in Apr. last year as one reason its patent royalty revenue is rising. Even if it provides large LCD-related patents to competitors, the markets do not overlap, allowing it to create a new revenue source from its accumulated technology. LG Display is also maintaining cross-licensing agreements for LCD-related patents with Taiwan's HannStar Display, AU Optronics, and Innolux.
LG Display is shifting its business structure from LCD to organic light-emitting diode (OLED), which has higher profitability. It is adjusting its product portfolio to respond to low-price offensives by Chinese display corporations. OLED's share of total sales rose from 32% in 2020 to 40% in 2022 and 55% in 2024, and it expanded to 61% last year, setting a record high.
Accordingly, as of the end of last year, price per area rose 49% from the same period a year earlier to $1,297 (about 1,845,200 won). Based on this, LG Display reduced its 2024 loss by 2 trillion won from the previous year and achieved another improvement of about 1 trillion won last year. LG Display's annual operating profit last year was 517 billion won, marking a return to an annual surplus for the first time in four years.
◇ Active in defending OLED technology
While LG Display is increasing revenue by expanding the scope of patent licenses it provides to other companies in the LCD field, it is still focused on maintaining technological leadership in OLED, its core source of sales. A representative example is the lawsuit it filed in Jun. last year, claiming that China's display corporation Tianma infringed seven of its LCD and OLED-related patents. Although Tianma has been using LG Display's patented technology, it delayed or refused license negotiations that have stretched on for more than 10 years, prompting legal action.
Tianma countered by petitioning the U.S. Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) for an inter partes review (IPR) to invalidate one core patent. However, the U.S. court dismissed Tianma's petition. The conclusion was reached, without a separate hearing process, that LG Display's rights to the patent in question would be maintained.
◇ Greater efficiency in technology development through AI adoption
LG Display is also pushing to streamline technology development, centered on OLED. Early this year, it adopted Nvidia's artificial intelligence (AI) platform "PhysX-NEMO" and developed its own Digital Twin panel tool (DPS), a representative example.
Digital Twin refers to technology that precisely implements the real world in a virtual space. In the OLED panel production process, various measurements are processed as data. By inputting such manufacturing data into a virtual space, results can be predicted without changing the actual process.
LG Display's DPS incorporates an AI model trained on the actual physical measurement processes of OLED manufacturing. This has significantly boosted the accuracy and processing speed of virtual experiments. Nvidia even invited LG Display, which improved manufacturing efficiency using its platform, to the stage at its annual developer conference (GTC) 2026 held last month.
◇ Strength in abundant talent… "We must defend the gap with differentiated technology"
Another strength is that President Jeong Chul-dong has the "manpower" to achieve the vision of a "technology-centered company." The Society for Information Display (SID) last month awarded the "Karl Ferdinand Braun Prize" to business unit head Choi Hyeon-cheol of LG Display. It is given only to those who have pioneered foundational technologies of the industry and is also called the "Nobel Prize of the display industry."
Choi won for developing high-efficiency panels with multi-stack structures such as Tandem, enabling OLED to expand into TVs, high-performance IT, and automotive applications. Tandem OLED panels are produced by stacking the organic emissive layers vertically in multiple tiers. By dispersing the energy applied to the OLED device, they feature higher brightness and longer lifespan than the conventional single-layer structure. LG Display ranks No. 1 in the number of patent applications and registrations in high value-added technology fields such as Tandem OLED.
In addition, Yang Jun-young, head of advanced technology research at LG Display, was named an SID fellow. Each year, SID selects fellows from the top 0.1% with outstanding research achievements through recommendations from past fellows and a committee review. In selecting Yang as a fellow, SID said, "He has led the development of various flexible displays, including stretchable and rollable," and "He has made significant contributions to the development of various next-generation displays, including OLEDoS (ultra-compact, high-resolution OLED panels used in Extended Reality (XR) devices)."
In Feb., President Jeong Chul-dong held a town hall event called "CEO On-Air," saying, "We were able to achieve a turnaround last year and break free from four years of losses thanks to all employees working as One-Team," and added, "Differentiated technology will be the moat that defends the gap between LG Display and its competitors."