As automotive dashboards and infotainment screens increasingly abandon traditional liquid crystal displays (LCDs) in favor of more advanced technologies, an era quietly comes to an end. South Korean display panel giant LG Display (LGD) has announced the permanent shutdown of its fifth-generation (Gen 5) LCD production line (P5) in Gumi, South Korea, after two decades of operation. The move underscores LGD's strategic pivot away from conventional LCD panels and reflects the accelerating technological evolution in the display industry.

Commissioned in 2003, the P5 line produced amorphous silicon (a-Si) LCD panels measuring 1100x1250mm, primarily for automotive displays. The shutdown decision stems from LGD's broader effort to enhance production efficiency. Facing intense market competition, the company has been systematically reducing its a-Si thin-film transistor (TFT) LCD capacity while focusing on higher-value technologies like low-temperature polycrystalline silicon (LTPS).

Following the P5 line's closure, some production capacity will shift to the adjacent sixth-generation (Gen 6, 1500x1850mm) P6 line. The Gen 6 facility's larger glass substrates offer greater cost efficiency when manufacturing panels of equivalent size, enabling improved productivity and lower per-unit costs. LGD currently utilizes its Gumi plant primarily for flexible plastic OLED (POLED) panel production, while its Chinese and Vietnamese factories focus on LTPS TFT LCDs and automotive display modules respectively.

In the automotive sector, LTPS TFT LCDs now dominate panels larger than 20 inches, while a-Si TFT LCDs remain prevalent in 7- to 8-inch navigation screens. Although a-Si technology retains market share, automakers increasingly prefer LTPS solutions for their support of advanced in-cell touch technology—a feature unavailable in a-Si displays that enables slimmer designs and superior user experience.

While LGD has clearly prioritized OLED and LTPS LCD technologies, the fate of the P5 facility remains uncertain. The company could potentially repurpose the line for other panel types, such as iPhone OLED displays, though this appears unlikely given LGD's existing dedicated iPhone OLED production capacity. The P5 shutdown represents a strategic move to optimize LGD's manufacturing footprint and strengthen competitiveness, mirroring the broader industry's relentless march toward more sophisticated display technologies.