Seoul: LG Electronics Inc. has expressed confidence in retaining its No. 1 position in the premium organic light-emitting diode (OLED) TV market, despite a potential alliance between China's TCL and Japan's Sony. "I think the combination of TCL's manufacturing capacity and Sony's quality control technology would create synergy," said Baek Seon-pil, head of the display business at LG Electronics, during a press conference on Wednesday. "With our own chipsets and significantly more user data, we will have an advantage over their collaboration," he added.
According to Yonhap News Agency, recent news reports indicate that TCL and Sony have agreed to establish a joint venture by 2027, merging TCL's manufacturing scale with Sony's brand and audio-visual technologies. The move is widely seen as a development that could reshape the industry landscape. LG Electronics led the global OLED TV market last year with a 49.7 percent share by shipments, marking its 13th consecutive year at No. 1. Samsung Electronics Co. followed with 30.7 percent, while Sony held 8.7 percent.
"I have never considered LG Electronics to be outperformed by Sony," Baek said, noting that Sony uses Taiwan-made chipsets for its OLED TVs, while LG uses its proprietary Alpha AI Processor. He also stressed that LG TVs run on its own operating system (OS), while Chinese TV makers rely on U.S.-developed OS platforms. "Our TV business saw sluggish performance last year, but we aim to improve this year," Baek said. "Despite currency volatility and geopolitical uncertainties, I expect better performance through restructuring efforts and other measures."