LG Display to Nurture its Thin-Film Solar Cell Business as a Future Growth Driver

Seoul, Korea . – LG Display Co., Ltd. [NYSE: LPL, KRX: 034220], a leading innovator of thin-film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) technology, today announced plans to focus its R&D capabilities on a thin-film type solar cell and nurture it as a future growth driver.

LG Display plans to invest KRW50 billion into R&D to build a pilot line within its Paju display complex in Korea during the second half of 2009 and build an outdoor test power generation facility.

Further, the company aims to raise the current energy conversion efficiency rate of 8% to 12% by 2010, and eventually achieve efficiency rate of 14% in 2012 to prepare for commercialization. It also plans to secure sufficient commercial value by lowering the manufacturing cost to less than USD1 per watt.

In addition, LG Display target the market for cells used in photovoltaic power generation, buildings and public displays during the initial stages of commercialization. The company’s long-term blueprint includes expansion into solar cells for mobile displays and automobiles, as well as solar cells for extreme environments such as offshore photovoltaic power generation stations.

According to US market researcher Nano Markets, the thin-film type solar cell market will grow from USD4.6 billion in 2011 to USD14 billion by 2015.

Thin-film type solar cells: Thin-film type solar cells are being hailed as a solution to the problems associated with widely adopted crystalline solar cells that employ silicon wafers. Problems include a lack of materials and the high price of materials. By placing electrodes onto a glass or plastic substrate rather than a silicon wafer, process efficiency can be raised by increasing the substrate size. Additionally, the technology would not be susceptible to weight adjustments or conditions of the installation location, making it relatively stable against changes in the external environment. As the related technology is similar to TFT-LCD, the entry barrier is relatively low for LCD manufacturers such as LG Display.