Korea Display Conference 2006 (KDC2006)

The seventh Korea Display Conference 2006 (KDC2006) was held on 6-7 July 2006 at the Grand Ballroom in Coex, Samsung-Dong, Seoul. Jointly organized by Displaybank and Korea Display Equipment Material Industry Association (KODEMIA), the KDC 2006 was a remarkable success with massive 750 people participating.

Presentations dealt with topics related to the current display market issues, and 750 people from more than 150 local and foreign companies, such as display materials, components, equipment and finished goods manufacturers, and securities, banking and academic companies joined in the conference. Officials from worldwide leading display companies delivered approximately 50 presentations. The KDC 2006 ran over two days on the back of high spirits, boasting its heightened reputation.
 

The purpose of the KDC 2006 would be to tone down the atmosphere of the local display industry that emphasizes external growth and to gauge the actual benefits.

Compared to 2005, the number of presentations increased by 10 to 50, and the reviews said it was improved in coordination and volume by session. In addition, the evaluation was that it was it was a truly international conference, where almost half the speakers were from overseas.

Starting with the key speech, PDP TV competitiveness analysis, the program was composed of TFT-LCD market issues & corporate strategies, and small-to-medium-size display market and competitiveness analysis, and the second-day program covered differentiation strategies for large-size FPD TV products, core LCD materials, flexible & next-generation display technology development trends, FPD equipment and Inkjet printing, backlight market analysis, and the OLED field.

<KDC2006 Program>
 

The conference began with a presentation titled 'Dramatic Growth & Chaos' by Peter Kwon, president at the conference organizer Displaybank, following congratulatory addresses by Ko Suk-Tae, president at KODEMIA, and Hong Suk-Woo, director of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy. Peter Kwon expected that the value of the display market for TV, monitor and notebook applications will jump from $142 billion in 2005 to $186 billion by 2010, while the secondary industry including parts, materials, and equipment will see growth in value from $119 billion to $182.1 billion for the corresponding period. He nominated constant drops in prices, the resultant deteriorated profits, and competitiveness re-analysis of huge TFT-LCD fabrication lines as major market issues. Given that competition has become more intense, and margins have moved down, he stressed during his keynote speech that companies should pursue localization of core industries and clusterization with related industries, apart from development of core technologies. James P. Clappin, president at Corning Display, and Jung Ho-Gyun, vice president at Samsung SDI, Peter Compo, vice president at DuPont, and lastly Michael F. Ciesinski, president at USDC, followed Peter Kwon with comprehensive analyses of the current display market and each company's key second-half strategies.

Displaybank President Peter Kwon

Corning President James P.Clappin

USDC President Michael F.Ciesinski

      Samsung SDI executive director Lee Kwang Sik began the presentation in the afternoon session of the first day, followed by 13 presentations led by FHP's general manager Kikuchi Shinya, LG Electronics' group head Kang Seok-Wan, Samsung Corning's general manager Son Min-Ho, and AUO's director Meng Yueh Wu. AUO's director Meng Yueh Wu chose the topic of the current inventory status and analysis, and predicted that its absorption of Quanta Display Inc. (QDI) scheduled for October will allow AUO to leap to first place in the worldwide TFT-LCD market. After acquiring QDI, AUO will have similar capacity to Korea's LG.Philips LCD and Samsung Electronics, and its capability with regard to capital, engineers, the fabrication process, and customers will all improve through the synergy effect. Combined shipments of the two Taiwan-based panel vendors have already reached the top level of the industry for the first quarter, and they especially clinched the No. 1 position in the TV and PC monitor panel shipments, according to Wu. In addition, he commented that companies' cooperation for inventory adjustments would be helpful for all of them, reflecting the fact that the current inventory level is bad. Presentations on the topic of the small and medium size segment by Samsung SDI executive director Lee Woo-Jong, BOE's senior executive director Sin Sung-Sik, LG Electronics' general manager Gong Yong-Mu, and Digital Cube's research center head You Yeon-Sik created further fever among attendees of the KDC 2006.

    

Samsung Corning Gen. Manager Son Min-Ho

AUO Director Meng Yueh Wu

Displaybank Vice President Kenny Kim

In the morning of the second day, presentations were made on the large-area FPD TV segment, LCD core component market issues & technology trends, and the flexible & next-generation display technology segment, by 15 speakers including Kim Kwang-Ju, vice president at Displaybank, Lee Geun-Soo, vice president at Data Garage, Xiaoyi Jiang, director at Konka, Heo Tae-Young, manager at Samsung Electronic, and Makoto Takahashi, professor at Osaka Educational University. Notably, Osaka University professor Takahashi's presentation on the analysis of impacts of LCD TV and PDP TV on viewers' visual fatigue attracted huge attention.

In the evening, 14 domestic and foreign speakers such as AKT vice president ID Kang, Korea ULVAC president Baek Chung-Ryul, and Samsung Electronics executive president Jung Gyu-Ha gave heated addresses on FPD equipment market issues and Inkjet, BLU market analyses & technology trends, and the OLED market & forecasts for the trend towards larger designs. Jusung Engineering vice president Yang Doo-Young was outstanding with tremendous reaction from the audience to his presentation on new equipment technology for use in AMOLED manufacture.

    

Osaka Univ. Professor Takahashi

Samsung Elec. Exec. Director Jung Kyu-Ha

Korea Ulvac President Baek Chung-Ryul

Participants bombarded speakers with mordant questions during the question and answer time in between each presentation, further heating up the discussion.

   <KDC2006 Exhibition/Sponsors>

In the lobby in front of the Grand Ballroom, where the conference was held, an exhibition also took placed. Although this year's exhibition was small, composed of component and material suppliers, rather than vendors of set products such as PDP and LCD TVs, , the potential of an expert display exhibition was demonstrated. 3M Korea Co. Ltd., K.C.Tech Co. Ltd., Phicom Corporation, Sung Do Engeering & Construction Co. Ltd., and Jusung Engineering Co. Ltd. showcased their new technologies and materials.

<KDC2006 VIP Reception Party>

The KDC 2006 offered a substantial opportunity to both trace the display industry for the first half of 2006, and forecast the second-half and future market. Moreover, local and foreign display insiders, and people from backing/securities companies, academic institutions, the government and press companies showed their zeal for the conference throughout the two-day conference, by filling up the 750 seats until the end of the event. We anticipate that next year's KDC 2007 will be another success in consideration of tremendous response shown at the KDC 2006, which has solidified its reputation as a true international comprehensive conference, and we appreciate all participants, speakers, and exhibition staff.