LG inks display deal with Apple

 

Gallery

By Reuters

Posted on 13 Jan 2009 at 08:59

LG Display has signed a five-year deal to supply LCD panels to Apple.

LG did not disclose the total worth of the deal but announced in a filing to the Korea Exchange that it would receive a $500 million advance from Apple this month.

"Although LG Display already had a relationship with Apple, the deal's duration and the size of the advance show that the two companies are involved in a long-term, strategic alliance," says Son Young-jun, a spokesman for LG Display.

"LG Display's panels already represent more than 70% of Apple's notebooks and monitors," adds Park Sang-hyun, an analyst at HI Investment & Securities.

"The share performance may be due to the fact that the decline in panel prices is not expected to continue," he says, referring to the steep price drops the LCD industry has experienced this year in the wake of the global slowdown and an industry oversupply.