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Rise in the price of LCD TV panels: China's grip is confirmed
21.09.2026 • 12h33
South Korean television manufacturers, led by Samsung and LG, are facing a rise in their production costs as the end-of-year holidays approach. The Chinese giants of LCD panel manufacturing have just notified their customers of significant price increases, confirming fears of a market now under the total control of the Middle Kingdom. A move that directly affects LCD televisions [abc], including QLED, Mini LED and even RGB LED [abc] models, while Oled [abc] remains spared.
According to several industry sources, the Chinese behemoths BOE, HKC Display Technology and TCL CSOT (TCL China Star Optoelectronics Technology) have recently sent notices of tariff increases to their main customers. Major players in the television market such as LG Electronics, Samsung Electronics and Sony Group are notably affected. In detail, BOE will apply its new rates starting in the fourth quarter of 2026, while TCL CSOT and HKC have begun raising their prices on certain products as early as this September. The exact amount of these surcharges, however, still remains to be specified depending on the panel types.
A strategic timing and a deliberate limitation of production
The timing of this increase is obviously no accident. It coincides very precisely with the period when TV brands build up their inventories for the end-of-year peak season. Samsung, LG and the like in fact begin securing their production volumes as early as August, in anticipation of strong sales tied to Black Friday and Christmas.
A situation of seasonal dependence that prevents them from drastically reducing their orders of LCD panels to protest against this increase. The most insidious part is that there is no industrial capacity constraint: some LCD production lines in China are currently running at historically low utilization rates, around 70% according to estimates. Rather than increasing output and flooding the market with low-cost components, Chinese manufacturers deliberately limit production to contain supply and impose higher prices.
An undisputed Chinese oligopoly
This maneuver is only possible because China has definitively secured its control over the supply chain. As research firm Omdia points out, BOE, HKC and TCL CSOT now form a true oligopoly in the large-size TV segment. These giants account for between 70% and 85% of the 65'', 75'' and 85'' panel market, and come close to an absolute monopoly in the very large diagonal segment, with 100" and larger models now almost exclusively equipped with Chinese panels.
The trap of Samsung and LG's past strategy
This situation is now violently backfiring on Samsung and LG, victims of their own past strategic decisions. This total dominance was first achieved through years of cutthroat pricing, inexorably pushing South Korean and Japanese competitors to abandon these activities, which had become impossible to profit from. Once the field had been cleared, the balance of power reversed. As a reminder, Samsung Display ended its LCD panel production by notably selling its Suzhou plant as well as its patents to TCL CSOT, followed by LG Display which stopped domestic TV panel manufacturing while also reselling its last major plant in Guangzhou... also to TCL CSOT.
It remains to be seen whether this increase in production costs on the manufacturers' side will be directly passed on to the final retail price of LCD televisions in stores by Black Friday.