LGD’s FLiPP Technology Enters Internal Technical Decision-Making Phase

According to South Korean industry sources, LG Display plans to hold an internal technical review this month for its proprietary FMM-free RGB OLED manufacturing technology **FLiPP**. This marks the technology’s entry into the internal decision-making stage following its first public debut at IMID 2026 in Busan last month. The review is expected to finalize key details including the commercialization technical roadmap, supporting equipment specifications, and the scale of production line retrofitting.

Core Principle of FLiPP: Photolithography Replaces Masks

Conventional RGB OLED evaporation relies on Fine Metal Masks (FMM) to define pixel positions. For large-size panels, mask deformation and alignment accuracy have long been persistent industry pain points. FLiPP takes a fundamentally different approach: it first evaporates OLED emissive materials uniformly across the entire substrate, then uses UV photolithography to remove non-pixel regions while retaining intact pixel areas. In essence, it brings the mature photolithography methodology from the semiconductor industry into OLED pixel fabrication.

Production Line Strategy: Retrofit Existing Lines Instead of Building New Ones

More notable is LG Display’s production line planning. The company intends to convert idle Gen 8.5 large-size WOLED production lines at its Paju plant into dedicated FLiPP lines, rather than constructing brand-new Gen 8.6 FMM RGB OLED lines as Samsung Display and BOE have done.

The advantage of this strategy is clear: repurposing existing equipment can drastically reduce capital expenditure and accelerate time-to-market. The tradeoff, however, is that even with maximum line reuse, all-new materials and processes tailored to FLiPP technology are still required, making supporting preparation unavoidable. Industry consensus suggests LG Display will kick off FLiPP-related equipment procurement as early as the second or third quarter of next year.

The Biggest Uncertainty: Production Yield

Photolithography-based RGB OLED is not a new concept. Japan’s JDI and China’s Visionox have both explored this route. Visionox currently adopts a photolithography approach but has opted for a vertical evaporation scheme for its Gen 8.6 production lines, while TCL CSOT pursues an inkjet printing path. With three non-FMM technology tracks advancing in parallel, whoever achieves mass production yield breakthroughs first will likely gain the upper hand in the next generation of large-size OLED competition.

For LG Display, FLiPP technology represents a high-stakes bet. Success would allow it to enter the IT OLED and mid-to-large size RGB markets at a lower cost, while failure could see it fall further behind in the Gen 8.6 race. The outcome of this month’s internal review will be the first key milestone to gauge the trajectory of this gamble.

Post time: Sep-11-2026