133: Trip to South Korea 1

After hanging up the phone, Park Yitien smiled contentedly. It was no exaggeration to say that Samsung's OLED screens were currently the best in the world.

He had just carefully reviewed the report on the Red Star ROC Phone. The report highlighted that Red Star used domestically produced Chinese LCD screens, which were completely inferior to their own Galaxy note 3, which used Diamond PenTile arrangement, in terms of brightness, color vibrancy, and saturation.

It was clear that Red Star intended to move into the high-end market, but Park Yitien knew that Samsung's breakthrough in OLED screen technology was about to consign Japan's LCD panels to the trash. Since Red Star wanted to go high-end, they absolutely could not bypass Samsung's OLED screens.

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This was the inevitable trend of the future.

And Samsung could rely on its OLED screens to earn excessive profits and simultaneously exert leverage over mobile phone manufacturers worldwide.

As for domestically produced Chinese OLED screens?

Don't joke. The LCD screen technology and production lines currently used by China were all systems discarded by Japan and Samsung.

Mass production by themselves was almost impossible.

Even if they could technically mass-produce OLED screens, they couldn't bypass Samsung's patents. The patents for the best screen pixel arrangement methods were currently held by Samsung, making it impossible for China to produce OLED screens better than Samsung's.

The proper course of action was to obediently spend a fortune purchasing Samsung's screens.

As long as China chose Samsung's screens, he could easily manipulate them relying on his relationship with Kim Jae-se of the screen division.

Was the woman he sent over that easy to enjoy?

In a massive conglomerate like Samsung, simply having ability wasn't enough.

When mixing in these circles, you needed influence and background!

He reached his current position precisely because of his connection with CEO Li. With this background, he wasn't afraid that Kim Jae-se wouldn't cooperate.

It was just a pity about Li Xiuzhu; he hadn't enjoyed her many times before having to send her to Kim Jae-se.

Meanwhile, the head of Red Star's Procurement Department and Dr. Zhou's entourage also arrived in South Korea. Their destination was Samsung.

Red Star had previously contacted the Samsung China department, expressing interest in purchasing a batch of Samsung's OLED screens. However, because Samsung's own screen capacity was dedicated to the Galaxy S series and note series, the person in charge of Samsung China stated that he could not make the decision.

He suggested that Red Star contact Samsung Headquarters directly.

This was why Dr. Zhou and his group were now traveling to South Korea.

"Manager Tang, Minister Zhou, I have sent a letter of intent to visit Samsung, but they have not yet responded."

As soon as they got off the plane, several young people were waiting for Dr. Zhou and the others at the airport.

"It's alright. We can wait a few days. Besides Samsung, we also have LG as an option."

Tang Mang said this to the young people who had arrived ahead of them. This was Red Star's first cooperation with Samsung, and Red Star took it extremely seriously.

Through two years of effort, China Star's current LCD screen technology has basically caught up to the level Japan was at two years ago. Neither the display effect nor the brightness is inferior to the products currently available on the market from Japan.

However, there is still a significant gap when it comes to top-tier screens. It must be understood that the screens you can procure on the market are definitely not the best screens from manufacturers like Sharp.

The best ones are certainly not sold externally or are reserved for self-use.

Recalling those years in the TV panel industry, Japan essentially had a stranglehold on the entire Chinese market: this price, this capacity—take it or leave it.

After all, you couldn't manufacture it yourself.

Later, the Chinese Government hardened its resolve, increasing investment and support in this area, which led to affordable LCD televisions.

When China achieves a breakthrough in a technology, it means that technology is essentially reduced to 'cabbage price.' This is due to China's national conditions; our massive industrial chains and huge capacity rapidly drive down the production cost of that technology.

This holds true for TV panels, and it holds true for phone panels.

But for the very top-tier technologies, China still lags significantly behind those established manufacturers.

The group settled down at the hotel. Dr. Zhou said to Tang Mang, "Minister Tang, do you think Samsung is stalling us or are they unwilling to sell their screens externally?"

Tang Mang pondered for a moment. "I suspect it's both."

"I think Samsung wants to dampen our morale so that Samsung can gain an advantageous position in the upcoming negotiations."

"After all, we are the ones coming to Samsung to purchase screens this time."

"Secondly, I estimate that opinions within Samsung are not unified."

"Oh? How so?" Dr. Zhou became interested. This Tang Mang was originally a manager in Red Star's carrier channel department, working under Xu Guangyi. After Xu Guangyi was removed by Lu Weibing, it was discovered that Tang Mang was actually a clean stream in the channel department.

He had always been marginalized by Xu Guangyi because he refused to take kickbacks with him, which piqued Lu Weibing's interest.

After a series of investigations, Lu Weibing assigned him to the procurement department. Unexpectedly, this young man proved to be excellent at both communication and negotiation with suppliers, quickly demonstrating his capabilities.

At the same time, he had a keen sense of the market and unique insights into suppliers' new technologies and solutions. Thus, Tang Mang was promoted from manager of the procurement department to his current position as minister.

This trip to South Korea was led by him and Dr. Zhou: one responsible for technical matters, the other for commercial cooperation.

"I guess Samsung's own capacity for top-tier OLED screens is currently insufficient. If they want to sell externally, they would need to expand their production lines. Currently, not many mobile phone manufacturers use OLED screens, and expanding production without enough orders poses a certain risk for Samsung."

"Another point is that Samsung itself is afraid, so they cannot reach a unified internal opinion."

"Afraid? What are they afraid of? Aren't they the sole leader in OLED screens?" Dr. Zhou asked.

"No. Besides Samsung, LG, another conglomerate in South Korea, is not technically inferior to Samsung in OLED screens. However, because Samsung preemptively registered the patent for the top-tier Diamond PenTile arrangement and acquired the USA company that originally owned it, LG cannot compete with Samsung in the top-tier screen market."

After Tang Mang finished speaking, Dr. Zhou was even more confused. "If that's the case, Samsung, fearing LG catching up, should expand production and sell screens externally to seize enough market share. Why would they hesitate about selling?"

"Dr. Zhou, you must understand that Samsung doesn't just have a screen division. Their mobile phone shipment volume is the world's number one, and their high-end machines use their screens as a key selling point. If they sell their top-tier OLED screens externally now, and other manufacturers obtain them, Samsung will face greater competitive pressure in the high-end machine market."