Samsung Electronics Buys Samsung Display's CSOT Stake for $0.9B

Samsung Electronics will take over Samsung Display's entire 10.16% stake in Chinese panel maker CSOT for 1.2718 trillion won. The company disclosed the purchase on October 30, with the TV (VD) business unit acquiring the shares. It cited "strengthening strategic collaboration" as the purpose, and the transaction is scheduled for December.

How Samsung Display ended up with the stake

Samsung Display's holding dates back to 2020, when it sold its 8.5-generation LCD plant in Suzhou, China, to CSOT. The sale lifted its CSOT stake from 5.02% to 12.33%. The 1.08 billion dollar price was split into 739 million dollars for a 60% stake in the front-end line (SSL) and 341 million dollars for the back-end module line (SSM). Samsung Display took the front-end portion in CSOT shares rather than cash.

Samsung Display exited the LCD business in the first half of 2022, so the stake had little direct business relevance. The prevailing view was that it held the shares on behalf of Samsung Electronics' VD division, so the group could keep its LCD supply chain stable. Samsung Display is also in a patent dispute with CSOT in the US: CSOT sued in the Eastern District of Texas in March, and Samsung Display responded with invalidation petitions. The dispute is ongoing.

Balancing CSOT and BOE

CSOT has become the largest source of TV LCD panels for Samsung's VD division, which plans to raise BOE's share going forward. Owning the CSOT stake directly gives Samsung Electronics leverage over CSOT while it reduces its dependence on the supplier.

In mid-October, Samsung reportedly signed a memorandum of understanding with BOE chairman Chen Yanshun to raise TV LCD purchases to 6–7 million units in 2027 and 8–9 million in 2028. According to Omdia, Samsung bought 2.2 million units from BOE in 2025, so the 2028 target is about four times that. Omdia's 2026 forecast for Samsung's TV LCD deliveries puts CSOT and Sharp at 7.3 million units each, followed by HKC at 6 million, Innolux at 5 million, BOE at 4.4 million, AUO at 4.3 million and CHOT at 1.5 million.

BOE's shipments to Samsung fell sharply during a roughly three-year patent fight with Samsung Display that lasted until the fourth quarter of 2025. With that dispute settled, volumes are likely to recover. BOE once supplied Samsung with around 10 million TV LCD units a year.