[Edaily Reporter JAEMIN SONG ] As the focus of artificial intelligence (AI) shifts from the cloud to personal devices such as smartphones and laptops, display power efficiency is emerging as a new competitive advantage. LG Display has proposed “tandem organic light-emitting diode (OLED),” which can reduce power consumption by 39% while maintaining screen brightness, as the new standard for displays in the AI era.

Choi Young-seok, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of LG Display, stated during his keynote speech at the Korea Display Industry Exhibition held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 21st, “As AI becomes increasingly integrated into personal devices, the ability to conserve limited battery power will become the core of display competitiveness.” He added, “My answer regarding the technology that will become the global standard for displays in the future is clear: it is tandem OLED.”

CTO Choi assessed that AI is evolving from a cloud-based model reliant on large-scale data centers to on-device AI, where smartphones and PCs perform computations independently. He predicted that as we transition into the era of “Ambient AI,” where personalized AI services naturally blend into daily life, the center of gravity for AI computations will shift from cloud servers to personal devices.

The proliferation of AI is placing an ever-greater burden on power consumption. “Generative AI doesn’t simply search for information; it performs complex calculations in real time to generate responses,” explained CTO Choi. “The energy consumed by a single query to generative AI can be tens of times greater than that of a typical Google search.” He emphasized that interest in the AI industry is expanding beyond software and semiconductors to include stable and efficient power infrastructure.

Power issues are particularly pronounced in personal devices, which have limitations in battery capacity and thermal management. While running on-device AI increases the processor’s power consumption, the display also accounts for about 40% of the DEVICE’s total power usage. CTO Choi stated, “Displays must no longer consume power in the same way they did in the past,” adding, “Otherwise, we face the fundamental problem of the battery draining too quickly when using on-device AI.”

Tandem OLED is a technology that stacks two or more organic light-emitting layers on a single panel. It achieves the same brightness with a lower current, thereby reducing the electrical strain on each light-emitting layer and minimizing material degradation. Compared to conventional single-stack OLEDs, it can more than double the lifespan and reduce power consumption by more than 30%. LG Display became the first in the industry to develop an RGB tandem OLED for automotive applications in 2019.

According to measurement results released by LG Display today, when a 6.7-inch display was operated at a brightness of 1,000 nits, the power consumption of a conventional single-stack OLED was 5,133 mW (milliwatts), whereas that of the tandem OLED was only 3,115 mW. This represents a 39% reduction in power consumption. If the saved power is utilized for AI processing by the application processor, the continuous on-device AI usage time can increase by 50%, from 2.6 hours to 3.9 hours.

The tandem structure has also played a key role in expanding the OLED market beyond smartphones to include TVs, laptops, tablets, and automobiles. While smartphones are typically replaced every 2–3 years, TV and automotive displays are used for 5 years or as long as 10 years or more, so they must simultaneously ensure brightness, longevity, and anti-burn-in performance.

Following its 2013 achievement of being the first in the world to commercialize large-screen OLED TVs using a white OLED tandem structure, LG Display has continued to expand its application to automotive and IT sectors. Going forward, the company plans to expand the use of tandem OLEDs across its entire product lineup, including mobile and wearable devices.

CTO Choi emphasized, “Just 20 years ago, only a handful of engineers were familiar with the term ‘tandem,’ but it has now become a standard technology in the display industry,” adding, “In the AI era, a company’s competitiveness will be determined by how quickly and efficiently it can build, optimize, and scale its tandem structure.”