Apple strikes $500m, 5-year deal with LG Display
updated 08:35 am EST, Mon January 12, 2009
Apple and LG Display Deal
LG Display on Monday said it has landed a deal with Apple to supply the company with displays for the next five years. The Korean firm has declined to provide the full financial terms of the deal but in a securities filing admitted that it will receive a $500 million up-front payment from Apple later in January, revealing a more substantial deal over the long term. The company has acknowledged the payment and refers to the new deal as a deepening of its agreements with the American company.
"Although LG Display already had a relationship with Apple, the deal's duration and the size of the advance show that the two companies are involved in a long-term, strategic alliance," company spokesman Son Young-jun says.
LG Display is responsible for about 70 percent of Apple's displays at present, though it's not known whether the new deal extends the number of these displays or a particular advancement of the technology. One alleged leak has had LG making touchscreen displays that may be suited to future Apple products, though this rumor has yet to be corroborated by third parties.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Mar 2001
this is notable:
Remember how Apple invested in the flash memory manufactures as they started churning out iPods and then the iPhone? This could be a sign that they plan to be selling more than average number of display based Macs.