(Yicai) Nov. 21 -- BOE Technology Group has reportedly rebutted a media report that said South Korea’s Samsung Electronics has removed the Chinese display panel giant from its supply chain.

The article on the cooperation between BOE and Samsung is false, with the Chinese firm still supplying products to its partner as scheduled, The Paper reported today.

Business Korea said on Nov. 16 that Samsung had removed Beijing-based BOE from its supply chain as the two compete fiercely in the market for organic light-emitting diode panels.

Shares of BOE [SHE: 000725] ended unchanged at CNY3.94 (55 US cents) apiece in Shenzhen today. It has a market capitalization of CNY150.3 billion (USD21.1 billion).

After Samsung stopped manufacturing LCD panels in June last year, it began to mainly buy the products from the Chinese mainland, with BOE supplying 10 percent of its television screens in the first quarter of this year.

Samsung paid KRW1.95 trillion (USD1.5 billion) to Chinese companies for LCD panels used in TVs and other monitors in the six months ended June 30, data from the Financial Supervisory Service, South Korea’s integrated financial regulator, showed in early September.

BOE, China’s biggest OLED panel maker, has been expanding in the smartphone market in recent years. Its customers include first-tier Chinese handset makers such as Honor, Oppo Mobile Telecommunications, and Vivo Communication Technology.

Global shipments of foldable OLED panels for phones reached 115 million units in the third quarter, according to data from market researcher Stone Partners. Suwon-based Samsung had a 48 percent share.

Samsung maintained its position as the display industry’s top player, but its market share remained below 50 percent for the fourth straight quarter because Apple stuck with two suppliers, LG Display and BOE, according to Stone Partners. Chinese phone makers also used more home-made foldable OLED panels, it added.

Editor: Martin Kadiev