According to ETNews BOE, Everdisplay and Truly are all expected to start constructing flexible OLED fabs in the first half of 2016, as the companies realize they need to compete with Samsung and LG in that market.

BOE Display aimed to start mass producing AMOLED displays at 5.5-Gen LTPS OLED fab in Ordos in the second half of 2015, but reportedly they are still struggling with low yields. BOE is also constructing a Gen-6 LTPS LCD/AMOLED production line in Chengdu, China, scheduled for production in the first half of 2017. Earlier reports suggested that BOE aims to produce flexible OLEDs at that new fab. In May 2015, BOE demonstrate several new AMOLED prototypes, including several flexible panels.

Applied Materials announced two new PECVD based deposition systems aimed towards the flexible OLED thin-film encapsulation market.

The two new systems are the AKT-20K (925x1500 mm substrates) and the AKT-40K (1250x2200 mm substrates). Both systems offer the ability to deposit diffusion barrier films with very low water and oxygen penetration. These high-performance films are deposited at low temperatures of

Audi demonstrated a new OLED based automobile taillight prototype. Those are flexible OLEDs that create an interesting 3D structure. The taillight was developed as part of the research project R2D2 (Roll To Device 2), funded by the German government. The luminaire was designed by Audi and built by Hella. The OLEDs are made by OSRAM.

Last month Audi unveiled their new luxury electric crossover concept car, the e-tron quattro - with OLEDs in all of its displays, its frontlights and its taillights. This is just a concept car, but Audi does aim to be the world's first company to introduce OLED lighting in the tail lights of production cars (even though BMW may have just beat them to it).

The South Korean Minister of Trade and Energy said that Korea's longtime display leadership is increasingly being challenged by Chinese and Japanese companies, and Korea needs to stay competitive - specifically in the OLED industry.

The Korean government is planning to expand tax benefits, cut tariffs and offer administrative support to Korean companies (mainly LG, it seems) to make sure Korea's OLED leadership is maintained. The Minister is also urging closer collaboration between LGD and Samsung Display - to create an OLED ecosystem that will cover all aspects of the OLED industry - from materials to finished panels.

LG Electronics says that it will start offering OLED-based commercial display products for the business-to-business (B2B) sector next year. In fact, LGE says it will launch a "full-fledged effort" in the OLED digital signage business.

LG Electronics will start with large-sized digital signs for public places - such as airports. This decision comes following LG Display managed to solve its OLED yield and technology issues.

Researchers from Arizona State University (ASU) are developing high-qualify OLED lighting devices that emit no UV light. Such OLEDs will be particularly useful in museums, art galleries and similar places, since UV light inhibits the human eye in clearly discerning color variations and the texture of objects.

The researchers recently received a $875,000 grant from the US DoE to expand the research. The team is collaborating with Universal Display to develop OLEDs that use a single emissive material to create white light - and not a white OLED device that uses a combination of red, green and blue emissive materials (or yellow and blue).

Researchers at the US DoE's Ames Laboratory developed a near ultra-violet (UV) OLED device that can be used as an on-chip photosensor. They say that this is the first time that light can be captured and manipulated at around 400 nm - or near the invisible end of the spectrum.

The researchers envision a tiny chip that can act as a whole spectrometer - so it can measure the absorption or luminescence spectrum of anything that can absorb or emit light. There are many applications for such a sensor - for food safety, water quality, medical diagnosis and more. This near-UV OLED development is a step towards that goal.

3M announced that they entered into a licensing agreement with Lotus Applied Technology, which gives 3M access to Lotus' TransFlexALD spatial Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and barrier materials patent portfolio.

The TransFlexALD is a roll-to-roll ALD deposition that can be used to make single-layer encapsulation layers suitable for OLED panels (and other devices).

A few days ago we posted that BMW has announced now that they are starting to produce the M4 GTS at very limited quantities with deliveries are planned to begin in March 2016. The M4 GTS uses OLED taillights - and can be considered the world's first commercial car with OLED lighting (although at 700 units, it's debatable if this is a real commercial car launch).

In my post I said that I do not know the supplier of those OLED panels, and today OSRAM contacted me and said that these are OSRAM's panels. It turns out that OSRAM announced that they are the supplier of those panels (or the ones in the M4 GTS concept) back in February.

The UK launched a new project called Gravia that aims to investigate the feasibility of producing graphene-based encapsulation films for next generation flexible OLED lighting and display products.

The Gravia project is a 12-month effort, and the partners in the project expect to deliver a feasible material and process system by the project's end. Drawing on the unique properties of graphene, 'Gravia' will aim to achieve barrier materials that are not only flexible, but also transparent, robust, and very impervious to many molecules.