March 2017

BOE Technology and OLED Microdisplay maker OLiGHTEK announced a new joint-venture to produce OLED microdisplays for the consumer VR and AR markets. The new company will be established in Kunming, Yunnan, and will have an annual production capacity of a million OLED microdisplays.

Total investment in the new venture will total $167 million USD. BOE will invest 76.5% of the capital and OLiGHTEK will invest 20%. There is a third partner, Gao Ping Technology from Shenzhen, that will invest 3.5% of the capital. BOE will also apparently invest around $7.2 million in OLiGHTEK. The new company will base its production on OLiGHTEK's technology.

ETNews reports that Samsung Display's OLED production investment in 2017 is expected to reach $8.94 billion, slightly higher than last year's $8.76. 2017 will be the second year in which SDC invests large amounts (investment in previous years were about $3.5-$4.5 billion) as demand for OLED panels is increasing.

According to the report SDC recently started to convert it's LT-1 line (6-Gen) from LCD production to flexible OLED production (the new line will be called the A4 line). This conversion was decided upon in 2016. SDC's L7 fab will have a capacity of 30,000 substrate per month and the convesrion will cost about $2.7 billion. OLED production will commence by the end of 2017.

Wisechip, the Taiwan-based PMOLED maker, demonstrated its new flexible and transparent PMOLED displays last week in a trade show in Germany. Embedded News TV interviewed the company's R&D manager and published the following video which also shows Wisechip's latest OLED prototypes.

On display at the trade show were two flexible OLEDs - a 1.8" monochrome 160x32 panel, a 1.36" monochrome 128x16 panel. Wisechip also has a 256 x 64 display. Wisechip also demonstrated a new transparent OLED for automotive applications and a round 1.07" 160x136 transparent PMOLED (this one was also on display last year). Wisechip's original plan was to start producing transparent displays towards the end of 2016, but apparently this is a bit delayed. We hear that the displays are nearing production though.

In January 2017 we posted about LG Electronics wallpaper OLED panel that will be adopted in its commercial OLED signage range. LGE finally officially launched this new product, as part of its commercial unit, which also ships dual-sided flat OLEDs and dual-sided curved OLEDs.

The so called "LG OLED Wallpaper Display" features a 55-inch panel and surprisingly only an FHD resolution (all of LG's 2017 OLED TVs feature 4K resolution). The whole panel weights less than 5.8Kg and the width is just 3.65 mm.An ultra-slim mounting brackets with a magnetic mat create a truly seamless design that becomes one with the wall. Electronic components are housed in a separate control box connected to the display with a 2-meter cable. You can see more in the installation video above.

Samsung announces its latest flagship phones, the Galaxy S8 and Galaxy S8+. Both phones sport what Samsung brands as an Infinity Display - a curved flexible Super AMOLED that is almost without any bezels. Samsung did not release an edition with a non-flexible rigid OLED, but this isn't really a surprise.

The Galaxy S8 has a 5.8" Quad HD+ (2960x1440, 570PPI) OLED while the S8+ has a larger version (6.2") but with the same resolution (529 PPI). Both phones feature a 10nm Octa-core 64bit CPU, 4GB of RAM, 64GB of storage, microSD slot, IP68 water and dust resistance, Android 7.0, Samsung Bixby assistant and a Dual-Pixel 12MP OIS camera. Both phones will launch globally on April 21st 2017.

JOLED (Japan OLED) was established in August 2014 by Japan Display, Sony and Panasonic with an aim to become an OLED medium display (10-30 inch) producer. The company is aiming to start mass production in 2019, although some panels may ship in limited volume earlier.

Last week at Cebit 2017 JOLED demonstrated some of its latest OLED prototypes. In the photo above you can see JOLED's 21.6" 4K (3840x2160, 204 PPI) "medical applications" monitor. JOLED also demonstrated what seems to be the same panel for "consumer" application (they call this private viewing). The whole panel weighs just 500 grams and the color gamut is 130% sRGB.

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin reported its financial results for Q4 2016. Revenues in the fourth quarter were $4.6 million, down 33% from Q4 2015 - mostly because of a decline in sales to maturing US military programs. Net loss for the quarter was $3.5 million (up from $2.1 million in Q4 2015). For the whole year of 2016 revenues were $21.4 million.

eMagin also announced that it signed a multi-million dollar agreement with "another" Tier-1 consumer electronics company - "an easily recognizable one". This is the third such agreement in the past 15 months. eMagin says that the commercial sector will become more important and will start generating revenues in Q1 2017. eMagin is in active discussions with partners to enable the high volume production capabilities required by the commercial market demand. eMagin started producing samples of its 2k x 2k displays and these should enter mass production in Q2 2017.

The following is a sponsored post by IDTechEx

Printed electronics has been in development for over fifteen years. After the initial enthusiasm, broad exploration and learnings from failures the industry enters 2017 with a strong focus on several key themes. These feature as some of the highlights at the key conference and exhibition for the industry Printed Electronics Europe, which will be held in Berlin on May 10-11 2017 (www.idtechex.com/peeurope), featuring over 225 speakers and over 200 exhibitors. The event is hosted by IDTechEx, the impartial technology scouting and analyst firm that brings the most relevant topics together for you at one event.

In this article IDTechEx lists just three of the hottest sectors in printed electronics.

Flexible is a stronger driver than cost reduction

Many set out in printed electronics with the expectation that they can make cheaper devices using the technology, due to the lower manufacturing cost and (potentially) lower material cost. In reality, in the short term R&D efforts require pharmaceutical-like pricing to recoup initial investment in new materials and equipment. The performance is also varied in some areas the technology outperforms the incumbent technology, such as OLEDs versus LCDs, in other areas that is not the case such as printed transistors. Generally speaking, today printed electronics can offer more performance for more money or same performance for more money.

I'm happy to announce the seventh edition of The OLED Handbook, the most comprehensive resource on OLED technology, industry and market - now updated for 2017. The OLED industry grows and changes very fast, and the new edition include new details on the OLED mobile display market, Apple's OLED plans, new production fabs in China, OLED TVs, flexible OLEDs and more.

Reading this book, you'll learn all about:

• OLED technology and materials and production processes
• How OLEDs compare to LCD displays
• OLED TVs, flexible OLEDs and transparent OLEDs
• The OLED lighting industry
• The future of OLED displays and lighting and the challenges ahead

The book also provides:

• A history of OLED development
• A guide to OLED investment
• A comprehensive list of OLED companies
• A list of existing and planned AMOLED fabs
• OLED lighting roadmaps
• An in-depth look into flexible OLEDs and OLED encapsulation

The OLED handbook has been read by hundreds of display engineers, business developers, researchers, equipment vendors, OLED material companies, private investors and others who wished to learn more about OLEDs today and in the future. I truly believe that it is the best introduction to OLED displays and lighting!

Four companies in Germany have established a new industry alliance, the German OLED Technology Alliance, or GOTA. The aim of this alliance is to combine the experience of its partners in the area of OLED manufacturing. Each partner's expertise lies at a different stage of the value chain, and the four partners will support a joint sales effort - mostly in China, Taiwan and Japan.

The four partners are VON ARDENNE (systems engineering and technology development for PVD vacuum coating system), Notion Systems (functional materials inkjet platforms), Fraunhofer IAP (organic electronics research) and MBRAUN (protective gas atmosphere solutions).