December 2024

Last year Audi unveiled its upcoming 2024 Q6 e-tron car, with the 2nd-generation OLEDWorks digital lighting solution. Now OLEDWorks formally launched its Atala digital OLED 2.0 technology, which is now available for automotive producers and Tier-1 suppliers.

By digital OLED technology, OLEDWorks means that these are taillights in which each segment (there could be 10 to 128 segments in each module) is controlled individually, making it into a simple display system. The company says that digital OLED 2.0 delivers unparalleled functionality and performance. The second generation solution offers more panel options and higher level of integration and features.

LG announced that it is starting to ship its transparent wireless Signature OLED T TV with a $59,999 price tag. The TV can be ordered from LG directly or from Best Buy

LG's Signature OLED T is a 77" 4K wireless transparent OLED TV that can change from a transparent mode to a black-background mode (via a raised black contrast film) in which it operates just like a normal OLED TV. The OLED T is powered by LG's Alpha 11 AI processor, and uses LG's Zero Connect box which makes it almost completely wireless (except the power). 

Samsung Display announced today a strategic partnership with Dolby Laboratories, to offer SDC's automotive displays which are pre-tuned to deliver Dolby Vision to automotive makers. 

Samsungs says that by implementing a new streamlined evaluation and implementation process it will be able to offer best-in-class imaging experiences  for automotive displays. 

Poland-based OLED material developer Noctiluca announced that it has signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with a subsidiary of the world’s second-largest TV manufacturer and a leader in display technology from China, focused on industrializing printed OLED technologies. This is likely to be TCL CSoT's Juhua printing subsidiary. TCL CSoT recently started to produced inkjet printed OLEDs.

Noctiluca and TCL CSoT will work together to adopt Noctiluca's proprietary chemical compound into TCL's OLED displays. The company does not detail what kind of materials will be tested in this agreement. The company develops both TADF/HF OLED emitters and also EIL materials for blue OLED emission.

LG Display announced that it has developed and deployed a new AI system that will improve its OLED production process. The system collects and analyzes OLED process manufacturing data in real-time. When the system finds anomalies in the OLED manufacturing process, it can alert in real time, and even find solutions.

LG Display says that since the introduction of this new AI system, its ability to analyze process data has been enhanced, significantly improving both manufacturing speed and accuracy. The time required to analyze and improve the causes of quality anomalies has been reduced from an average of three weeks to two days.

UBI Research estimates that the volume of OLED emitting materials purchased in Q3 2024 reached 32.7 tons, which is the highest ever, with the previous record in 2021. UBI expects 2024 as a whole to be the record year in OLED emitter material shipments.

In terms of customers, SDC holds the largest share with 41.4% of the total market, followed by LGD (20.5%), BOE (11.6%) and Visionox (8.3%). In terms of architecture, 83.7% of all emitter materials went into RGB OLEDs, 11.3% into WOLED (LG's WRGB) panels and 2.8% into QD-OLED panels.

A few weeks ago it was reported that Apple is aiming to develop a lower-cost VR headset, and will want to use cheaper OLED microdisplays to replace the high-end Sony OLED microdisplays used in the Vision Pro. It was reported that both Samsung and JDI are in talks with Apple, that aims to achieve a pixel density of 1500 PPI (the Sony microdisplays sport 3,400 PPI). Samsung meanwhile develops its own headsets, and is also working on solutions for other leading companies, such as Microsoft.

A 1.3" 12000 nits OLED microdisplay (Samsung Display)

While Samsung is working on an OLED on silicon microdisplay factory, the company is also looking to start producing high resolution AMOLED displays on glass. According to a new report, Samsung is now looking to build a new AMOLED on glass microdisplay pilot production line in Asan, and later on the company is considering to converts its 5.5-Gen (1300x1500 mm) A2 OLED production line to produce OLED microdisplays. Samsung will have to modify its production process and install new equipment to support the high resolution. The company reportedly aims to order the required  equipment in 2025.

In 2022, we reported that US- and China-based OLED display maker Royole is in financial problems. The company did not manage to raise funds, and started laying-off many of its employees, following several months it did not pay any wages. The company is no longer in business.

Earlier today Royle started a public auction to sell off its assets. The company is using he public Taobao's Ali Asset Platform, and have asked a starting price of 1.23 billion yuan (almost $170 million USD). As of now, there are no bids for the asset, which includes 12 real estate properties and the OLED production equipment. If the auction fails, Royole will likely launch another auction with a reduced starting price.

Researchers from the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC and the Beijing Information Science and Technology University (BISTU), have developed a new strategy for the design of deep red MR-TADF OLED emitters, that offers high efficiency, good color emission and long lifetimes. 

The researchers report they have developed a new deep red (0.657,0343 CIE) OLED emitter material that achieves high efficiency, over 43% EQE, which they say is the most efficient MR-TADF red emitter.

Mitsubishi Chemical has disclosed that it has long been developing Quantum Approximate Optimization Algorithms (QAOA) for the development of advanced OLED emitter materials. One of the main challenges in this route has been that calculation accuracy that could not be guaranteed due to the accumulation of noise that affected the state of the quantum computer. 

Mitsubishi Chemical has thus teamed up with Deloitte Tohmatsu and Classiq to compress the two quantum circuits used by Mitsubishi Chemical. The three companies managed to demonstrate up to 97% compression in the size of the first circuit and up to 54% on the second circuit. This dramatic compression will enable more accurate calculations as it mitigates the risk of errors during calculation.