AU Optronics - Page 10

There are some new conflicting reports regarding AUO's OLED program. According to Digitimes, AUO is still struggling with technology issues (mostly low yields and costs) - and has only managed to produce 126 PPI displays. It's possible that all through 2013 AUO will only be able to make these low density panels, and so only target the entry-level and mid-range mobile phone markets. According to digitimes high-resolution OLED panel orders will go to Samsung instead. Yields at the AUO line is still low at 30%-40%.

According to Chinese site OLEDW, however, AUO managed to overcome the yield issues (reached 60% yield), and HTC will use AUO's 4.65" OLED panels in their upcoming M7 flagship phone (Digitimes says that HTC decided to use Sharp-made LCD panels instead). These 720p panels will sport a high 317 PPI (this panel was unveiled by AUO back in October 2012). OLEDW claims that HTC requires a monthly supply of 2 million panels, and have reserved the entire line output of AUO's 3.5-Gen Linkou, New Taipei City fab (7,000 substrates a month, which is not enough for 2 million panels actually, so some of OLEDW numbers aren't correct). This was already reported several times in the past.

So, CES is now over, it's time for a summary post. A few days after announcing that accepting pre-orders for their 55" OLED TV in Korea, LG announced that the OLED TV is coming to the US - for $12,000. LG also unveiled a 55" curved OLED prototype.

Samsung unveiled a newer 55" OLED TV, but sadly the company did not detail their launch plans or pricing. Samsung had a 55" curved OLED TV of their own, quite similar to LG's set. Samsung "relaunched" their YOUM flexible AMOLEDs, showing some very neat prototypes. Again, these OLEDs aren't being produced yet, we can only hope they'll start production in 2013.

So, the rumors were accurate - Sony has actually developed the world's first 4K2K (3840x2160) OLED TV panel, and unveiled a prototype unit. The panel is 56" in size and uses an Oxide-TFT and Sony's own "Super Top Emission" OLED technology.

Sony wouldn't reveal any technical specification - they only said that this panel "delivers all the features expected from OLED TVs, such as high contrast, brightness, rapid video image response time and rich images produced even at wide viewing angles". But that's just as well - Sony wouldn't say anything about a release date (or expected price) of this display either. They just said that "Sony will continue to research OLED technology with the goal of commercializing its new 4K OLED televisions".

Taiwanese newspaper CENS reports that AUO finally managed to increase its AMOLED yield rate to over 50% (in its 3.5-Gen Linkou, New Taipei City fab). AU Optronics is now set to start mass producing AMOLEDs in Q1 2013, and in fact its entire AMOLED capacity has been booked by HTC.

Actually back in September 2012 Digitimes reported that AUO reached 50% yield, but the company didn't start mass production yet. Hopefully this time the report is accurate.

Yesterday a Taiwanese web site reported that Applied Materials is planning to setup a flat-panel R&D center in Southern Taiwan Science Park. The new center will focus on 8.5-Gen LCD production and OLED technologies. Applied hopes to assist AU Optronics and Innolux with their OLED projects. The investment in the center is expected to exceed NT$5 billion (over $170 million USD).

A few hours later, Digitimes posted that sources from Applied Materials denied these rumors - saying that the company has no such plans. Applied does have a manufacturing center in Taiwan that will continue providing solutions largely for Taiwan-based customers.

Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) claims that Taiwan can still compete with Korean panel makers (Samsung and LGD) in the flexible AMOLED market. The institute says that help from the Taiwanese economics bureau will be required. Upstream suppliers will need to ramp up their development effort and boost production facilities and materials.

Samsung had plans to release their first plastic-based flexible OLEDs in 2012, but this has been delayed to early 2013. LG Display hopes to start flexible OLED production towards the end of 2013.

AUO had to delay AMOLED mass production to 2013, but the company is still developing the technology. Today they unveiled a new 4.65" AMOLED that features 317 ppi (so the resolution is probably around 1280x720). This is quite an improvement over AUO's current 4.3" qHD (257 ppi) panels.

AUO also unveiled some other new technologies today: A 4.46" LCD with the "World's thinnest bezel" at 1mm, New AHVA (Advanced Hyper-Viewing Angle) panel technology and a 10" 2560x1600 IGZO based LCD aimed for tablets that is only 1.5mm thick. This is the size and resolution of Google's upcoming Nexus 10 tablet - and perhaps the new device will use this display and not a Super AMOLED as some leaks suggested. Update: the Nexus 10 is official, and it uses a PLS LCD...

Back in September we posted that AUO managed to achieve 50% yield in its AMOLED fab, and is set to start mass production. Now we hear from AUO's vice president Dagang Wu that the company is still facing technical issues and will have to delay mass production to 2013. Hopefully this means early 2013. AUO is optimistic that AMOLED will start replacing LCDs in mobile phones starting in 2013 (or 2014).

AUO hoped to start AMOLED mass production in Q3 2012 (which was also a delay from the original plan). AUO will make 4.3" qHD panels (257 ppi), and according to some industry insiders AUO already signed up HTC, Asus and possible Sony for those panels.

AUO is suing two former executives that allegedly stole technologies (including AMOLED related ones) from the company and supplied it China Star Optoelectronics Technology (CSOT, a subsidiary of TCL). The Taiwanese Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau (MJIB) said that the investigation is nearly over and the findings will be passed over to prosecutors soon.

AUO says that the executives were compensated with annual salaries of over $1 million in exchange for the technology. Taiwan wants to become a major supplier of OLED panels and considers this leak very sensitive.

Digitimes reports that AUO has started to develop a printing process to make OLED panels, with hopes that this new process will lower the production cost and increase the material utilization. AUO is suffering from low (50%) yields in its current production process - which uses vapor deposition. The report suggests that AUO is also developing Oxide-TFT backplanes for OLEDs - but this isn't news - AUO unveiled an Oxide-TFT based 32" OLED TV prototype back in November 2011.

Actually all OLED makers are looking into more efficient production processes based on printing so this is hardly a surprise. It's likely that it will take some years before we'll start seeing printed OLED panels on the market though.