Hitachi and Canon have agreed to jointly develop and manufacture small and midsize (2.5"-3") OLED displays for digital cameras within two years, it was learned Saturday. The two firms will transfer a total of about 100 engineers to a new organization they plan to set up in early July to handle the project.
They also intend to build a new production line at an existing plant in Chiba Prefecture to turn out organic EL displays on a trial basis. Based on the results, the two partners expect to build a system to mass-produce the EL displays at relatively low cost, taking advantage of Canon's materials coating technology and production control know-how.
Hitachi and Canon (and Matsushita/Panasonic) announced plans to work together in December 2007, and there were also rumors that Panasonic will make 37" OLED TVs by 2011 in the JV plant.
