eMagin reported their financial results for Q1 2014. Revenues for the OLED microdisplay maker in the quarter were $6.3 million (down from $8.5 million in Q1 2013, but up from $6.1 million Q4 2013). The company shipped fewer units and also saw a decrease in the average selling price. Net loss in the quarter was $1.6 million (down from a net income of $205,000 in Q1 2013). eMagin has $8.3 million in cash, down from $11 million in the end of 2013.
eMagin XGA096 OLED-XL
eMagin says the the lower revenues were mostly because of the stop order from three customers regarding the wire bond issue. This issue was partially solved. Shipments to one of the customers already resumed last month, and the company expects to resume shipment to the second customer in late June and to the third customer in late July.
The company says that the had the best quarter yet in terms of up-time for the new OLED deposition tool. In fact, the tool can now run at its rated speed. The company delivered samples of new high-luminance XLS displays. They expect XLS displays to qualify for commercialization by Q3 2014.
eMagin also reported some interesting R&D advances. First, the company managed to increase the lifetime of the XLS line of products by 25%. Second, they progressed towards building a tool for direct-patterned microdisplays (as opposed to the current design which uses white OLEDs and color filters). They expect to fabricate a prototype display in Q3 2013. The company also developed a new seal structure - which should increase the yield and reliability of their microdisplays. The company is close to qualifying the new seal structure.
Regarding the camera XGA EVF, which eMagin hoped to start shipping to a camera maker in 2014, it seems that they don't see this market developing as they originally anticipated. The display itself is ready and can be shipped today. eMagin says says that apart from Sony (which are using their own microdisplays in their own cameras) no camera maker seems to moving towards EVFs. We know, however, that both Panasonic and Fujifilm have cameras with XGA OLED EVFs.
Sources: Seeking Alpha
Disclosure: the author of this post holds shares in eMagin
