Japan Display - Page 7

Japan Display is exhibiting in the Display Innovation 2014 event today in Yokohama, Japan, and the company is showing a flexible OLED for the first time. The prototype panel is 5.2" in size and features a FHD resolution. JDI refers to this display as a "Sheet OLED", which probably means it can be curved on a surface but it is not flexible/bendable.

Last month Sony, Japan Display, Panasonic and the INCJ formed a new OLED company called JOLED to focus on medium sized OLEDs. JOLED will be launched in January 2015 and has the potential to become a large OLED player.

A few days later, OLEDNet reported that JOLED is likely to choose small-molecules OLEDs, Oxide-TFT backplanes, Sony's Super Top Emission technology and an WRGB pixel architecture. Today I found Sony's original press release (a month late, actually), and there's some interesting information in there.

Last month Japan Display, Sony and Panasonic announced the formation of a new OLED company. JOLED, funded by the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, will be established formally in January 2015, and will focus mainly on medium sized OLEDs for tablet applications.

JDI 5.2-inch FHD OLED prototype

One of the key questions surrounding JOLED is the technology choice. While Sony (and JDI, which is basing its OLED program on Sony's tech) is using small-molecule OLEDs and an evaporation process, Panasonic based its OLED development on Sumitomo's PLED materials and printing technologies.

In May 2014 it was reported that Japan Display may setup an OLED joint venture together with Sony and Panasonic. Today Kyodo news confirms this report, and says that the three companies will indeed form a new company (which will be called JOLED) that will develop small and medium OLED displays - mostly for tablet devices. The official announcement is expected soon.

JDI 5.2-inch FHD OLED prototype

JOLED will receive and investment from the Innovation Network Corporation of Japan, a public-private investment fund. Similarly to JDI itself, the INCJ will hold 70% in the new company. JDI will hold 20% and Sony and Panasonic will each own 5%.

Yesterday I posted that Panasonic reportedly decided to withdraw from the OLED TV business and sell their OLED unit to Japan Display. Today there's a new report from Japan that JDI is now considering to setup an OLED joint venture with both Sony and Panasonic (update: this is now official, the new company will be called JOLED).

The new company would be mostly owned by the Innovation Network of Japan (INCJ) - the same government-backed fund that formed Japan Display back in September 2011. INCJ invested around $2.5 billion in JDI and holds 70% of the shares. JDI was formed by joining the mobile display units of Sony, Toshiba and Hitachi.

A report from Japan suggests that Panasonic decided to withdraw from the OLED TV business as production costs are too high for the Japanese company. According to the report, Panasonic hopes to sale its OLED business to Japan Display (an agreement is expected next month).

This report is not confirmed yet. It is rather surprising as Panasonic's OLED business is focused on TV panels, while Japan Display is producing small/medium displays. In the past few years, Panasonic focused on printing technologies using Sumitomo's PLED materials.

Japan Display's OLED R&D manager Masahiko Suzuki discussed the company's AMOLED program during a conference in Japan. Masahiko explains (see slide below) that for the medium-term, the small/medium display maker is focused on high-res LCD panels (over 500 PPI), but for the long term the main focus will be on OLED displays.

JDI sees OLED as a way to create a new market for flexible, transparent and roll-to-roll printed displays. JDI is set to develop flexible OLEDs and later on high-resolution OLEDs. JDI is using LG's WRGB technology which enables them to achieve a high resolution and a lower power consumption on mainly-white images (such as a web browser). But currently JDI sees OLEDs as still too expensive, and there are still issues with lifetime and uniformity.

IHS says that demand for OLED materials will rise almost 27% in 2014, to $445 million, up from $350 million in 2013. The market in 2013 grew 49% from 2012.

IHS says that they expect both AUO and Japan Display to start mass producing AMOLED panels in 2014. This means that there will be four major OLED makers in 2014 (AUO, JDI, SDC and LGD) compared to only one in 2012 (SDC). This means that material makers are expected to compete in a more diverse market environment with increased demand and a broader base of customers.

Yesterday it was reported that Japan Display is planning to raise ¥200 billion (around $2 billion USD) in an IPO on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. JDI will be valued at around ¥700 - $800 billion ($7 to $8 billion USD) and will use the money to invest in new capacity and OLED technology.

JDI was formed in November 2011 by Sony, Hitachi, and Toshiba who combined their small/medium panel production capabilities and received $2 billion from Japan's Innovation Network Corp (INCJ). The company is currently the largest small/medium display producer and reportedly supplying displays to Apple an Google among others.

Japan Display announced that they decided to build a pilot OLED display manufacturing line in its Ishikawa Plant. The company will start to setup the manufacturing equipment towards the end of 2013, and small-scale mass production will begin in the spring of 2014.

This new pilot line will be a 4.5-Gen fab (730x920 mm) with a capacity of 4,000 substrates a month. While this is good news to hear JDI commit to an OLED line, it means that we shouldn't expect real AMOLED mass production from them till at least 2015.