Towards the end of 2017, JOLED started commercial production of its 21.6" 4K OLED panels. But this is very low volume production (at JOLED's pilot 4.5-Gen line) as the company said it is seeking to raise $900 million to support its plan to start mass producing OLEDs in 2019.
Today JOLED announced official plans for its first mass production printed OLED fab. JOLED will establish the production site in Nomi City, Ishikawa Prefecture. The capacity of the new fab will be 20,000 monthly 5.5-Gen (1300x1500 mm) substrates and the plan is to begin mass production in 2020. JOLED will produce 10- to 32-inch OLED displays for automotive displays, high-end monitors and more.
It is not clear yet whether JOLED succeeded in securing the $900 million it needs to build this new fab. It was reported that Panasonic, Sony, Sumitomo Chemical and Screen Holdings each agreed to invest 5 billion yen (around $47 million), and autoparts maker Denso also agreed to invest $280 million (for a 15% stake). But this only brings JOLED to around half the amount it needed.
Earlier reports suggested that Denso may invest up to $450 million while the rest of the companies mentioned above may invest up to $90 million. Today announcement may, though, mean that JOLED managed to secure the whole $900 million, maybe these companies agreed to invest more than was originally reported.
JOLED (Japan OLED) was established in August 2014 by Japan Display, Sony and Panasonic with financial support from Japan's INCJ. JOLED based its technology on the process and equipment developed by Panasonic, combined with a device structure (based on an IGZO backplane) it inherited from Sony. JOLED is using Sumitomo's P-OLED emissive materials.
JOLED also announced today that it co-designed a new OLED based digital window with Atomev. The new device, the Atmoph Window, will be demonstrated for the first time at the 9th Design exchibition in early July in Tokyo.
