A report from Japan updates that JOLED , the OLED inkjet printing pioneer established in 2014, has filed for bankruptcy. The company has been struggling financially for a long time, and will now close down its two production lines and lay off 280 employees (out of 380), as it could not raise funds and has liabilities of around $257 million.
According to the report, display maker Japan Display will take over JOLED technology and remaining operations.
JOLED was established in August 2014 by Japan Display, Sony and Panasonic with an aim to become an OLED medium display producer. Following years of R&D and initial production, the company initiated mass production of its OLEDIO panels in 2021 at its new 5.5-Gen production line in Nomi, Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan.
JOLED's panels appeared on the market, but only for high-end applications such as LG's professional monitor range. But JOLED never managed to increase yields and its panel costs remained very high.
In 2020, TCL (CSoT) invested 20 billion Yen (around $187 million USD) in JOLED, and has also signed an agreement to jointly develop OLED TV printing technologies. TCL is getting ready to develop large-area inkjet printed panels by 2024 based on JOLED's technology.
In 2019, JOLED raised $228 million to build a module production line. In 2018 the company raised $400 million from four investors, including Denso, Toyota and Sumitomo.
This is very sad news for the OLED industry, but one that isn't a surprise.
