As we just posted, Japan Display has decided to halt its plans to turn its minority stake at JOLED into a majority one, and so JOLED is now seeking external financing to support its plan to start mass producing OLEDs in 2019 at the JDI plant in Nomi, Ishikawa (which currently makes LCDs, but will be shut down towards the end of 2017).
According to the Nikkei Asian Review, JOLED aims to raise 100 billion Yen (almost $900 million) from Japanese companies, and it has already approached Sony, Canon, Fujifilm, Nikon and Sumitomo. If this plans fails JOLED may turn to foreign companies, including Chinese ones.
JOLED's current major stakeholder, with a 75% stake is the public-private INCJ investment fund. JDI holds 15% and Sony and Panasonic each holds 5%.
JOLED Is using an ink-jet printing process, which (according to the company) may enable it to produce at a lower cost - around 30-50% cheaper compared to evaporation. JOLED is using Sumitomo's P-OLED materials.
In June 2017 JOLED announced that it started to sample 21.6" 4K OLED monitors. JOLED plans to develop these OLED monitors for medical applications - it will produce these in low volume at its current 4.5-Gen pilot production line, before mass production starts as planned in 2019. Sony may be JOLED's first customer for these medical monitor panels.
