In June 2017 JOLED announced that it started to sample 21.6" 4K OLED panels, with plans to initiate low volume production at its 4.5-Gen pilot inkjet production line. JOLED announced today that it has began commercial shipments of these panels. We do not know JOLED's first customer but it is likely to be Sony.
JOLED says that it has now achieved the necessary product quality and production yields. The product was already selected for use in medical monitors (again, we believe this is Sony, who we know received JOLED's first samples and already has its own 25" OLED medical monitor that uses Sony's own OLEDs). JOLED also aims to ship these panes to other OLED monitors applications.
JOLED's first OLED panels are 21.6" in size and feature a resolution of 3840x2160 (4K, 204 PPI). The brightness is 350 cd/m2. The whole panel is only 1.3 mm thick and weighs just 500 grams.
Japan Display recently decided to halt its plans to turn its minority stake at JOLED into a majority one, and so JOLED is now seeking to raise $900 million 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).
JOLED (Japan OLED) was established in August 2014 by Japan Display, Sony and Panasonic with financial support from the public-private INCJ investment fund.
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 PLED materials.
