Eastman Kodak - Page 6

DisplaySearch revealed in its latest Quarterly OLED Shipment and Forecast Report that Q1'07 OLED shipments were 19.1M, up 71%Y/Y and revenues were $121M, up 56% Y/Y. Shipments and revenue were down Q/Q, 14% and 13%, respectively, due to seasonality. OLED displays compete with LCDs in small/medium applications such as mobile phone main displays and sub-displays, MP3s, and automotive consoles.

Active matrix OLEDs displays continued volume shipments with Samsung SDI, Kodak, Sony and eMagin shipping 335K displays in Q1'07.  By Q2'07, the volume is expected to grow to 685K displays. Applications include MP3s, mobile phones and near eye.

Overall, RiTdisplay led in units, with 5.1M closely followed by Pioneer, also at 5.1M, Samsung SDI at 3.7M, LGE at 3.1M and TDK at 1.5M.  Univision, which had shut down due to financial problems has restarted production and shipped 900K units in Q1'07 and is expected to grow volume to 1.5M units next quarter, recovering to a leadership position.

Sub-displays and MP3 player displays combined to account for about 87% of shipments at 12.6M and 4.0M, respectively. Of the remaining applications, main displays and industrial applications showed strong growth, but volume remained low.

Sub-display volume is very strong in Japan and is the major cause of the growth in the category. Main display growth is primarily due to the Kyocera cell phone which uses the Samsung SDI 2.4" QVGA AMOLED panel.

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The license, which is royalty bearing to Kodak, enables CMEL to use Kodak technology for active matrix OLED modules in a variety of small to medium size display applications such as mobile phones, digital cameras and portable media players. The agreement also enables CMEL to purchase Kodak's patented OLED materials for use in manufacturing displays. Financial terms of the agreement were not disclosed.

Eastman Kodak announced a licensing agreement with Tohoku Device. Tohoku Device plans to incorporate Kodak's organic display technology into white OLED modules for use as backlights in displays. Tohoku Device joins more than 15 companies that have licensed organic display technology from Kodak.

The royalty-bearing license enables Tohoku Device to use Kodak technology for OLED backlights in a variety of flat panel display applications and includes a cross license to Tohoku Device's patent portfolio. The agreement also gives Tohoku Device the opportunity to purchase Kodak's patented OLED materials for use in manufacturing displays. Financial details were not disclosed.

Eastman Kodak received a more than $1.17 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy for a project to increase performance of OLED technology.

Kodak's proposal, approved by the Energy Department, aims to increase performance in OLEDs to 50-lumens per watt. The total cost of the 24-month project is $1.95 million, with Kodak paying 40 percent, or more than $770,000.

Eastman Kodak Company, a pioneer in the area of organic light emitting diode technology (OLED), today announced a licensing agreement with Univision Technology of Taiwan. Univision plans to incorporate Kodak's organic display technology in future generation flat panel passive-matrix displays. To date, more than 15 companies have licensed organic display technology from Kodak.
The royalty-bearing license enables Univision to use Kodak technology for passive-matrix OLED modules in a variety of flat panel display applications. The agreement also gives Univision the opportunity to purchase Kodak's patented OLED materials for use in manufacturing displays.

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DisplaySearch celebrated its 10th anniversary by holding its 8th Annual US FPD Conference at the Loews Coronado Bay Resort in San Diego, California.

• Kodak discussed new solutions to improving a number of the manufacturing problems that have limited the progress of OLEDs. Kodak claimed to have improved AMOLED yields by a factor of ten over two years and expects AMOLEDs to be cost competitive at up to 4" vs. TFT LCDs by 2007.
• UDC is making real progress with blue phosphorescent solutions and a commercial solution is expected soon.
• CDT indicated it expects the first full color ink-jet printed polymer OLEDs to become available in 2006.
• Samsung SDI revealed their cost reduction strategy to make AMOLEDs competitive with TFT LCDs.

LG.Philips announced today that it has entered an evaluation agreement for active matrix organic light emitting diode (AMOLED) development with Eastman Kodak Company. Under the terms of the agreement, LG.Philips LCD and Kodak will jointly evaluate display technologies for mobile displays and consider other opportunities, including the development and supply of AMOLED technology and products.

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Having pioneered production of the world’s first full-color, active matrix organic light emitting diode (OLED) displays, Eastman Kodak Company today announced that it will broaden its participation in the OLED industry in order to further promote the commercialization of OLED technology.

To facilitate the company’s move, Kodak has granted full control of SK Display Corporation to Sanyo Electric Company. Kodak and Sanyo formed the SK Display joint venture in 2001 to manufacture OLED displays. Kodak will continue as exclusive licensing agent on behalf of Kodak and Sanyo for certain OLED intellectual property.

Eastman Kodak Company is licensing its OLED display technology to Korea's Orion OLED. This brings to more than 15 the number of display manufacturers licensing Kodak's passive matrix organic display technology.

The royalty-bearing license to Orion OLED covers use of passive matrix OLED modules in a variety of flat panel display applications. The agreement also gives Orion OLED the opportunity to purchase Kodak's patented OLED materials for use in manufacturing displays.

Eastman Kodak says that Fuji Electric Holdings Japan licensed Kodak's OLED technology, and is applying its license toward development of its own color conversion matrix (CCM) full-color OLED display technology with the intention of offering flat PMOLED displays.

Fuji Electric's CCM technology uses a production technique the company calls the "metal mask-less organic film deposition method," for dramatic improvement in manufacturing yield rate, and greater reliability in superior full-color PMOLED.