In January 2017 Kopin unveiled its first OLED microdisplay, the 1-inch 120 Hz 2k x 2k Lightning panel, and later reported on an "overwhelming" reaction and a first design win. Kopin now announced that it reached agreements with both OLiGHTEK and BOE Technology to meet its production needs.
In the near-term, Kopin's Lightning OLED microdisplays will be produced at OLiGHTEK's Kumnin (Yunnan) fab. Kopin and OLiGHTEK will jointly purchase an advanced production OLED deposition line to be installed within OLiGHTEK’s facility as it will need to expand its production capacity. The new line will be ready for production by the end of 2017. Kopin will be entitled to 50% of the new line output.
For the longer term, Kopin signed a separate agreement with both BOE and OLiGHTEK. Last month BOE and OLiGHTEK announced that they will establish a new OLED microdisplay production facility in Kunming. This will be the world's largest OLED-on-silicon production line that will have an annual production capacity of a million OLED microdisplays. Total investment will be $167 million USD, with most of the money coming from BOE (76.5%) and OLiGHTEK (20%). It is not clear what is the nature of Kopin's agreement for this fab, but it's likely that Kopin secured some capacity in this future fab. Kopin says that neither of its new agreements involves licensing of any
The OLED Microdisplay is now in focus as many believe these displays will enable better VR and AR devices. eMagin is also gearing up to increase production capacity as it hopes to provide OLED microdisplays to consumer AR and VR HMDs. To learn more about this exciting emerging market, consult our OLED Microdisplay Market Report.
