CMEL - Page 6

Universal Display Corporation and Chi Mei EL Corporation (CMEL) announced that they have entered into an agreement for Universal Display to supply proprietary PHOLED™ phosphorescent OLED materials and technology to CMEL for use in CMEL’s manufacture of commercial AMOLED display products.

Financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed, however, as is customary with these agreements, Universal Display will recognize commercial chemical sales and license fee revenues from its supply of this material to CMEL. The term of the agreement runs through December 31, 2008.

CMEL is currently focused on producing small and medium-sized OLED panel applications.

Digitimes reports that CMEL got orders for 300,000 monthly units of AMOLED displays for mobile phones, from Sharp. CMEL currently has a capacity of 200K-300K units, and has placed orders for new equipment.

RiTdisplay has also landed a contract with an unspecified japanese handset maker.

CMO's non-operating losses increased from NT$534 million (US$16.1 million) in the third quarter of 2006 to NT$829 million in the fourth quarter, as Chi Mei Electroluminescence (CMEL), a subsidiary that specializes in OLED panels, had losses of nearly NT$300 million while Delta-CMO Optoelectronics Company, an affiliate that produces flat-panel lighting sources, had losses of NT$60-70 million, according to CMO.

CMO is still evaluating the competitiveness of CMEL and will have a final decision between the end of 2007 and mid-2008, Ho said

Read more here (DigiTimes)

According to digitimes, CMO has invested US$21.4 million in CMEL and now has has full control of CMEL. To reduce losses, CMEL sent a part of its workforce to CMO, the reported said. Nevertheless, CMO will keep investing in CMEL and help the subsidiary in developing new OLED products.

CMEL has AMOLED products with LTPS TFT technology - They showed 2.0 and 3.5 inch products at FPD 2006 in Japan this year, and expects to have these products in mass production in the first quarter of next year, according to the company. In addition, they have showed a 25" OLED TV prototype in that event.

Read more here (digiTimes)

Chi Mei EL Corporation (CMEL) announced that it has successfully employed the latest low temperature poly-silicon thin film transistor (LTPS TFT) process technology from Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO) together with its own organic light-emitting diodes (OLED) equipment and technology to develop a full-function, full-color 25" OLED TV panel.

This 25" OLED panel is currently the world's largest LTPS AMOLED panel. This successful application of new technologies from CMEL and CMO showcases CMEL's mature product development capabilities and advanced OLED process technology, as well as CMO's unique LTPS TFT process technology.

The new 25" AMOLED TV panel uses the latest LTPS TFT production technology developed by CMO to avoid non-uniform images that plague conventional LTPS TFT panels. Excessive critical voltage fluctuations often cause non-uniform images in conventional LTPS TFT panels; this typically results in a low production yield and difficulty in increasing panel size. CMO's LTPS TFT panel technology -- which ensures outstanding performance and consistency -- can be used in OLED TV panels offering extreme thinness, an ultra-wide viewing angle, ultra-high contrast, and ultra-fast response time. CMEL has also developed passive matrix OLED (PMOLED) products as well as 2.0" and 3.5" active matrix full-color OLED panels using CMO's unique LTPS TFT technology. CMEL will exhibit its new products from Oct.18 to Oct. 20 at the FPD International 2006 in Yokohama, Japan.

This year at FPD International 2005, Chi Mei Electroluminescence (CMEL), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Chi Mei Optoelectronics (CMO), is presenting OLED panels including a 0.95-inch passive matrix PM (passive-matrix) OLED panel and a 1.02-inch passive matrix PMOLED panels.

CMEL claims it is setting up the world’s largest OLED vapor deposition process facility with the substrates being sized at 620mmª375mm, 1.3 times larger than current substrates (470mmª370mm). The facility is scheduled to enter volume production in the second quarter of 2006, according to CMEL general manager, Chen Zhe Nian (transliterated from Chinese).

Digitimes says that Japanese OLED makers (such as SK Displays, TM Display and Hitachi) have already begain mass production of AMOLED displays, while Taiwanese companies are postponing their schedules and will not start volume production until 2005.

There are 15 AMOLED production line planned in Taiwan, Japan and Korea for 2005 according to Digitimes. Nine of these lines belong to Japanese makers. In Taiwan, the leading player seems to be RiTDisplay. The company have been showing AMOLED samples in June 2004 but they will not start mass production in 2004 as originally planned - they postponed it to 1Q 2005 due to low yields.