Financial

Universal Display Corporation reported its financial results for Q4 2024, with revenues of $162.3 million (up from $158.3 last year), and net income of $46 million (down from $62 million last year). 

Looking at 2024, UDC reports $647.7 million in revenues, up 12% from 2023 ($576.4 million) while net profit was up 9% ($222 million up from $203 million). The company believes that its 2025 revenues will be in the range of $640 million to $700 million, forecasting growth of up to 8% (and possibly even a 2% decline in revenues). 

Japan Display (JDI) made an interesting announcement today, saying that it has made a strategic investment in OLEDWorks, and now owns 6.69% of the company. The two companies are also planning to build an advanced OLED production line in the US, targeting high-performance displays for the defense, automotive and medical industries.

JDI did not disclose much else, beyond saying that in addition to the manufacturing hub, it will alsop build an advanced display R&D center in the US, together with OLEDWorks. JDI does seem to emphasize OLEDWorks' multi-stack architecture, which maybe means that this technology will be used in the upcoming production line.

China-based OLED microdisplay producer Metaways (also called Zhejiang Hongxi Technology) announced that it has successfully completed its Series A funding round, raising almost 500 million Yuan (around $68.5 million USD).

Metaways is building a 12-inch microdisplay production line in Yiwu City, Zhejiang province, and is developing high-end OLED microdisplays, including a 1.4" 4K product. 

The Korean Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MTIE) has announced that it will allocate 38.7 billion Won (about $26.5 million USD) to support the Korean display industry and help it maintain its competitiveness, especially against competition from China.

The main goal of this new award is to support Korea's OLED and MicroLED display industry. The support will target small and medium-sized enterprises, large corporations and universities and research institutes. The government announced 40 types of projects that will be awarded funds, including novel OLED technologies, AR/VR technologies, microdisplays, and lightfield OLED displays. These are all R&D projects with a time frame of 1-4 years.

Last month we reported that bankrupt US- and China-based OLED display maker Royole started a public auction to sell off its assets on the public Taobao's Ali Asset Platform, and have asked a starting price $170 million.

Following low interest, the company had to reduce the asking price, and it is now reported that it has managed to find a buyer, for $69 million USD. We do not know the buyer's identity, but it is speculated that it is HKC.

Poland-based OLED material developer Noctiluca announced that it has signed a joint development agreement (JDA) with a subsidiary of the world’s second-largest TV manufacturer and a leader in display technology from China, focused on industrializing printed OLED technologies. This is likely to be TCL CSoT's Juhua printing subsidiary. TCL CSoT recently started to produced inkjet printed OLEDs.

Noctiluca and TCL CSoT will work together to adopt Noctiluca's proprietary chemical compound into TCL's OLED displays. The company does not detail what kind of materials will be tested in this agreement. The company develops both TADF/HF OLED emitters and also EIL materials for blue OLED emission.

In 2022, we reported that US- and China-based OLED display maker Royole is in financial problems. The company did not manage to raise funds, and started laying-off many of its employees, following several months it did not pay any wages. The company is no longer in business.

Earlier today Royle started a public auction to sell off its assets. The company is using the public Taobao's Ali Asset Platform, and have asked a starting price of 1.23 billion yuan (almost $170 million USD). As of now, there are no bids for the asset, which includes 12 real estate properties and the OLED production equipment. If the auction fails, Royole will likely launch another auction with a reduced starting price.

Kyulux announced that it has singed a capital and business alliance agreement with Nippon Soda, to establish a mass production system for TADF OLED emitter materials. Nippon Soda will take an equity stake in Kyulux and will engage in process development and capital investment toward establishing the mass production system.

This will be the world's first mass production and stable supply system for TADF materials. Kyulux aims to achieve full-scale mass production of its Hyperfluoresence emitter system by 2025, and this will be an important step forward as it will require a stable supply of TADF materials. 

LG Display announced that it will invest $1 billion to increase its OLED module fab capacity in Vietnam's Hai Phong Economic Zone. This will bring LGD's total investment in Vietnam to date to $5.65 billion.

LG Display first built its Hai Phong facility in 2016, and it then expanded capacity several times. The last capacity increase was announced in 2021.

Towards the end of 2023, BOE officially announced its plans for a 8.6-Gen flexible LTPO AMOLED line in Chengdu. The agreement with Chengdu's local government was signed in early 2024, and in April BOE announced it is starting to construct the new fab. A few weeks ago BOE said it finished the construction of the main outer structure in this project, and that the company is on track to finish the fab by May 2026, with mass production expected by October 2026 - and full production in 2029.