Financial - Page 5

In 2022, Japan Display (JDI) announced that it has developed a "historic breakthrough in display technology" - a new OLED deposition process which they refer to as eLEAP, that is said to be cost effective and can be used to create freeform OLEDs that are brighter, more efficient, and longer lasting compared to OLEDs produced using mask evaporation (FMM).

Japan Display announced an agreement with China-based LCD maker HKC Corp to mass produce panels by 2025 in China, based on JDI's technology, but the plan was later cancelled, and JDI said it will establish its own factory in China. The company was negotiating with the Wuhu Economic and Technological Development Zone (in Anhui Province), aiming to establish two eLEAP AMOLED production lines by 2025. JDI hoped to sign the formal agreement before the end of 2023.

JDI now announced that it is scaling back its plans. Originally JDI aimed to establish two production lines: one 6-Gen (with a capacity of 10,000 monthly substrates) and one 8.7-Gen (30,000 monthly substrates). Now JDI decided to reduce its plans, to a single 8.7-Gen fab. In addition, it estimates it will sign the final contract in March 2024. The 8.7-Gen line will start mass production in December 2026.

In 2022, we reported that US- and China-based 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.

It turns out, that Royole's problems aren't over - even though it seems the company is no longer in business. The company did not pay past wages for many of its employees - some of whom (including guards and production line workers) have 12 months of wages due. Yesterday 50 employees held a demonstration, demanding their wages.

Kyulux announced that it has raised $28.6 million USD in its Series C funding round, led by El Camino Capital and the MCP Group. This brings Kyulux total funding so far to $86 million USD.

A part of the Kyulux team based in Fukuoka, Japan

Kyulxu says that it will use the newly raised funds to further accelerate its product development, strengthen its IP portfolio and achieve full-scale mass production of its emitter system by 2025, with its affiliated chemical companies.

Back in April 2022 it was reported that BOE started planning a 8.5-Gen IT AMOLED Line, to target the laptop and tablet markets. Following some delays, the company has now officially announced it plans and is set to start constructing the new fab.

Asus ZenBook 17 Fold OLED (BOE panel)

BOE says that it will invest 63 billion Yuan (over $8.8 billion USD) to build the new fab in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China - where its first B7 6-Gen flexible AMOLED line is located as well. The new fab will use 2290x2620 glass substrates (which is usually referred to as 8.7-Gen) and will have a capacity of 32,000 monthly substrates. The fab will produce flexible and foldable AMOLEDs (on a polyimide substrate).

Universal Display announced that it signed a long-term OLED material supply and license agreements with BOE Technology Group. This is actually an extension of UDC's previous agreement with UDC (which was signed in 2017). UDC did not disclose the financial terms.

BOE recently announced that it shipped over 100 million AMOLED displays in 2023. 

Germany-based Credoxys has successfully completed its second funding round, led by deep-tech VC LIFTT and Melchers Group. The company says it will use the funds to commercialize its p-dopant technology in both the Korean and Chinese markets. The company already validated some product candidates with industry partners, and these are ready for customer qualification.

Credoxys is focused on developing novel materials for both the p- and n-sides of OLEDs and organic solar cells (OPVs). The company says its newly developed p-dopants surpass current standards by exhibiting extremely low absorption of visible light and low pixel cross-talk. The materials enable the doping of hole transport materials with deep HOMO levels, making them particularly suitable for phosphorescent blue OLEDs.

China-based AMOLED producer Everdisplay (EDO) reported its financial results for Q3  2023. Net loss increased to 1.1 billion Yuan ($150 million USD), and total loss in 2023 so far was 2.39 billion Yuan (around $325 million USD). 

The company says that the increased loss and drop in revenues were due to the global economic recession and weak demand in the consumer electronics market. The industry is facing a fierce price competition with radical price drops by AMOLED makers causing revenues and losses to decline.

LGD reported its financial results for Q3 2023, saying that revenues were almost flat from last quarter as the industry faces an intense inventory correction and demand is slow to recover.

LGD's revenues were 4.785 trillion Won (around $3.5 billion USD) with an operating loss of 662 billion Won (or around $490 million USD).

Germany-based OLED lighting developer Inuru announced that it has raised $10 million, from Aper Ventures, Adamed Technology (the venture capital arm of Polish pharmaceutical company Adamed Pharma), ARIA, and a group of business angels. Inuru says that the new funds will enable it expand into new industries with its interactive OLED labels.

Inuru says it is now focusing on two sections: medication and entertainment. Inuru's main focus for the medication industry is to use its OLED labels to assist patients in learning the expiration date on medication and to adhere to the prescribed guidelines. The company says that the repercussions of non-adherence and medication mismanagement contribute to an estimated $600 billion in preventable healthcare expenses and 325,000 annual fatalities.