Financial - Page 8

China-based Hyperions, a developer of HTL, HIL, ETL and EIL OLED materials, has filed for an IPO.  The company is now going through financial inspection towards the IPO which will should happen before the end of 2023.

According to the comapny's IPO prospectus, Hyperions has been profitable since 2020. The company's income was around $43 million USD in 2022, up from $30 million in 2021 and $27 million in 2020. The company's net profit was $12 million in 2022, up from $6.6 million in 2021 and $7.3 million in 2020.

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).

We now hear that China-based LCD maker HKC Corp has signed an agreement with JDI to adopt its technology for mass production of AMOLED displays. Under the agreement HKC will invest billions to build AMOLED factories in China, while JDI will provide the manufacturing expertise and technologies, including eLEAP. The plan is to begin mass production in 2025, with the first applications to be in automotive displays and wearable devices.

In August 2022, Samsung Display announced that the company decided to build a 8-Gen (2200x2500 mm) production line, which will begin production in 2024. The company now updated that it will convert an existing LCD line in Asan, South Chungcheong province, Korea - and the total cost of the project is $3.1 billion. Samsung Display received government subsidy for this project. 

Samsung says that the new production line will enable it to more than double its AMOLED tablet panel production. The company acknowledges the drop in demand for displays in general, but the company expects that demand for premium mid-sized panels will keep increasing. 

A report from Japan updates that JOLED , the OLED inkjet printing pioneer established in 2014, has filed for bankruptcy. The company has been struggling financially for a long time, and will now close down its two production lines and lay off 280 employees (out of 380), as it could not raise funds and has liabilities of around $257 million.

According to the report, display maker Japan Display will take over JOLED technology and remaining operations. 

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin reported its financial results for Q4 2022, with another strong quarter. The company's revenues reached $8.4 million, up 17% from last year. This is the fifth consecutive quarter in which eMagin achieved year-over-year revenue growth. At the end of the quarter, eMagin had $4.3 million in cash and equivalents.

For the full year 2022, eMagin reported revenues of $30.5 million (up 17% from 2021) and an income (EBITDA) of $2.2 million. 

Universal Display Corporation reported its financial results for Q4 2022, with revenues of $169 million and a net income of $65 million. Looking at 2022 as a whole, revenues reached $617 million (up 11% from 2021) while net income was $210 million, up 14% from 2021. The company ended 2022 with $826 in cash and equivalents.

The company expects the OLED industry to begin a new investment cycle in 2024, but in the near term the company sees a "temporary backdrop", and so expects its 2023 revenues to be in the range of $550 million to $600 million.

OLED driver IC developer MagnaChip announced its financial results for Q4 2022, with revenues of $61 million, down 44.7% compared to Q4 2021, primarily due to severe 28nm wafer shortages.

In full-year 2022, the company reports revenues of $337.7 million, down 28.8% from 2021. The company does report, however, taht it signed a Tier-1 panel customer outside of Korea, and it qualified two new foundries to strengthen its supply chain. During the last quarter, MagnaChip successfully qualified two OLED projects with its two leading panel customers and expect to begin shipping at the end of this quarter.

Samsung Electronics reported its financial results for Q4 2022, with revenues of $57.3 billion, and an operating profit of $3.5 billion.

Samsung says that the "business environment deteriorated significantly in the fourth quarter due to weak demand amid a global economic slowdown". SDC's mobile AMOLED panel business earning declined, as demand for smartphones fell, but its large-area panel business seen a smaller loss as it is increasing sales of QD-OLED panels.

LG Display reports its financial results for Q4 2022, with an operating loss of around $710 million USD (down from a profit of $350 million in Q4 2021). The company says that high inflation and interest rates reduce consumer demand and it sees weak demand and falling prices for both OLED and LCD displays.

LGD says that LCD prices are at an all time low, and the company will accelerate its plans to wind-down its LCD production. During the quarter, the portion of OLED displays out of its total revenues have risen over 50% for the first time. LG Display will also adjust its utilization rate at its OLED TV factories to meet the lower demand.

As we reported a few days ago, The Korean government has officially designated five display technologies as "national strategic technologies", which gives tax breaks to display makers and developers.

The five display technologies include three specific display technologies - AMOLED, microLEDs and QD displays, in addition to deposition technologies materials and TFT equipment and materials. As strategic technologies, the government gives generous (30-50%, depending on the company size) tax credits for R&D and 8-16% tax credits for building production lines for materials, equipment or displays. The government is also considering increasing the tax credits for production lines up to 25%.