According to a new report from NanoMarkets the OLED lighting market will reach almost US $4.5
billion ($US) by 2013 and grow to $5.9 billion by 2015. The firm claims
that in the past year the prospects for OLED lighting have made great
leaps forward due to improvements in OLED performance and
manufacturing.
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Key findings of the OLED lighting market report:
- The unit costs of OLED lights are likely to remain higher
than older general lighting technologies but the extra costs will be
offset by improved OLED lifetimes and efficiencies. During 2008, OLED
lifetimes improved from 24 Khrs to 100 Khrs. Meanwhile, the U.S.
Department of Energy now expects OLED lighting to reach 150 lm/W
efficiency in 2012 rather than 2014 as previously forecast. NanoMarkets
believes that these and other improvements in OLEDs will drive the
general illumination market to $2.3 billion in revenues by 2015.
- Manufacturing
processes for OLEDs have also progressed significantly. GE and the
Fraunhofer Institute have both demonstrated roll-to-roll manufacturing
of OLED lighting which will ultimately lead to significant cost
improvements in OLED fabrication. Low cost printing approaches and new
small molecule inks will also help propel OLEDs into the backlighting
market. NanoMarkets expects that the OLED backlighting market will
reach $1.1 billion by 2015. And while the first OLED lighting panels
are quite small, the recent scaling up of factories in Asia to build
large OLED displays will certainly benefit the manufacturing
infrastructure for OLED lighting and lead to larger panels within a few
years.
- The flat and flexible format presented by
OLEDs creates an opportunity to design high-value added lighting
fixtures with an appeal to upscale consumers and especially architects.
During 2008, lighting designer Ingo Maurer introduced the worlds first
OLED "function table light" and researchers at GE are targeting lighted
curtains and lighted wallpaper. By 2015, NanoMarkets projects that
sales of OLED architectural and specialist industrial lighting will
reach $1.9 billion.