Financial

Universal Display reports its financial results for Q3 2024

Universal Display announced its financial results for the third quarter of 2024. Revenues reached $161.6 million (up from $141 million a year ago), while its net income reached $67 million (up from $52 million a year ago). At the end of the quarter, UDC had $930 million in cash and equivalents.

UDC PHOLED materials photo (2017)

UDC issued guidance for the whole of 2024, saying its revenues will be in the range of $625 million to $645 million. This is a lower guidance than its previous issued one UDC is on track for a record year in 2024, with revenues up around 16% from 2023.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 31,2024

Samsung Display developed new technology to recycle QD materials for its QD-OLED production process

Samsung Display announced that it has developed a new technology that can recover around 80% of the quantum dots ink used in its QD-OLED production process. The recovered inks is refined through advanced synthesis technology that revives its purity and optical properties. The company will apply this technology, to its process and it is expected to save around 10 billion Won (around $7.3 million USD) each year in QD materials cost.

It turns out that even though the QD layers are inkjet printed, there is still significant waste of materials, as around 20% of the total QD ink used in the process remains in the nozzles and cannot be used. This new technology will enable SDC to make its QD-OLED panels more competitive with other large-area panel technologies.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 28,2024

Ares Materials announces an investment with Denka to bring its films and materials to the flexible OLED industry

US-based Ares Materials announced that it Japan's Denka invested in the company, with an aim to expand its high-functional materials business. Denka invested via its corporate VC that is jointly managed with Pegasus Tech Ventures.

Ares Materials developed a design technique that utilizes materials informatics (AI) for using enethiols as a raw material and possesses the technology to produce high-performance optical films using the design technique. The company says its optical films offer high performance, low cost and a reduced environmental impact.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 26,2024

LG Display reports its financial results for Q3 2024

LG Display reported its financial results for the third quarter of 2024. Revenues increased 43% over last year, reaching 6.8 billion Won (almost $5 billion USD), while the net loss amounted to 337 billion Won or $244 million USD (down from 775 billion Won in Q3 2023).

LGD P10 OLED fab, Paju Korea (March 2019)

LGD continues to shift its business to OLED technology, with the proportion of OLED products rising 16% in the year, reaching 58% of LGD's revenues.

Read the full story Posted: Oct 24,2024

Does it make sense for LG Display and Samsung Display to merge?

In this article, we examine the theoretical question of whether or not it makes sense for LG Display and Samsung Display to merge, into one company.

Note that we have no indications that such a merger is even considered by the two companies, but we feel this is a fascinating topic that should be explored, and is supported by several strong arguments.

We'll start with a short introduction to the two companies, then see why there are many reasons to pursue a merger, then explain the reasons against a possible merger, and finally detail the current financial situations of both companies.

Samsung Display and LG Display

Samsung Display Corporation (SDC) is a subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. SDC is a leader in OLED production, with a market share of over 40% in the small OLED display market (the second largest player, BOE, holds a market share of around 15%). SDC produces over 300 million AMOLED displays per year - supplying them to Apple's iPhones and tablets, Samsung Electronics Galaxy phones, and many more. The Company also produces larger-area QD-OLED panels for TVs and gaming monitors, and has a capacity of producing around a million TV panels per year. SDC no longer produces any LCDs. SDC does produce microLED displays (but on a very small scale, this is currently a strictly next-gen display technology), and the company develops OLED microdisplays (and also holds OLED microdisplay producer eMagin which it acquired in 2023 for $243 million).

Read the full story Posted: Oct 08,2024

LG Display officially sells its last two LCD fab in China to TCL CSoT

As we reported last month, TCL CSoT officially announced that it has agreed to buy LG Display's last LCD production line in Guangzhou, China, for $1.5 billion (10.8 billion Yuan). 

LG Display Guangzhou LCD factory photo

TCL CSoT will acquire 80% of LG Display's 8.5-Gen LCD production line, and 100% of its LCD module line in Guangzhou. The two companies plan to complete the deal by the end of March 2025. LG's LCD production line has a capacity to produce 180,000 TV panels per month, most of these sized 55" and up (about 6% of the total LCD panel market), and had a net profit of $85 million last year over $900 million in revenues. The module factory can produce 2.3 million units per month. The two factories serve customers such as Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics, Skyworth, and more. 

Read the full story Posted: Sep 29,2024

UDC announces support for organic electronics innovation with the new Sherwin I. Seligsohn Innovation Award

Universal Display Corporation announced the establishment of a new award, the Sherwin I. Seligsohn Innovation Award in honor of UDC’s late founder. Through this award competition, UDC seeks to support and celebrate organic electronics innovation.

The aware amount is $75,000 and researchers can now submit their research (submissions will be accepted until June 302025). The award is open to individuals and teams from around the world, and is also open for both academic and non-academic groups that are pushing organic electronics innovation in new and exciting ways. The theme of the 2025 award is organic photovoltaics or solar (OPVs). 

Read the full story Posted: Sep 19,2024

Pixelligent secures a significant strategic capital investment from Henkel

Pixelligent Technologies announced that it has secured a significant strategic capital investment from Henkel AG & Co. Henkel, a leader in adhesives, sealants, functional coatings and consumer goods, will also assist Pixelligent with its global infrastructure and sales force.

Pixelligent OLED materials slide - 2024

Pixelligent is an advanced materials company that delivers next generation optical materials applications in lighting and displays. For the OLED industry, Pixelligent offers materials that significantly increase light output by increasing the refractive index of materials in the device.

Read the full story Posted: Sep 10,2024

BOE, Tianma, TCL CSoT, EDO and Visionox all post improved quarterly earnings

Recently, BOE, Tianma, TCL, EDO and Visionox all posted their financial results for Q2 2024, and all were rather positive. Samsung Display and LG Display also posted increased earnings for the quarter.

So we start with BOE, that posted revenues of 93.4 billion yuan (13.17 billion USD) for the first half of 2024, an increase of 16.47% over H1 2023. Its net profit increased 210% compared to last year (2.285 billion Yuan, or $320 million USD). BOE enjoyed increased LCD sales and optimized production, and also noted high demand for high-end foldable OLED displays.

Read the full story Posted: Sep 01,2024

Visionox shares more details on its upcoming 8.6-Gen IT AMOLED line in Hefei, construction will begin towards the end of 2024

In May 2024, Visionox announced its plan to build a new AMOLED production line, targeting the IT display market - laptops, monitors and tablets. The company said that it will best 55 billion Yuan (around $7.6 billion USD) to build a 8.6-Gen production line in Hefei, Anhui province, with a monthly capacity of 32,000 substrates.

Yesterday Visionox shared some more details about its project and plans. The company will build the new fab with support from two local government-owned firms, both of which are partners at Visionox's existing 6-Gen AMOLED line in Hefei. In the first step for this new project, the three partners (Visionox and the new government firms) will invest a total of $282 million USD. Visionox will only hold 20% of the JV.

Read the full story Posted: Aug 31,2024