OLED production

The worldwide AMOLED market will grow to 185.2 million units by 2014, rising at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 84.2%, up from 2.6 million units in 2007, according to iSuppli. Revenue is expected to grow in concert, expanding to US$4.6 billion by 2014, up at a CAGR of 83.3% from US$67 million in 2007.

Digitimes reports that Nokia has decided that the capability to make AMOLEDs is a condition for the selection of its panel suppliers. Nokia expects AMOLED to play a major role in the market in the future.

A week ago we reported that TMDisplay is to spend 140M$ on new production lines, setting the output at 1M units per month.

Digitimes reports that AUO said that they are indeed considering re-opening their OLED production lines (as reported a month ago, here in OLED-Info). HB Chen, vice-Chairman and CEO of AUO said that although AUO will not re-open the production line in 2008, the company will showcase its OLED developments in Yokohama, Japan in October this year.

• Shipments of 4.34 million units in 2Q, 2008 which portray rapid growth from the starting point of 4Q, 2007
• Samsung SDI to dominate shipments, about 90% of the entire 2Q, 2008 shipments
• 2H, 2008 shipments expected to be minimum 10 million units, possibly more than 12 million units

AMOLED, so called "Dream Display" panel global shipments recorded 7.1 million units during the first half of 2008 and forecasted to be more than 10 million units during the latter half of 2008.

TMDisplay, the joint venture between Toshiba (60%) and Matsushita (40%) will setup production lines for 2.5" AMOLED by fall 2009. They aim to make 1M panels a month, of the 'high-quality-panels'. The total cost for those production lines will be 140M$.

LG Display has decided to construct a new AMOLED producion line in Paju, Gyeonggi, with a 100M$ investment. The plant will start to mass-produce panels in 2010, and will focus on mobile-phones displays, and displays for PMP and navigation (less than 10").

The Japanese government will team up with several Japanese companies to develop key-technologies for producing large-size OLED panels. The aim is to cut the development cost for the Japanese companies, to be better able to compete against Samsung and LG, and the Japanese government will pitch in around 32$M. 

Stan Glasgow (president and COO of Sony Electronics) says that Sony is making progress on moving to larger OLED screen sizes. At the moment, Sony sells an 11-inch OLED TV for $2,500, which means it is hardly a mass market product. The next step, he says, will be a 27-inch version, followed by a 40-inch version. He says they are “awfully close” to selling a 27-inch OLED version commercially. The key for Sony is to find ways to automate the production of the OLED screens, which right now require significant amounts of labor.

This report delivers exceptional value to product managers, marketers and planners among suppliers and buyers of small and medium displays for applications such as mobile phones, PDAs, digital still camera, digital photo frames, mini-note PCs, portable navigation devices, automotive monitors and others. The report is also useful for related suppliers providing components like driver ICs, glass substrates or touch panels.