Taiwan-based Chunghwa Picture Tubes (CPT), in collaboration with European research institute imec (in the framework of the Holst Centre collaboration) have demonstrated an ultra-high resolution OLED display that was patterned using photolithography - without the need for an FMM (metal mask). A photolithography process offers a high aperture ratio, large substrate sizes and good yield control.

The prototype display that was demonstrated is a passive display with a 1400x1400 resolution (or 1250 PPI!) of side-by-side orange and green OLEDs. imec reports that preliminary lifetime investigation shows operation of each color after patterning for a few hundred hours at more than 50% of the original brightness.

A few days ago we reported that the four largest smartphone makers in China (Huawei, Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi) have all confirmed plans to adopt LGD's flexible OLEDs starting in 2018. A new report from Business Korea now suggests that Huawei and LGD are set to sign a strategic long-term OLED supply agreement.

According to the report Huawei is the largest customer for mobile OLED displays in China, and the company wants to sign a long-term supply contract with LGD. The agreement will call for a relatively small (tens of thousands, it seems) supply of OLEDs in 2018, so most of Huawei's OLEDs orders in 2018 will remain with Samsung Display as is the situation today. Huawei's upcoming Mate 10 flagship phone will adopt SDC's glass-based AMOLEDs.

In July 2017 LG Display announced that it has decided to build a 8.5-Gen (2200x2500) OLED line in Guangzhou, China, to make OLED TV panels. This is the first time a Korean company plans to produce OLEDs outside of Korea, and the Korean government is not happy with this plan as it sees OLED as a strategic technology Korea' economy.

According to reports from Korea, The Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy of South Korea organized a special committee to discuss whether to allow LGD to built its Guangzhou fab. This is the first time that a special committee was formed in Korea for such a matter.

AP Systems announced that it has received orders for OLED deposition equipment from CSoT for the company's 6-Gen flexible AMOLED fab in Wuhan that is currently under construction.

AP Systems said that the whole order is worth $60.65 million and the equipment will be delivered starting in September 2017 until October 2018. AP Systems did not disclose the equipment list, but the company's main products are laser annealing equipment (used to produce LTPS substrates), laser list-off equipment and OLED encapsulation tools.

Our display supplier in China has just received a large quantity of 4.95" 960x544 (222 PPI) AMOLED displays, produced by 2011 in Samsung. These AMOLEDs are now offered at around half of their regular price.

The supplier has over 100,000 units - and this may be a great opportunity to get these panels at a low cost - contact us for more details. These 4.95" AMOLED displays 3-wire SPI and MIPI DSI interfaces, a size of 116.54 x 73.92 mm (active area 109.44 x 62.02 mm) and a thickness of 1.6 mm. You can find more information over at the OLED Marketplace.

A few days ago, Cynora hosted the 2017 International TADF Symposium in Frankfurt, Germany. Cynora reports that about 150 attendees from all over the world listened to experts from the industry and academia and were updated on the latest news regarding TADF OLED emitters.

Cynora itself showed an update on its latest blue emitter. The company now has material that features a CIEy of 0.18 (target - 0.1), EQE of 14% (target 15%) and a lifetime of 10 hours LT97 at 700 nits (target is over 100 hours). Cynora says that development is progressing well and it is confident it will reach its target material performance by the end of the year.

UBI Research says that LG Display will start mass producing OLED lighting panels at its 5-Gen fab by the end of September 2017, which will the growth period of the OLED lighting market.

According to UBI, the market will reach panel sales of $1.9 billion by 2021, and continue its fast growth to reach $5.8 billion by 2025. That's a CAGR of 85% from 2017 to 2025!

The National Palace Museum of Korea in Seoul has replaced its lighting system with OLED lighting panels made by LG Display, significantly decreasing the amount of unwanted shadows and glare.

The OLED lighting panels also takes up less space than the previous system - the museum has old-fashioned low ceiling which made it difficult to light properly, and the museum curator explains that the low temperatures of the panels enabled them to place the lighter closer to the exhibited items without loss of damage.

LG Display teamed up with Cultivate Labs to launch a 6-month forecasting tournament about the display industry. The two companies wants to hear from a diverse group of thought-leading engineers, researchers, gamers, graphic artists, consultants, and high-end display experts to participate in the "LG Display Futurecasting" tournament.

The tournament will begin in mid-October, and LGD will award over $10,00 in prize money for forecast accuracy, participation, and qualitative input. Anyone that is interested in participating can sign-up here.

Cynora announced that it finalized its Series-B funding round. Both Samsung (via Samsung Ventures) and LG Display participated in this round which totaled €25 million. Both LGD and samsung will also establish separate joint development efforts to assist in advancing Cynora's R&D.

Cynora did not disclose how much did each company invest, although earlier reports suggested that LG invested €15 million while Samsung invested €10 million.