September 2023

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).

Japan Display announced an agreement with China-based LCD maker HKC Corp to mass produce panels by 2025 in China, based on JDI's technology. But now it is reported that this joint venture is canceled. The report suggests that the two companies could not agree on a license fee that HKC was to pay to JDI. There is speculation that the HKC's canceled IPO and the slowdown in China's economy are to blame.

Dr. Kou Yoshida and Dr. Junyi Gong, from the University of St Andrews, working with Prof. Ifor Samuel and Prof. Graham Turnbull, have developed an integrated organic laser device, based on an electrically-pumped laser.

In this work, the researchers developed and electrically driven organic electronic laser, with a narrow emission spectrum and the formation of a laser beam above the threshold. The researchers have shown that indirect electrical pumping by an OLED is a very effective way of realizing an electrically driven organic semiconductor laser.

In 2020, LG Chem announced that it has sold most of its LCD polarizer business to China’s Ningbo Shanshan, in a $1.1 billion deal. LG Chem retained its automotive LCD polarizer and its OLED polarizer businesses. The company now announced that it sold all of its remaining display polarizer business to two companies, for around $800 million deal - the polarizer materials business to Hefei Xinmei Materials Technology ($616 million) and the polarizer production business to Shanjin Optoelectronics ($200 million).

LG Chem aims to focus on its main growth engines, namely battery materials, green materials and life sciences. The company did not detail its plans for its remaining OLED businesses.

TrendForce says that the demand for automotive displays is stabilizing, and the company expects modest growth ahead. By 2026, the global automotive display market will surpass 240 million units. 

TrendForce further sees an increased adoption of automotive OLED displays, and the market share of OLED panels will reach 8.9% by 2026. Demand for standard OLED displays is on the rise, and OLED makers are developing next-generation high-end automotive displays, including rollable, transparent and ultra-large panels.

Aviation display technology specialist Rosen Aviation is increasing its line of high-end OLED displays, and is set to introduce a 97-inch WOLED panel, the biggest ever display in an aircraft cabin.

Rosen Aviation - future VIP cabin design concept

Rosen Aviation's 97" OLED is set to receive the supplemental type certificate for a VIP aircraft by the end of 2023. Rosen has already signed up its first customer. Rosen says that beyond the exception OLED display quality, this display is very lightweight compared to a comparable LED LCD solution.

LG Display announced that it has started to mass produce 17" 2560x1920 foldable OLED laptop displays. LGD applied a tandem stack architecture, to increase the lifetime of the OLED displays, to make it suitable for the demands of laptop use.

It is likely that the recently announced HP Spectre Foldable PC uses LG's new panels.

Researchers from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Osaka University, University of Toyama and Shizuoka University have developed a fluorescent blue (462 nm) OLED device that features an ulta-low turn-on voltage of 1.47 V (at 100 nits). The researchers say this is very low, as similar commercial blue devices typically need around 4 V.

To achieve that low turn-on voltage, the researchers built a new device, as they realize that the choice of materials significantly influences the device's turn-on voltage. The device itself is an upconversion OLED.

Omdia released its latest analysis on the global large-area display market (LCDs and OLEDs combined), saying that it sees a decline in unit shipments of 7.3% from 2022. This is a sharper decline that what Omdia estimated a few months ago, as the demand continues to slide.

Interestingly, looking at the total market by display area, 2023 will see a slight increase (0.5%) over 2022, this is mostly because consumers are buying larger TVs and larger gaming monitors.

DSCC estimates that OLED revenues in 2023 will be $36.1 billion - down 13% from last year. Just a few months ago DSCC's forecast for 2023 was $38.9 billion. This is the second year that the OLED market is contracting. In terms of shipments, there will be a 5% decrease in 2023. Looking forward to 2024, DSCC sees the market starting to recover, as demand for IT displays, TVs and smartphones will increase.

Looking at specific markets in 2023, DSCC says that OLED smartphone shipments will remain flat, but will drop 11% in revenues - as the demand for higher-end flexible displays is lower than in 2022. The only positive is the foldable display market, where shipments will increase 33% in 2023 compared to last year. 2023 also experiences a big drop in demand for OLED TVs - DSCC sees shipments declining 31% in 2023. The same goes for laptop OLEDs - a 32% decrease in sales in 2023.

The New York State Attorney has arrested a Russian citizen called Maxim Marchenko, and two other co-conspirators, accusing them of buying $1.6 million worth of military-grade OLED microdisplays and smuggling these to Russia. The US export control laws forbid the sale of such components to Russian companies.

According to the prosecutors Marchenko hid the fact that these displays were going to Russia, and claimed that these will be used by Chinese companies for use in electron microscope for medical research. Marchenko was charged with seven criminal counts including wire fraud, smuggling, money laundering and four conspiracy counts.