OLED is a display technology that enables thin, efficient, flexible and bright displays, TVs and lighting devices. OLED displays offer the world's best image quality - and enable flexible, foldable and rollable displays (see more here - What is OLED?).
The OLED market is already a multi-billion dollar market, led by Samsung, LG Display, BOE and others. It is estimated that OLED displays generated over $40 billion in revenues in 2023 and the market is expected to continue growing in the future.
OLED stocks
There are dozens of companies developing and producing OLEDs, from display makers such as Samsung, LG and BOE to smaller R&D startups and IP companies.
For public investors interested in the OLED market, there are several good options, including:
- Universal Display Corporation: UDC is an OLED pioneer, and holds many of the key patents in the industry (mostly around efficient phosphorescent OLED emitters). Virtually all AMOLED displays on the market adopt UDC's PHOLED materials, and the company experienced very fast growth in revenue in recent years. Universal Display's stock ticker is OLED, you can see the OLED share price here.
- eMagin: eMagin is an OLED microdisplay pioneer, and has been developing and producing such displays for many years, focusing on the defense market and recently also on the consumer VR/AR market. In 2023, eMagin was acquired by Samsung.
- OLED display makers: There are several OLED display makers, and most of them are public companies are are held by public companies: Samsung Display (held by Samsung Electronics), LG display, Visionox, BOE and others.
- OLED equipment makers: There are several public equipment companies (for Coherent) that offer OLED production systems or components. These companies could be a good investment opportunity to investors who believes a new wave of OLED capacity expansion is near.
LG Display reported its Q2 2024 financial results, boosted by tablet AMOLED shipments to Apple
LG Display reported its financial results for Q2 2024 - with revenues reaching $4.85 billion (an increase of 42% compared to last year) and a net loss of $67 million (down from around $637 million in 2023).
LG Display benefited greatly from Apple's introduction of its 2024 iPad pro tablets, for which LGD is the main AMOLED supplier. The company is also expecting to sell a record number of iPhone AMOLED panels later this year. LGD says that the proportion of OLED products rose 10% of its total sales, reaching 52% - which means that OLED is now the company's main product line in terms of revenues.
DSCC: the OLED materials market to grow 24% in 2024, will reach $2.7 billion by 2028
DSCC says that the OLED materials market will reach $2.12 billion in 2024, rising 24% over 2023. The market will continue growing at a 6% CAGR until 2028, reaching about $2.7 billion. DSCC details the revenue split between single-stack, tandem and multi-stack panels, saying that materials used in tandem OLED panels will grow at a fast rate of 30% CAGR from 2024-2028.
The leading materials makers by revenue in 2024 will be UDC, DuPont, LG Chemical and Samsung SDI, holding a market share of 51% together. DSCC says that Chinese materials makers will increase their market share in the future.
UTG glass developer Dowoo Insys plans to IPO in 2025
A report from Korea suggests that Dowoo Insys is planning to IPO in 2025. The company will list on the Korean Exchange, and it plans to file the preliminary information and documents by the end of the summer.
Dowoo Insys was established in 2010, to develop glass products for the display industry. The company's main product is thin flexible glass covers for foldable displays - UTG glass - which it supplies to Samsung Display (its main customer). Dowoo does not produce its own glass - it buys flexible glass from Schott and then treats it in its own facilities.
Xi'an Manareco New Materials to increate its stake of Idemitsu Kosan's OLED business in China to 20%
Xi'an Manareco New Materials announced that it intends to invest around $10 million (76.4 million Yuan) in Idemitsu Kosan's China-based Idemitsu Electronic Materials. Following this investment, Manareco's stake at the company will rise to 20%.
Xi'an Manareco says that Idemitsu plans to move most of its OLED material production to its China-based company. Manareco is a strategic material supplier to Idemitsu, and it hopes to expand its OLED intermediate business. In addition, the company is developing and supplying OLED stack materials (such as EIL, HIL, ETL and more).
Visionox announces plans to build a $7.6 billion 8.6-Gen AMOLED line in Hefei
Visionox is the latest company to announce 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.
Visionox's production line will have a monthly capacity of 32,000 substrates. The company did not share any details regarding the timeline of this project, or its financing.
Universal Display reports excellent financial results for Q1 2024
Universal Display announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2024. Total revenues were $165.3 million (up from $130.5 million in Q1 2023), and a net income of $56.9 million (up from $39.8 million).
UDC says it seas meaningful growth opportunities across several verticals: the IT display market, TVs, smartphones, and foldable phones. UDC raised the lower end of its guidance for 2024, now it believes it will be in the range of $635 million to $675 million.
Kopin announces its third OLED microdisplay defense design win and order
Kopin Corporation announced that it has received its third order for its OLED microdisplays, to be used in thermal imaging vision systems, for the Indian army. Kopin says that it will deliver over 1,200 microdisplays over a six-month time span.
Last month Kopin announced that it has a achieved two important milestones in its OLED projects. Kopin is in the process of establishing an OLED deposition partner in Europe, and the company has reported impressive performance improvements.
The Elec: UDC's blue PHOLED material is still unstable, may delay market introduction
Universal Display Corporation has announced several times that it is progressing with its blue PHOLED material development, and it is on track to release the first commercial material by the end of 2024. In November 2023 we reported that UBI estimates that Samsung has delayed the adoption of a blue PHOLED to the second half of 2025.
Now there's a new report in Korea that claims that UDC's blue PHOLED project is facing technical challenges, and UDC is still not able to achieve a long-lasting blue emitter at the right color point. It will be interesting to know whether UDC addresses this issue in its next investor conference call (May 2nd).
LG Display to raise 970 million USD to accelerate its OLED R&D and production expansion
LG Display says it plans to issue new shares, and raise around $970 million USD. The company plans to invest this capital in its OLED business, to meet the demand for advanced displays.
LG Display's strategic plan is to increase WOLED (large-area) display production by 20% compared to 2023. It also plans to increase its small and medium sized AMOLED business, but it seems LGD has not yet committed to expand production capacity further.
UDC reported its financial results for Q4 2023, sees a new cycle of investments in the OLED industry
Universal Display Corporation reported its financial results for Q4 2023, with revenues of $158 million, and a net income of $62 million. For the whole year (2023), UDC reproted revenues of $576 million and net income of $203 million. The company ended 2023 with $800 million in cash and equivalents, and has increased its quarterly dividend.
UDC says that the market still suffers from soft spending in smartphone and premium TVs. UDC, however, says that it believes that the OLED industry is starting a new and exciting multiyear investment cycle.
