Konica Minolta Pioneer OLED was established in 2017 as a joint venture between Konica Minolta and Pioneer to accelerate automotive OLED lighting. The new company was formed with an initial capital of 490 million yen (about $4.4 million) and a focus on OLED lighting for automotive applications.
The new "strategic alliance" was to combine KM's roll-to-roll flexible OLED production equipment and technology with Pioneer's achievement in OLED panel mass-production and market rollout and its car electronics business know-how. In 2019 the company was dissolved following Pioneer's withdrawal from the OLED lighting market.
Contact information for Konica Minolta Pioneer OLED
Pioneer / SOAR - OLED company spotlight, history and future
We are launching a new OLED-Info Pro premium article series, spotlights on OLED companies. Each article will look into one OLED industry company, detailing its past, present and future. In this first article, we are focused on Pioneer, the first company to produce OLED displays commercially.
Pioneer corporation history
Pioneer Corporation was established in 1938, in Tokyo, by Nozomu Matsumoto. The company started out as a radio and speaker repair shop, under the name Fukuin Shokai Denki Seisakusho. Matsumoto developed a dynamic speaker, and named it the A-8 "Pioneer". In 1961, the company name was changed to Pioneer Electronic Corporation, inspired by the A-8 Pioneer speaker. This was a suitable name - the company was indeed a pioneer in the audio industry - it launched the first separate stereo system in 1962, the first component car stereo system in 1975 and the first car CD player in 1984.
Coca Cola is using flexible OLED lighting in its Star Wars Singapore promotion campaign
Pioneer withdraws from the OLED lighting market, KMPO dissolves back into Konica Minolta
An Audi ad at Departures magazine includes flexible OLED lighting panels
Departures magazine (a premium magazine shipped to around 25,000 American Express Platinum Card members) included an innovative ad for Audi's A8 with flexible OLED lighting panels that are activated when first opened (and also when the reader clicks on a replica Audi key that is included with the magazine).
Personally this seems to be an overly expensive and wasteful way to advertise. We do not know what kind of OLED panels are used in the ads (which was produced by US-based Structural Graphics). In 2017 Konica Minolta Pioneer OLED (KMPO) demonstrated its simple flexible OLED lighting panels integrated into packaging technology - which could be the one adopted here (although other companies have demonstrated similar solutions as well).
We got a Konica Minolta Pioneer OLED's Christmas flexible OLED card
Konica Minolta Pioneer OLED demonstrates flexible OLED lighting integrated with paper packaging
Pioneer expects its flexible OLED lighting to hit the automotive market by 2020
Pioneer and Konica Minolta officially establish their OLED lighting JV
In March 2017 Konica Minolta and Pioneer announced that the two companies are set to merge their OLED business unit, and on June 1st the new 50:50 joint venture, called Konica Minolta Pioneer OLED, was officially established.
Konica Minolta says that the new company will take charge of all business and product planning, product development, production technology development and marketing functions of both companies' OLED lighting business to drive its initiatives.
Konica Minolta and Pioneer announce a new automotive OLED joint venture
In January 2017 we reported that Konica Minolta and Pioneer are set to merge their OLED business unit, and today Konica Minolta officially announced a joint-venture with Pioneer to accelerate automotive OLED lighting.
Konica Minolta and Pioneer will setup a joint venture, which will be called Konica Minolta Pioneer OLED. The new 50:50 JV company will be established in May 2017 with an initial capital of 490 million yen (about $4.4 million) and a focus on OLED lighting for automotive applications.
