DSCC lowered its OLED material revenue forecasts, saying that the market is expected to grow at a 25% CAGR from $773 million in 2017 to $2.35 billion in 2022 (down from its previous estimates of $2.56 billion in 2022). The fastest growing (51% CAGR) OLED application will be OLED lighting, which will grow from $12 million in 2017 to $95 million in 2022.

DSCC also published the material stack for Samsung's latest OLEDs (used in the Galaxy S9), which you can see above.

OLED materials producer Idemitsu Kosan established a new OLED production subsidiary in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China. The new company, 100% owned by Idemitsu Kosan, is called Idemitsu Electronic Materials (China) Co., Ltd. and the capital investment in this new company is $12.8 million USD.

The new Chengdu fab will be Idemitsu's third OLED production fab, joining its plant in Omaezaki, Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan and Paju, South Korea. Idemitsu says that this new production plant will enable it to meet the growth in demand from OLED makers in China.

Japan-based OLED material maker Idemitsu Kosan announced a new partnership with Toray Industries to co-develop OLED materials.

Toray and Idemitsu will mutually utilize the OLED materials, technology and expertise that both companies possess, and will cooperate in the development of new materials and material evaluation. The two companies will also jointly use their evaluation facilities and production facilities. Both companies hope that this collaboration will accelerate OLED material development and enable lower cost production.

Idemitsu Kosan and LG Chem announced a new collaboration agreement that will allow both companies to use each other OLED material-related patents in certain areas.

Idemitsu and LG Chem hope that this collaboration and patent sharing agreement will accelerate the development of new high-performance OLED materials. Through this cooperative arrangement, both companies will strongly support the OLED business of LG Display - but will also offer the outcome of this collaboration to other display companies.

According to the Nikkei Asian Review, Japan-based OLED material maker Idemitsu Kosan plans to expand its production of OLED materials by 70% by March 2019 (end of Fiscal Year 2018). Its Korean subsidiary Idemitsu Electronic Materials Korea will increase annual production by 60% to 8 tons (this was already announced last year) while it's Shizuoka plant will double its capacity to 4 tons.

The Asian Review says that Idemitsu and Merck together hold a market share of about 70%-80% from all OLED material sales. Idemitsu generated around $135 million in revenues from OLED materials in 2016, with a high profit margin.

Idemitsu Kosan and BOE Display agreed to form a strategic alliance with an aim to develop high-performance OLED materials and displays. Specifically, Idemitsu intends to develop and supply OLED materials in accordance with BOE's needs, as BOE is starting to mass producing OLED displays in several fabs in across China.

Idemitsu Kosan is in the process of expanding its OLED material production at its Korean subsidiary Idemitsu Electronic Materials Korea, and the company also recently established a new OLED materials development company in Switzerland. Idemitsu is supplying its OLED materials to both LG Display and Samsung Display and is apparently enjoying an increased demand and is looking to start selling its materials to BOE DIsplay as well. We recently posted aninterview with Idemitsu's electronics materials chief.

Last month Japan-based OLED material maker Idemitsu Kosan announced that it has decided to expand the OLED material production capacity at it's Korean subsidiary Idemitsu Electronic Materials Korea. Idemitsu now announced that it plans to establish a new OLED materials development company in Switzerland.

Idemitsu says the new company will be established "in order to enhance its development structure in preparation for future growth in demand for OLED materials". Idemitsu has been collaborating with BASF's Switzerland's branch "for some time", and now Idemitsu will hire OLED researchers from BASF (this probably follows Universal Display's acquisition of BASF's OLED IP in June 2016).

Japan-based OLED material maker Idemitsu Kosan announced that it has decided to expand the OLED material production capacity at it's Korean subsidiary Idemitsu Electronic Materials Korea. Idemitsu said that decision is a response to the expected increase in demand for OLED materials due to increased penetration of OLED displays.

The Korean factory currently has a capacity of 5 tons per year, and this will be increased to 8 ton per year. Combined with its factory in Japan, Idemitsu total capacity will grow to 10 ton per year. The new capacity is expected to be online by the end of the first half of FY2017 (which means by September 2017).

According to a story on ETNews, Samsung aims to use a full-screen display in its next flagship phone, the Galaxy S8. To achieve such a display, Samsung is using a flexible AMOLED that is wrapped around all four sides of the phone (unlike its current edge phones that are cured on two edges only).

ETNews also says that SDC is set to update its OLED material recipe. The so-called M7 iteration was used in the Galaxy Note 5, the GS7 and the Note 7. But now Samsung is updating its recipe to M8. You can see the different suppliers in the chart above. Most materials are sourced from the same supplier, but of course the suppliers are offering newer, updated materials and Samsung may switch to those.

Merck and Idemitsu Kosan have entered into a collaboration agreement that allows each company to use the other company's OLED material-related IP in certain areas. Both Merck and Idemitsu hope that this will enable both companies to develop higher-performance OLED materials.

Merck and Idemitsu also expect to continue discussions and expand the collaboration to other areas in the future.