BOE announced it is raising new funds (a total of $3 billion) towards several projects, including an increase at its stake at its LCD lines and increase the capital at its 6-gen flexible AMOLED line in Chongqing.
According to the reports from China, one of these projects is a $155 million USD project to develop 12-inch OLED microdisplay production. This is a large sum that will also likely include funds to actually start 12-inch production and not just R&D.
China-based display technology developer Viewtrix (also known as Yunyinggu) announced that it is starting to produce its AMOLED and OLED microdisplay driver ICs. Viewtrix plans to produce 10 million AMOLED driver ICs by the end of the year - which is about 10% of the total Chinese market.
Viewtrix also announced that it has secured its Series D financing round, totalling $45.6 million, led by Sequoia Capital China.
Dongxu (Tungshu) Optoelectronics has started to construct China's largest OLED substrate glass factory, in Tianshui City. Total investment in the new glass factory will be 5 billion yuan ($760 million), and the plant will include four 6-Gen glass production lines.
The local Tianshui Municipal Government helped finance the project and provided 2 billion yuan.
Dai Nippon Printing (DNP) announced that it has developed a new film that can help correct the blue tint problem that occurs in OLED panels when viewed from an angle.
The new film, which is marketed as "Blue Shift Control Film" is produced using a proprietary fine patterning technology that DNP developed. The company aims to supply this films to OLED producers and is planning to generate sales of around $23 million in annual sales from 2023.
OLED microdisplay maker eMagin posted its financial results for Q3 2020. While the company had a strong quarter in its main military market, but eMagin total sales were lower than expected as the medical and commercial markets were effected by the COVID-19 pandemic.
eMagin reports revenues of $7.3 million, a decline of $0.6 million from Q3 2019. Net loss for the third quarter of 2020 was $3.5 million compared to a loss of $0.3 million in 2019. At the end of the quarter, eMagin had cash and equivalents worth $10.3 million. The company's backlog at the end of the quarter was $10 million.
Chinese OLED developer Royole announced that it will establish a 16 billion yuan ($2.4 billion USD) OLED production line in Qingdao, China.
Royole did not provide any details, besides that this production line will be used to make flexible and foldable OLEDs. We do not know yet the timeline, technologies and production capacity at the new line.
Universal Display reported its Q3 2020 financial results, with revenues of $117 million (up from $58 million in Q2 2020 and $98 million in Q3 2019, and a net income of $40.5 million. UDC ended the quarter with with $673 million in cash and equivalents
UDC reports a significant pickup in customer orders in the third quarter, and the company expects full-year 2020 revenues to be in the range of $385 million to $400 million. UDC sees meaningful growth in the OLED industry in 2021 and beyond.
Last month we reported that Merck is expanding its OLED laboratories in Shanghai. Today Merck released a formal PR and details its latest plans in Asia.
Merck says that it will invest 26 million Euro ($23.6 million USD) to expand its OLED manufacturing capacities at the Pyeongtaek (Korea) and Shanghai sites.
China-based OLED maker Visionox posted its Q3 2020 financial results, with a net loss of $17.7 million, down from $35 million in Q3 2019. Demand for Visionox's AMOLED displays is on the rise, while demand for LCD displays (which Visionox does not produce) is down in China.
In the video above you can see Visionox's latest foldable, wrap-around, rollable and flexible panels, in several configurations, as shown at SID Displayweek 2020. Visionox recently started shipping OLED displays with an under-the-display camera.
LG Display reported its financial results for Q3 2020, with a net profit (of $9.8 million) - which was the company's first profitable quarter since 2018. Revenues in the quarter were $5.9 billion, up 27% from the previous quarter and up 16% from Q3 2019.
LG Display says that its turnaround was due to increased demand for IT displays and OLED displays - both OLED TV panels and flexible OLEDs for smartphones. Profitability was also assisted by the mass production that finally began at LGD's new OLED TV fab in Guangzhou. Next year LGD says it aims to ship over 7 million OLED TV panels.
