OLED microdisplay maker eMagin reported its preliminary financial results for Q4 2022 - the company expects revenues to be in the range of $8.1-8.3 million, up from $7.2 million in Q4 2021. The company says this was a positive quarter with strong bookings. The company's open order backlog at the end of 2022 was $16.7 million.

eMagin says that this was its fifth consecutive quarter in which it achieved year-over-year growth in product revenue. The company was cashflow positive in the quarter and now has $4.2 million in cash and equivalents. eMagin expects the delivery of an advanced, production-capable, dPd organic deposition tool in the second quarter of 2023.

LG Display has an impressive presence  at CES 2023, showing many OLED displays, products and prototypes.

The video above starts with LG's automotive displays, which include new 18" slidable OLEDs and some more OLED and LCD displays.

Kopin Corporation announced that it is sort-of spinning-off its OLED business unit. Some of Kopin's executive launched a new company called Lightning Silicon Technology, and Kopin licensed its technology to the company, and will also receive a 20% stake.

Lightning Silicon will focus on developing and supplying OLED microdisplays to the consumer AR and VR markets, and will produce its displays at China-based Lakeside Optoelectronics.

In 2021 The Korean government launched a new project that aims to develop technologies for the production of OLED microdisplays for AR applications. The project is led by AP Systems (APS Holdings), and aims to produce a direct emission OLED microdisplay with a resolution of 4,000 PPI by 2024. Earlier this year APS developed FMM masks that reached 1,000 PPI.

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APS now announced that it has produced a 3,000 PPI direct-emission OLED microdisplay, based on its FMM technology. This is very impressive progress.

Earlier in 2022, Samsung Display confirmed it is developing OLED microdisplays. Samsung admitted it is still at an early stage of development, and it said it will start building its first line (with likely limited capacity) in 2023. By 2024 it will mass produce displays, and in 2025 it will expand capacity so that by 2026 it will achieve full commercialization.

Today we hear new reports from Korea that shed some more light on Samsung's OLED microdisplay fab status. The company has started to order equipment (from SFA Engineering and AP Systems, it seems) for a 300 mm pilot line that will be located at Samsung's existing A2 fab in Asan, Korea.

OLED microdisplay maker eMagin announced that it has received an order of approximately $1.7 million for high-brightness OLED microdisplays from Collins Aerospace for its F-35 Helmet Mounted Display System (HMDS).

eMagin says that the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning is the world’s most advanced jet fighter and is designed to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance in any weather conditions, day or night, in both air-superiority and strike missions. The Helmet Mounted Display System is a critical part of the F-35's human-machine interface.

DSCC says that 2022 was a disappointing year for VR, as the market did not grow as expected - although it still expects the market to grow quickly in the near future. DSCC sees $942 million in display panel revenues in 2022, growing to $7.3 billion by 2027 (a CAGR of 50.7%).

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DSSC sees OLED microdisplays (OLED on Silicon, or SiOLED) leading the market from 2023 onwards, as producers start using these displays in VR headsets - including Apple's upcoming VR headset that will be based on dual 4K OLED microdisplays (in addition to an AMOLED display). Apple's VR headset is expected to be released in 2023.

On February 7th the MicroLED Industry Association will host a private webinar on microLED technologies for the AR market. The AR market is a very good segment for microLED developers, as it offers high performance requirements, relative microLED maturity and an excellent horizon.

The upcoming Seminar will feature four world-leading speakers, and will also be open to a Q&A session, to help increase microLED developers knowledge and involvement in the AR industry:

• Karl Guttag: a display systems engineer, one of the most respected experts on near eye displays and HMD designs
• Assaf Levy-Beeri: CEO at JoyaTeam, an optical design team focusing on AR solutions
• Soon-gi Park: AR specialist at LetinAR, a Korea-based AR optical system developer
• Reza Chaji: CEO at microLED microdisplay developer VueReal (and a microLED association member)

Reports from Korea suggest that Meta (Facebook) is in talks with both Samsung Display and LG Display, regarding the supply of OLED microdisplays and microLED microdisplays for its future AR and VR glasses.

According to the reports, dozens of executives from Meta have met with executives from LG Display and Samsung Display, and the discussions are still ongoing. According to other reports, Meta plans to use OLED displays in its upcoming VR glasses, and MicroLEDs in AR glasses that will hit the market at around 2026.

KT&T, established in 2020 as a spin-off from INT Tech with an investment of $143 million, has developed an OLED microdisplay that achieved a brightness of 12,000 nits, which is the highest brightness OLED microdisplay ever developed.

The new panel is based on KT&T's own uNEEDXR technology, which is a direct-emission (no color filters) design. The display achieves very high brightness and high efficiency.