OLED Display Producers

On Feb 29, 2012, the Korea Display Industry Association (KDIA) named Mr. Soo In Cho, CEO of Samsung Mobile Display, as the head commissioner of KDIA. Appointing Mr. Cho as the head of KDIA indicates the significance the government places on OLEDs for the Korean display industry. In comments upon accepting the position, Mr. Cho briefly mentioned SMD’s plan to release flexible displays and OLED TV panels in 2012. Mr. Cho said that finding the right materials for flexible display is the critical issue for commercialization. In addition, he said that the commercialization of OLED TVs will happen this year, but that the success of OLED TV panels would be depend on the cost effectiveness and functionality of AMOLEDs vs. LCD TV panels. Mr. Cho emphasized that the Korean display industry should increase its display exports from its current 6% of total exports to 10~15% from the current level. Concurrently, LGE placed more pressure on its subsidiary, LG Display to speed up production of both TVs and flexible displays, sighting the growing interest in the new AMOLED products.


Even though Korean AMOLED display makers have a 98% market share, it is reported that Korean display producers are concerned about challenges from other countries. Japan’s OLED display joint venture between Toshiba Mobile Display, Sony, Hitachi Display and the Japanese government will be start official operations in April. This collaboration will become the second largest small and medium LCD’ producer in the world and use their R&D capability to pursue AMOLED market. The Japanese Joint venture and the Korean display producers are paying attention to Sharp’s development on IGZO (Indium, Gallium, Zinc and Oxide) type TFTs. As a financial analyst at Jefferies reported, Sharp has been developing IGZO TFT LCDs, which has lower manufacturing cost than LTPS but demonstrates comparable display quality. Sharp has a leadership position as IGZO is also being used by LG Display in their development of AMOLED TVs. SMD and other AMOLED makers are also working on IGZO. The recent announcement of the iPad 3 includes a 9.7” display with a resolution of 2048 x 1536. Apparently, Apple changed its definition of a retina display, which had previously been interpreted as a minimum of 300 dpi because the iPad 3 has a pixel density of 264 ppi. The IGZO display is being produced by Sharp, but Apple is also using Samsung and LG Display products that continue to use a-Si TFTs. So if the reason to use IGZO was to replace the high cost of LTPS and still deliver on high aperture ratios and therefore lower power consumption, Apple seems to be compromising its products performance. Sharp also is reportedly developing AMOLED displays and plans to begin shipping by 2013~14. Korean display producers, especially, SMD realize that they have to compete with current LCDs but also with IGZO TFT LCDs and other OLED display producers. SMD is targeting tablets as the third major AMOLED application behind Smartphones and Games. Annual volume for tablets, as shown in Figure 1, in 2011 was ~65M and is expected to double in 2012.


Japan’s Panasonic is also pursuing the AMOLED TV market and recently announce their intent to build a Gen 5.5 Fab that will use polymers and IJP instead of small molecule material and VTE.

Taiwanese display producers are also starting OLED production in 2012. On March 7, 2012 CENS, a Taiwanese news source, indicated that the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) will organize an AMOLED alliance “to compete against Samsung.” The members of the alliance will be Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), AUO Corp. (AUO), ChiMei Innolux Corp. (CMI), MediaTek Inc., and Acer. Asustek Computer Inc., and HTC Corp. Interestingly the alliance includes panel producers and set makers such as HTC and Asustek. Many set makers had difficulties securing AMOLED panels from SMD in 2010 and 2011. Based on the CENS, HTC and Austek reportedly secured future AMOLED capacities from AUO. However, in 2010, HTC was forced to convert from their planned release of AMOLED based Smartphones to TFT LCDs as SMD put AMOLED [panels on allocation. SMD claimed they were allocating the resources equally amongst all their customers, but HTC was not convinced of the equity in the SMD decision making. Recently, HTC announced a number of new products with AMOLED displays as the SMD’s supply crunch began easing. In order to boost the AMOLED R&D and the display industry, the Taiwanese government plans to spend NT$10 billion (US$333 million NT$30/US$). MOEA officials urged Taiwan’s smartphone supply chain to cooperate in order to enable Taiwan’s smartphone industry to maintain a significant share in the global market. Nikkei, a Japanese news source reported that AUO announced it would start volume production in Q2’2012 for smart phone applications. In an interview Paul Peng, the president of AUO’s Display Business Operation, said that the company would produce AMOLED displays using the Fine Metal Mask (FMM) method at its G3.5 Hsinchu line and would add the G4.5 Singapore line at the end of 2013. AUO’s initial OLED panel production will be between 4.0”~5.0” with 250~300ppi for smart phones. Using its G3.5 line, AUO’s Taiwanese competitor, CMI is planning to manufacture OLED panels by Q3’2013. Moreover, Wintek, a flat panel display producer, has asked the ministry of Finance in Taiwan for NTD 60~70M (equivalent to USD 2.0~2.4 Million) to develop an integrated touch panel AMOLED. Wintek plans to allocate about NTD 60~70 Million and expect to receive NTD 30~40 Million (USD 1.0 Millions) from the ministry. The company is planning to start mass production of AMOLEDs by September of 2013. Back in late 2010, there was a rumor that Wintek was planning to convert its LTPS G3 lines for AMOLED production and for mass production. In 2011, Wintek’s subsidiary company Windell, which has merged with Wintek, was to take the lead in AMOLED production. Windell had co-developed a 10.0” LTPS TFT AMOLED back in 2003 with the Electronics Research and Service Organization (ERSO) of ITRI in Taiwan. Even though Wintek has been clear about its AMOLED development process, a rumor suggested that Wintek kept its R&D resources for prospective AMOLED business and more likely to begin its development for the AMOLED touch panel panels once the funding is guaranteed by the ministry of finance of Taiwan.