According to some reports, LG Display has started to work on a Gen-8 OLED TV fab (in Paju, in the same building as LG's 4.5-Gen AMOLED fab), and they are already installing equipment. Mass production will begin towards the end of 2011 - 24,000 monthly substrates (2200x2500mm), which means around 72,000 55" OLED TVs. Officially, LG Display says that they will only start producing OLED TVs in 2013 - but perhaps they mean cost-competitive TVs.

It turns out that those OLED TVs will actually be white-OLED (phosphorescent based) with color filters. Some reports suggest that LG will make OLED-backlit LCDs, and others say that LG will use color filters on white OLED subpixels (a Kodak design, now owned by LG). It isn't clear yet what are LG plans. In any case this is sure to cause confusion as LG will undoubtedly market these TVs as 'OLED TVs', no matter what the underlying technology is.

Ecosummit TV posted a couple of very interesting interviews with Novaled's chief-scientist and CFO. These interviews provide a great introduction to Novaled's OLED business and technology. Their CFO says that Novaled had had €11.2 million in revenues in 2010. He also reveals (although not 'officially') that they sell materials for Samsung, used in their AMOLED displays.

Interview one, Interview two.

Several companies showcased their OLED lighting panels during Japan's OLED lighting fair. NEC lighting was showing several OLED lighting lamps using their upcoming panels - 10x10cm ones offering 60lm/W efficiency - which is actually very good. The company plans to commercialize them in fiscal 2011 (which ends of March 2012). NEC is using UDC's PHOLED materials, which explains the relatively high efficiency.

Panasonic Electric Works (PEW) also showed their panels which are also based on UDC materials. Interestingly, a couple of weeks later PEW announced a joint-venture with Idemitsu Kosan for OLED lighting. The new company (called Panasonic Idemitsu OLED Lighting) will use Idemitsu's materials (and not UDC's, as it seems) and will have a $182 million initial capital.

Other companies showing OLED panels during the Japan lighting fair included Odelic (which are designing lamps based on Lumiotec's OLED panels), Kaneka, Novaled, Mitsubishi Electric and Rohm. Rohm has been showing flexible OLED panels and wants to realize 'bendable lamps'.

There are several companies besides Samsung and LG that are gearing up towards AMOLED production. AUO are building a new 3.5-Gen fab in Taiwan and are also converting an existing 4.5-Gen LTPS line to AMOLED production. The company now lists their first AMOLED product online: a 3.5" display featuring 360x640 resolution, 300 cd/m² brightness and a 10,000:1 contrast ratio. The company admits that they still face cost and efficiency issues though.

Another company that is gearing up towards OLED production in Chimei Innolux (although their plans aren't clear yet). CMI revealed two new AMOLED panels: 3.2" 320x480 and 3.5" 360x64. CMI calls these TRUEOLED, but they use a white-OLED with color-filter design. More information on these panels can be found here.

Wintek is said to be starting their own AMOLED program, and according to the latest reports they will allocate between $100 million to $170 million in 2011. According to earlier reports, Wintek will transfer their old 3-Gen lines for LTPS and AMOLED production, with mass production starting towards the end of 2011.

Universal Display (UDC) posted great financial results for 4Q 2010: revenues more than double compared to 2009, and is almost profitable (the operating loss was just $210K). Investors were pleased and the company's stock jumped around 40% since the results were published.

As you probably know, a massive earthquake (8.9 magnitude) hit the pacific ocean nearby northeastern Japan on March 11 - causing damage, fire, a tsunami and a nuclear disaster. Our heart goes to the Japanese people - and especially to our friends at the numerous OLED companies and academic institutes. If you want to help, Google has a Crisis Response page set up, where you can get the latest news and give a donation.

According to Digitimes, the earthquake did not have a serious impact on OLED companies.