In what is probably the biggest news for OLED displays in quite some time, Samsung will form a new company (called Samsung Display, but it may be a temporary name) on April 1st. The new company will have over $6.5 billion in capital - which it will require as last year the LCD unit reported a loss of over $650 million. It seems to be that Samsung is quickly shifting its focus to OLED displays. In the company's press release, Samsung makes the following rationalization:

"Currently, the display market is undergoing rapid changes with OLED panels expected to fast replace LCD panels to become the mainstream. Amid this structural change of the Display industry, adopting measures for change and innovation, including business restructuring, are essential to improve our competitiveness for our Display business".

In the beginning of February, Samsung Electronics reported that it is considering taking over Samsung Mobile Display. It's not clear what are SE's plans now.

LG Chem finished development of their first OLED lighting panel, and have started mass production. The "type 1" panel, or the LG-OLED-041 is a 100x100 mm square panel that features 4,000K, CRI>80, 45 lm/W and 10,000 hours lifetime (LT70) at 3,000 nits. The active emitting panel is 90x90 mm, and the whole panel is 2.44 mm thick (including the optical film and PCB. The OLED itself is 1.84 mm).

LG Chem is already developing the 2nd generation (or "type 2") panel which will up the efficiency to 60 lm/W and the lifetime to 15,000 hours. The size will be the same, but the color will be 3,500K. LG Chem will start mass production of type 2 panels in 2Q 2012. The company also published their OLED lighting roadmap - click here for the full roadmap. By 2013 the company expects to provide larger panels (150x150 mm) which will feature 80 lm/W and 20,000 lifetime hours (LT70). They will also produce transparent panels by then. By 2015 the company will offer flexible panels as well, and their most efficient panel will feature over 135 lm/W and 40,000 lifetime (LT70) at 200x200 mm.

We know of two companies that are using LG Chem's panels - Acuity Brands in the Revel and Kindred lamps and LEDON with their 9-panel OLED module.

Philips released a new roadmap for their OLED lighting products. The company decided to split its OLED offering into two families - one for decorative lighting and one for performance lighting. The decorative panels are normally reflective in the off state, and Philips will offer transparent ones as soon as next year. Color tunable and transparent panels will arrive in 2018. And Philips predicts that by then it'll be able to offer 1x1 meter panels! It will sure be interested to see those large, flexible, light emitting panels...

The downside of the decorative panels is the efficiency: In 2015 these panels will offer only 15 lm/W (that's only marginally better than an incandescent lamp). By 2018, those large flexible panels will offer 35 lm/W - which is still very low (Fluorescent lamps today offer 70-100 lm/W).

The second product family is the performance panels. These aren't reflective, and will remain rigid even in 2018. But Philips plans to reach 130 lm/W by 2018, an intensity of over 5,000 cd/m2 and a CRI of over 95.

While the decorative lighting panels are fascinating and may enable new markets (such as the transparent OLED/OPV module developed by Philips and BASF), it's probable that the performance OLEDs is where the action will actually be. If Philips will be true to its word, by 2015 it will have relatively large panels that are efficient, bright and durable. Many analysts project that OLED lighting will take off in 2014-2015, and it seems that at least from the technology point of view, Philips will be ready. Of course, the real two questions remain - how much will those panels cost, and will Philips commit to real mass production capacity?

DisplayBank posted an interesting article detailing the current status of the OLED market and their forecasts for 2011-2016. DisplayBank says that the AMOLED market will enjoy fast growth in the near future, and will reach $17 billion in 2016. Small displays will still be the largest sector in 2016, accounting for almost $12 billion. Medium displays will only account for about $1.5 billion, while OLED TVs will enjoy a quicker growth - from only $200 million in 2012 to $3.9 billion in 2016. These numbers are quite in-line with forecasts by DisplaySearch ($20 billion in 2018) and iSupply (300 million small AMOLEDs shipped in 2015 and 2.1 million OLED TVs).

DisplayBank says that the biggest advantage of OLEDs will be the fact that it can be made flexible as it's not limited to a glass surface. This will revolutionize the industry, with a move from "part-based" display panel manufacturing (i.e. making rigid square display panels) to an "ingredient-based" production that will enable new product designs beyond what's available today.

AU Optronics (AUO) and Idemitsu Kosan announced that they will form an OLED strategic alliance - and will collaborate to develop high-performance OLED displays and OLED-related patents. Idemitsu will supply OLED materials to AUO including device structure proposal while AUO committed to reinforce the development of OLED products - both small sized OLED displays for phones and tablets and large sized OLED panels for TVs. The two companies will also study the possibility of collaboration in other fields beside OLEDs. According to Universal Display this deal involves on non-emitter stack materials, and the company still expects to provide red and green PHOLEDs to AUO

AUO is gearing up towards mass production of small (4 to 5 inch) OLED panels in Q2 2012, targeting smartphones. AUO is using LTPS substrates and vapor deposition for the direct-emission RGB OLED sub pixels, and will produce these panels in their 3.5-Gen line in Hsinchu, Taiwan. In the second half of 2013, AUO's 4.5-Gen AMOLED Line in Singapore (at AFPD) will start producing panels as well.

Corning and Samsung Mobile Display are going to establish a new equity venture for the manufacture of specialty OLED glass substrates in Korea. The new venture will combine Corning's Lotus Glass substrate technology with SMD's OLED display expertise - and will provide product solutions for current and future OLED technologies.

The new venture will produce glasses for all OLED sizes: for small mobile panels to large OLED TV panels.

AUO's president Paul Peng says that OLED products "will be a new battlefield for display makers". AUO plans to introduce small-size OLED products in 2Q 2012, and the company is also working on OLED TVs. The company promises to show new OLED TV panels, larger then the 32" Oxide OLED TV panel demonstrated in November 2011.

Sony announced managemental changes and a new CEO and president effective April 1, 2012. The new president, Kazuo Hirai, announced his future plans - which include a reinforcement of Sony's core business, rebuilding of its TV business, reformation of its business portfolio and acceleration of innovation. Regarding the TV market, Sony plans to minimize investment in non-competitive fields, but they will make major investments in OLED TV, Crystal LED and other technologies and products that use Sony's own technologies.

Back in January it was reported that Sony officially quit the OLED TV business, which isn't a surprise as Sony's only OLED TV ever, the XEL-1 was discontinued back in February 2010. Sony is currently focused on OLED panels for professional monitors (such as the 24.5" BVM-F250 broadcasting monitor), and it was actually suggested that Sony plans to buy OLED panels from LG Display. It's great to hear that Sony plans to resume their OLED TV program.

While we're discussing Sony's OLED plans, we posted an interesting interview with Sony's OLED product manager, Gary Mandle - who gave us an updated on Sony's OLED offerings and his view on the OLED market.

Universal Display reported their financial results for Q4 2011. The company had $18.7 million in revenue (up 73% from Q4 2010's $10.8 million), with net income of $5.7 million. In Q4 material sales reached $10.8 million and royalties were $5.4 million. For the whole of 2011, UDC reports $61.3 million in revenue (up 101% over 2010's $30.5 million) and $3.2 million in net income. The company was cash flow positive in 2011 - with $16.4 million from operation activities and they have $346 million in cash.

UDC reiterated their previous guidance for 2012: revenues will be in the range of $90 million to $110 million. It seems that revenues from OLED TV sales aren't really included in the guidance. In any case, it seems that investors aren't happy with the company not changing their forecasts (which is below the average $112.8 million estimate on the Street) and the stock dropped almost 10% the next day. UDC also gave some updates regarding their patents, the host material business and the OLED lighting market.

A few days before announcing the financial results, UDC's CFO (Sidney Rosenblatt) attended Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference and gave some very interesting updates - about the AUO and Idemitsu Kosan agreement, about the host materials market, blue PHOLED updates, Direct emission vs WOLED-CF and more.