Several companies released new forecasts for the OLED market. First up was DisplaySearch that sees the OLED market growing 128% in 2012 to reach over 242 million units (in terms of revenues, it will reach almost $6 billion - up 102% from 2011). DisplaySearch sees 176.5 million OLED for smartphone displays in 2012, up from 81.3 million in 2010. In 2013, OLED for smartphones will reach 261 million units.

UBI Research says that AMOLED shipments in 2012 will reach 155 million units (up 70% from 2011). In 2012 AMOLED revenues will reach $4.4 billion (60% growth). Total OLED (PMOLED+AMOLED) shipments in 2012 will pass 200 million units. The market will continue its fast growth and will reach 500 million units in 2015 (25% of the total mobile display market).

Finally, Nanomarkets released a new report on the OLED lighting market, in which they forecast that OLED lighting panel prices will drop sharply in the next two years as mass production will start. This will have a negative effect on revenue in the near future but will improve when OLED lighting will become mainstream in residential and lighting markets. Nanomarkets expects that the total market for OLED lighting luminaires will reach approximately $6.3 billion in 2017.

Sumitomo Chemical announced that they are entering the OLED lighting market, and will unveil panels at the L+B 2012 exhibition. The company will commercial PLED panels for "decorative lighting" in 2013, and for general lighting in 2015. Production will begin later in 2012 (it is reported that the investment will total around $60-70 million. Sumitomo's new panels will be showing sixty different colors and are made using printing technology (all layers except the electrodes).

Sumitomo also releases a chart showing the technology roadmap: by 2015 they plan to produce PLEDs on plastic substraces which will feature between 20,000 and 30,000 hours of lifetime and 60-80 lm/W. These plastic based OLEDs will also be flexible. Sumitomo hopes that PLED will enable cheaper mass production, and the company is also developing PLED materials for displays, polymer photovoltaic cells, and organic semiconductors.

LG Display seems to be accelerating its OLED TV plans. There are reports that LG Group's chairman Koo Bon-moo requested LG Electronics for an early release of the 55" OLED TV. Originally LGE planned to launch in the second half of 2012, and now it seems that the company will launch these TVs as early as May - during the Cannes film festival. Reports suggest that the price in Korea will by 9 million Won, or about $7,900. The company will make a decision on further OLED investment in July, after judging the first consumer reactions.

LG Display also has an active plastic-based OLED program, and this is also being accelerated. LGD announced today that they have started to produce 6" E Ink panels on a plastic substrate. Those displays will be used in e-readers, and the first one (from a Chinese based ODM) will be released in Europe next month. The panel features XGA (1024x768) resolution and is only 0.7 mm thick and weighs just 14 grams - half the weight of a glass based E Ink panel. The E Ink display is bendable - it's possible to bend it at a range of 40 degrees from the center of the screen. It's not clear whether the final e-reader will actually offer a bendable screen though, but in any case a major advantage of the display (besides being lighter and thinner) is that it's unbreakable.

VG Scienta announced their latest generation OLED deposition system, the OFT EDGE, that can be used to deposit and analyse organic and inorganic layers on flexible or rigid substrates. The company's new technology provides low temperature deposition of TCO, metals and small molecule organic materials. The OFT EDGE is expandable via a wide range of modules - including ALD, XPS/UPS, STM, IR and AFM modules.

Novaled announced that they plan to raise $200 million on the NASDAQ or the NYSE. Novaled is selling its doping materials (produced by BASF), licenses OLED technology and also offers R&D services. The company's SEC filing was published and it contains some interesting details

First of all, there's a summary of the company's financial statements (all in Euro): in 2009 the company generated revenues of €6.4 million and a loss of €1.3 million, in 2010 revenues of €6.8 million and a loss of €2.3 million and in 2011 €17.4 in revenues and a profit of €1.2 million.

Novaled's major customer is Samsung, which is buying doping materials used in OLED displays. SMD accounted for 10%, 35% and 59% of Novaled's revenue in 2009, 2010 and 2011, respectively. Novaled anticipates that their short- to medium-term revenue growth in the display market will be significantly driven by SMD's increased sales of OLED display products and its corresponding increased usage of this doping material. LG Display has also recently begun using the same doping material in its OLED smartphone displays, and both manufacturers are testing this doping material for use in their future OLED TV products.

Novaled says that using their technology and materials overall display product power efficiency can be increased by up to 40%, and overall display product lifetime can be increased by up to 500%. Use of their outcoupling solutions can further increase power efficiency by up to 80%, with approximately half of the gains coming from their proprietary outcoupling materials.

There are reports that the Taiwanese government is forming an AMOLED alliance - to compete against Korean makers (mostly Samsung). The alliance will include seven partners: two AMOLED produces (AUO and Chimei Innolux) and ITRI, Acer, Asustek, HTC and MediaTek. It is reported that HTC and Asustek will secure all of AUO's upcoming AMOLED capacity. The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA), who is coordinating the alliance will invest around NT$10 billion (about $333 million US) in AMOLED R&D (mostly though ITRI). CMI will come up with an AMOLED production plan which will get subsidized by the government. Officials from the MOEA say that AMOLED is "rising as a must for next-gen smart phones", and is also likely to enter into the tablet and TV markets.

AUO also announced a plan to hire 2,500 engineers - to work on AMOLED displays, 3D displays and solar panels. AU Optronics is gearing up to start producing 4" to 5" AMOLED panels, aimed toward smartphones. According to Reuters, the company is planning to sell up to 800 million shares (or about $300 million) to finance its OLED program and to "enhance the company's operational capital position". In different reports, ETNews claims that Sony is collaborating with AUO on OLED TV research. Perhaps it makes sense for Sony: AUO will provide the capital and manufacturing while Sony will contribute its OLED know-how (ETNews suggests that Sony engineers have been working with AUO since 2011). These reports aren't confirmed yet.

A structured OLED is a custom made OLED lighting panel that contains a text or an image. Philips claims they are the first company in the world to provide such OLEDs, and they have developed special technology and masks to enable production of these custom-made panels. Philips say they already got several customers buying these OLEDs. It takes them time to prepare the production line, so usually clients buy 100 pieces or more. They wouldn't name any customers, but hinted about automobile makers and "high luxury outlets". The price of these panels depend on the image used (a name tag for example is cheaper than a picture) and the number of panels ordered.

When you order a customized OLED, you can choose from any standard Lumiblade - in any size and color, and then customize it by changing the shape (Philips calls this a "free form" panel), color and structure. You can read more and view some structured OLED samples here.