Global CE Marketplace ‘Moving More and More in OLED’s Direction,' Says Universal Display CEO

The global CE marketplace “is moving more and more in OLED’s direction, with new OLED products and new OEMs adopting OLED technology,” Universal Display CEO Steve Abramson said on a Thursday earnings call. That in turn is “driving new investments in capacity” at OLED production plants, said Abramson, whose company is one of the world’s largest licensors of OLED technology. It bodes well for the OLED market that LG Display recently repeated its plans to ship 600,000 OLED TV panels in 2015, he said. LG is achieving better than 80 percent production yields in its 1080p OLED TV panels and 65 percent yields in its Ultra HD OLED TV panels, he said. LG Display has committed to spending more than $900 million on OLED TV panel production this year, he said. Many panel manufacturers recently showcased “improved-concept OLED displays that illustrate” the technology’s key “benefits,” including better color, image contrast, power efficiency, transparency “and manufacturability over plasma,” he said. For example, LG Display in May showcased a 55-inch OLED TV panel that’s only 0.97 mm thick that “can easily be stuck to a wall with a magnetic back,” he said. OLEDs are “ushering in a whole new world of design possibilities and applications,” he said.