Flexible Displays Could Add $3 Billion to UniPixel’s ‘Addressable Market,' Says COO

UniPixel is working with GIS, Foxconn’s touch-display subsidiary, on joint development of touch sensors for flexible displays, said Chief Operating Officer Jalil Shaikh on a Thursday earnings call. “GIS has decided to work with us after evaluating multiple metal mesh sensor technology” manufacturers, said Shaikh. “Qualification data” gleaned from the GIS joint development project “will be used with other flexible display manufacturers we're working with,” he said. “We have numerous ongoing discussions with additional potential partners for future technology development, especially for flexible affordable display applications.” There’s “considerable discussion” in the industry about “the potential for flexible OLED devices,” said Shaikh. The “brittle nature” of the indium tin oxide, touch-screen technology that’s in broad use “will not support flexible and foldable applications,” he said. “The ability of our sensors to flex, fold and conform to certain shapes will be a competitive advantage for UniPixel as next-generation applications, such as wearable technology, smartphones and other applications begin to hit the market.” Foldable and flexible sensors and displays need to be very thin, especially in smartphone applications, and UniPixel’s new DiamondTouch application with the “thinnest stack in the industry is a perfect solution” because it doesn’t require cover glass, he said. Flexible and foldable displays represent potentially a “very large new market for UniPixel,” he said The company thinks its “unique attributes could add another $2 billion to $3 billion to our addressable market,” he said.