Responding to rising OLED (organic light-emitting diode) product demand in Europe and the United States, Univision Technology plans to expand its OLED capacity by adding another line before year’s end, Chien-Chih Chiang, company vice president, told DigiTimes Daily IT News recently. Univision plans to increase volume production beginning next year to a maximum monthly capacity of 1.2 million units. The goal is to ship more than a million OLED panels per month in 2007, Chiang said.
Univision currently has two OLED lines, producing primarily passive-matrix (PM) OLEDs. Maximum monthly capacity of 37 x 47 mm panels on the two lines is 55 million and 1.1 million, respectively. Although the lines are currently running at 50% capacity, Univision has seen growing orders from handset makers in Europe and the U.S. Order volume in the third quarter was more than 100,000 units per maker, Chiang added.
About 80% of Univision’s OLED shipments are for handsets (40%) and MP3 players (40%); size is 1.5 in. The company will migrate to 1.8-in. panels starting in 2007, said Chiang, and has also developed 2.2-in. panels.
Applications for the OLEDs include game consoles, car displays, and digital still cameras (DSCs). Chiang said OLEDs offer viewing angle advantages that will drive future OLED applications and sales. The ability of OLED to support various temperature levels makes it more suitable than TFT LCD or STN LCD for the automotive market, Chiang indicated.
Univision develops, manufactures, and markets OLEDs and produces high-quality flat-panel displays (FPDs). The company was established in Hsinchu, the center of Taiwan’s high-technology industry, in July 2000. DigiTimes covers Taiwan’s IT field and news from China.
—Edited by Jeanine Katzel , senior editor,
Control Engineering
