The worldwide OLED display revenue in 3Q08 was US$141M, down 11% Q/Q but up 60% Y/Y, according to a new report by DisplaySearch.

In its latest 4Q08 Quarterly OLED Shipment and Forecast Report, DisplaySearch also reported that Chi Mei EL, the #2 supplier of AMOLED displays, posted record high shipments in 3Q08, while the leading AMOLED supplier Samsung SDI — which will merge with Samsung Electronics small/medium business to form Samsung Mobile Display in January — experienced lower shipments Q/Q. As a result, AMOLED shipments increased only slightly compared to 2Q08, reaching 1.7 million units.

After a strong 2Q, PMOLED shipments were affected by reductions in mobile phone sub-display orders, so shipments fell 22% Q/Q. However, most of the shipment reduction was in monochrome PMOLED, while area color and full color PMOLED gained popularity. This led to an increase in average selling price for OLEDs in 3Q08.

OLED displays have very attractive performance: wide viewing angle, wide color gamut at all gray scales, fast response time, low power consumption, thin/light weight and wide operating temperature. Lifetime has improved dramatically in recent years, and red and green lifetimes are long enough for many consumer electronic applications. Despite this, OLEDs still face strong price competition from TFT LCDs and PM LCDs, said Jennifer Colegrove, director of display technologies at DisplaySearch.

The OLED display industry is changing rapidly, with new companies entering the business, existing companies expanding capacity or exiting the market, and other companies changing their application focus, added Colegrove.

In its latest 4Q08 Report, DisplaySearch analyzes the dynamic of OLED display industry: shipments by each supplier; AMOLED vs. PMOLED; small molecule vs. polymer; monochrome vs. area color vs. full color; and shipments by application, such as mobile phone main display, sub-display, MP3, auto console, car audio, digital still camera, near-eye, TV and others. RiTdisplay passed Samsung SDI to take the lead in total OLED shipments with 36% market share. Samsung SDI is #2 in shipments, but still the leader in total OLED revenues thanks to its AMOLED shipments. TDK passed Pioneer to become #3 in shipments at 17%, while Pioneer fell to the #4 position at 12%; Univision was #5. The top five suppliers accounted for over 95% of total OLED shipments in 3Q08.

Given the challenging economic climate and pressure from LCDs, DisplaySearch has revised its total OLED forecast for 2008 to 2015 downward from the previous forecast. However, there are new AMOLED applications, and several categories will gain momentum in 2009 and beyond. The forecast analysis includes these factors:

§  OLED supply/demand analysis

§  New OLED fab activity and capacity

§  OLED penetration in medium and large size applications