The global production value of organic light-emitting-diode (OLED) displays is expected to surge to about US$61.4 billion in 2020, after speculation that Apple Inc will use the high-definition, energy-efficient displays for its next generation of smartphones, a local market researcher said yesterday.
That would represent a compound annual growth rate of 66 percent, compared with production value totaling US$11.7 billion last year, Delux Chen (陳逸民), an analyst at the Photonics Industry and Technology Development Association (PIDA, 光電協進會), said in a report, citing market researcher UBI’s data.
Speculation has been circulating that Apple would extend its use of OLED screens from the Apple Watch to its next generation of iPhone next year, as OLED displays boast bolder colors and lower power consumption.
“That has fueled a new investment spree from Asian panel manufactures on producing OLED displays,” Chen said.
Most LCD panel manufacturers, especially South Korean firms, are poised to tap into the OLED market as it is speculated to be the next display to enter mass production, Chen said.
Samsung Electronics Co focuses on developing small and medium-seized OLED displays used in smartphones, while LG Display Co has bet on large-sized OLED displays for TVs, he said.
With growing adoption of OLED displays, global shipments of OLED displays are expected to soar to 1.25 billion units in 2020, compared with 260 million units last year, the report said.
Taiwanese LCD panel makers Innolux Corp (群創) and AU Optronics Corp (友達光電) are more cautious about expanding into the OLED market, citing heavy equipment investments.
Building an OLED production line would “require a huge investment,” Innolux chairman Wang Jyh-chao (王志超) said last month. “We are extremely careful about making investment plans. No specific plan has been made at the moment.”
Innolux is more interested in a new and advanced version of OLED display, dubbed micro-LED display as micro-LED displays are more affordable than OLED displays, while AUO currently only produces small-sized OLED displays for wearable devices and does not plan to expand into smartphones or TVs in the forseeable future, it said.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last