Innolux Corp (群創) is supporting Sharp Corp’s construction of its first organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display production line, which might open the door for joint investments in future OLED plants to avoid investment overlap, a company executive said yesterday.
Innolux has been working with Sharp to accelerate the commercialization of OLED technology, after the Osaka-based company became a subsidiary of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) via a share sale deal worth US$3.5 billion in April last year.
Innolux is Hon Hai’s Taiwan-based LCD display manufacturing arm.
Integrating group resources, Sharp and Innolux engineers jointly worked on research and development at Innolux’s fab before Sharp started its own G4.5 OLED fab, Hon Hai Technology Group (鴻海科技集團) display consultant Tuan Hsing-chien (段行建) said at a news conference yesterday.
At that time, Innolux made faster progress with an experimental OLED line, while Sharp was in the early stages of developing expensive OLED technology, Tuan said.
“We plan to send about 10 Innolux employees from the company’s OLED operation to join Sharp’s new G4.5 [OLED] plant later this month, or in May,” Tuan said.
“This will be the first phase,” for Innolux to participate in Sharp’s OLED plant, Tuan added.
When asked if Innolux planned to build its own OLED plant, Tuan said: “There is no need for Innolux to repeat what Sharp has done.”
“The companies could jointly build an OLED plant. There is no need for all of us to build our own fabs. There is no need for an overlap,” Tuan said.
For the same reason, Innolux might not have to build its own G10 plant to produce larger displays, Tuan said, adding that no Taiwanese companies can afford to build such a plant without government support.
OLED technology requires a massive capital investment and has a higher technological barrier than thin-film-transistor liquid-crystal-display technology.
Sharp has a good chance of beginning to operate its own G4.5 OLED fab next year, Tuan told reporters in May last year, when he accepted the new job at Hon Hai.
Tuan is a former chairman and CEO of Innolux.
He also said at the time that “OLED [technology] is a major consideration for Hon Hai’s investment in Sharp,” as Apple Inc, Hon Hai’s biggest client, was reportedly shifting to OLED displays from low-temperature polycrystalline silicon displays for next-generation iPhones.
Except OLED technology, Innolux and Sharp are complementary in terms of indium-gallium-zinc-oxide technology, panel capacities and factory management skills, Tuan said.
Innolux shares rose 0.68 percent to NT$14.8 in Taipei trading yesterday, outperforming the TAIEX, which gained 0.31 percent.
purpose: Tesla’s CEO sought to meet senior Chinese officials to discuss the rollout of its ‘full self-driving’ software in China and approval to transfer data they had collected Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk arrived in Beijing yesterday on an unannounced visit, where he is expected to meet senior officials to discuss the rollout of "full self-driving" (FSD) software and permission to transfer data overseas, according to a person with knowledge of the matter. Chinese state media reported that he met Premier Li Qiang (李強) in Beijing, during which Li told Musk that Tesla's development in China could be regarded as a successful example of US-China economic and trade cooperation. Musk confirmed his meeting with the premier yesterday with a post on social media platform X. "Honored to meet with Premier Li
Dutch brewing company Heineken NV on Friday announced an investment of NT$13.5 billion (US$414.62 million) over the next five years in Taiwan. The first multinational brewing company to operate in Taiwan, Heineken made the statement at a ceremony held at its brewery in Pingtung County. It also outlined its efforts to make the brewery “net zero” by 2030. Heineken has been in the Taiwanese market for 20 years, Heineken Taiwan managing director Jeff Wu (吳建甫) said. With strong support from local consumers, the Dutch brewery decided to transition from sales to manufacturing in the country, Wu said. Heineken assumed majority ownership and management rights
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: The chipmaker last month raised its capital spending by 28 percent for this year to NT$32 billion from a previous estimate of NT$25 billion Contract chipmaker Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電子) yesterday launched a new 12-inch fab, tapping into advanced chip-on-wafer-on-substrate (CoWoS) packaging technology to support rising demand for artificial intelligence (AI) devices. Powerchip is to offer interposers, one of three parts in CoWoS packaging technology, with shipments scheduled for the second half of this year, Powerchip chairman Frank Huang (黃崇仁) told reporters on the sidelines of a fab inauguration ceremony in the Tongluo Science Park (銅鑼科學園區) in Miaoli County yesterday. “We are working with customers to supply CoWoS-related business, utilizing part of this new fab’s capacity,” Huang said, adding that Powerchip intended to bridge
Microsoft Corp yesterday said that it would create Thailand’s first data center region to boost cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, promising AI training to more than 100,000 people to develop tech. Bangkok is a key economic player in Southeast Asia, but it has lagged behind Indonesia and Singapore when it comes to the tech industry. Thailand has an “incredible opportunity to build a digital-first, AI-powered future,” Microsoft chairman and chief executive officer Satya Nadella said at an event in Bangkok. Data center regions are physical locations that store computing infrastructure, allowing secure and reliable access to cloud platforms. The global embrace of AI