E Ink Holdings Inc (元太科技), the world’s biggest e-paper display supplier, has become a strategic investor in Plastic Logic HK to develop flexible electrophoretic displays (EPDs) for wearable applications.
E Ink made the announcement on Wednesday in a statement which did not disclose the size of the investment.
Jih Sun Securities Investment Consulting Co (日盛投顧) said in a note on Thursday that, based on its information, E Ink would invest less than US$5 million in the fabless designer and manufacturer of flexible, glass-free EPDs to deepen their technical cooperation, but would not participate in Plastic Logic’s operations.
Formed by Russian state-run tech company Rusnano, Plastic Logic has been focused on organic TFT technology for nearly 10 years. The technology offers lightweight and robust backplane solutions for wearable devices.
E Ink’s major product line is e-paper, and the company delivers its products mostly as displays, which are modules consisting of e-paper, integrated circuits, touch modules and other components.
The company’s e-paper display-related end-market applications include e-readers, electronic shelf labels and notebooks.
From January to last month, the company reported cumulative revenue of NT$5.09 billion (US$160.2 million), up 5.93 percent from NT$4.51 billion a year earlier, thanks to robust demand for electronic shelf labels and a steady royalty income.
“With the advancement of E Ink’s materials, such as three-color e-paper materials and advanced color e-paper, the combination of color e-paper and organic TFT technology can be an attractive display solution for many wearable device manufacturers,” E Ink president Johnson Lee (李政昊) said in the statement.
“E Ink supports its ecosystem partners, including Plastic Logic, to help enlarge the market for e-paper applications to facilitate the vision of E Ink making every surface smart,” he said
Jih Sun said E Ink is using flexible e-paper displays in electronic notebooks, but the yield rate of the displays still has room for improvement.
The company’s strategic investment in Plastic Logic would enhance its development of flexible electrophoretic displays, the investment consultancy said.
Plastic Logic chief executive officer Tim Burne said in the statement that the company is the only one in the industry that can mass-produce organic TFT backplanes for electronic paper displays, and the partnership with E Ink would help it complete the last stage of transition to a fabless EPD business.
“Plastic Logic HK will be leveraging E Ink’s supply chain and module facility to improve the cost structure of Plastic Logic’s organic e-paper display module,” Burne said.
Ryanair, Transavia, Volotea and other low-cost airlines are feeling the financial pain from high jet fuel prices as a result of the Middle East war and are cutting flights. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has taken a huge chunk of oil supplies off the market, sending the price of jet fuel soaring and triggering fears of shortages that could force airlines to cancel flights. Airlines are not waiting for a lack of supplies to react. “Travel alert: Airlines are cutting thousands of flights right now,” Travel Therapy host Karen Schaler said in an Instagram reel this past weekend.
MANAGING RISKS: Taiwan has secured LNG sufficient to cover 95 percent of electricity demand for next month, UBS said, describing the government’s approach as proactive UBS Group AG has raised its forecast for Taiwan’s economic growth this year to 8 percent, up from 6.9 percent previously, and said expansion could reach as high as 8.6 percent if external energy shocks are avoided. The upgrade reflects a stronger-than-expected first-quarter performance and sustained momentum in artificial intelligence (AI)-driven exports, which UBS said are providing a firm foundation for growth despite geopolitical and energy risks. Taiwan’s GDP expanded 13.69 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, the fastest growth since the second quarter of 1987, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported on Thursday. On a seasonally
Shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) have repeatedly hit new highs, but an equity analyst said the stock’s valuation remains within a reasonable range and any pullback would likely be technical. The contract chipmaker’s historical price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio has ranged between 20 and 30, Cathay Futures Consultant Co (國泰證期) analyst Tsai Ming-han (蔡明翰) told Central News Agency. With market consensus projecting that TSMC would post earnings per share of about NT$100 (US$3.17) this year, supported by strong global demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications, and the stock currently trading at a P/E ratio of below 25, Tsai said the valuation
The US Department of Commerce last week ordered multiple chip equipment companies to halt shipments of certain tools to China’s second-largest chipmaker, Hua Hong Semiconductor Ltd (華虹半導體), its latest action to slow the country’s development of advanced chips, two people familiar with the matter said. The department sent letters to at least a handful of companies informing them of restrictions on tools and other materials destined for two Hua Hong facilities US officials believe make China’s most sophisticated chips, the people said. Top US chip equipment companies Lam Research Corp, Applied Materials Inc and KLA Corp, each of which has significant
RSS