Merck KGaA, the German chemicals and pharmaceuticals producer, has laid the cornerstone at its Darmstadt headquarters for a new plant to produce high-purity organic light-emitting diode (OLEDs), semiconducting organic materials designed for use in state-of-the-art displays and lighting systems. The new €30 million facility will start up in July 2015.

Merck said it aims to be a leader in OLEDs by 2018, building on its experience in liquid crystals for displays, for which it now claims global leadership. The new plant is one of the largest single investments made by the company at Darmstadt in recent years.
“OLED technology has the potential to become the technology of the future for displays and lightings,” said managing board member Bernd Reckmann. Merck invested in the field early and the new plant is “another important link in this chain,” he added.
The German company is cooperating with Japanese printing technology specialist Seiko Epson on printable displays for OLED screens. Merck foresees applications in smartphones, tablets and televisions, but also in flexible or rollable screens in the form of ultra-thin, energy-saving displays for portable devices or large video walls produced with OLEDs using thin-film technology.
Applications for OLEDs in the automotive industry as well as medicine and education also are seen as possible.