Sumitomo to Make AMOLED Panels in Korea

Japan’s Sumitomo Chemical plans to invest $132 million in a new plant in South Korea to produce curved-surface AMOLED touch panels based on thin-film substrates.  The Japanese company is currently the largest supplier of glass substrate-based panels with annual capacity for 400 million and an estimated global market share of 60-70%.

Sumitomo said it will triple its capacity in South Korea to more than 100 million units per year in 2018, supplying electronics customers such as Apple, Samsung Electronics, LG Electronics and China-based smartphone vendors.

Separately, another Japanese company, Mitsubishi Chemical, said it will invest in production of materials used in manufacturing of OLED panels including smartphone-use AMOLED units. The plans call for production of low-molecular-weight light-emitting materials for use in coating-based manufacturing.

Mitsubishi said that while macromolecular light-emitting materials are currently used in vapor deposition-based manufacturing of OLED panels, it will produce low-molecular-weight light-emitting materials for use in coating-based manufacturing.