OLED revenue forecast to grow

In its latest Quarterly OLED Shipment and Forecast Report, DisplaySearch has forecast that the total OLED display market will grow to $8.8bn by 2016, from $0.7bn in 2008 with a calculated annual growth rate of 36%.

In Q1’09 worldwide active matrix, OLED revenue surpassed passive matrix OLED for the first time. AMOLED revenue is increasing strongly due to strong mobile phone main display shipments, as Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson heavily promoted AMOLED mobile phones in the first half of 2009. More than 10 mobile phone models with AMOLED main displays have been released in 2009.

PMOLED has been the revenue leader in the OLED display market, driven by high unit shipments. In Q1'09, however, PMOLED shipments were down significantly due to weakness in MP3 and mobile phone sub-display applications.

The company also reported that worldwide OLED display revenue in Q1’09 was $178m, down 8% Q/Q. AMOLED revenues were up 17% Q/Q.

Samsung Mobile Display, created from Samsung SDI’s OLED business and Samsung Electronics’ mobile display business, started operation in January 2009. SMD had a strong Q1’09 and, as a result, kept the number one position in shipment with a 37% market share, followed by RiTdisplay in second place.

OLED manufacturers are planning to make TV panels larger than 11″ in 2009; LG Display is mass-producing small-size AMOLED currently, and has announced it will mass-produce a 15″ AMOLED panel for TV applications at the end of 2009. LG Electronics announced that it will commercialise 15″ OLED TV.