AMOLED display makers will add 278,300m² of manufacturing capacity between Q1′08 and Q1′11, DisplaySearch reports in its soon-to-be-released Q2′08 Quarterly TFT LCD Supply/Demand and Capital Spending Report. And 2008 is already a significant growth year, with global shipments of AMOLED panels expected to nearly quadruple from 2007’s level to 10.2M units, with revenue reaching $225M, according to iSuppli.

Ken Werner
Senior Analyst and Editor

On the last day of June, AMOLED display sales leader Samsung SDI said it would invest $529M to multiply production of next-gen AMOLED displays by a factor of six by the beginning of Q3′09. When the new production facilities are in place, SDI’s production capacity will have grown to 9M units a month (in 2-inch display equivalents), compared to 1.5M now.

Also in late June, Hitachi and Canon announced they would jointly develop AMOLED panels for use in digital cameras and office equipment, and would be manufacturing the panels within two years. The panels are to have higher resolution than typical mobile-handset displays, and display diagonals of 2.5 to 3.5 inches. The companies were planning to transfer about 100 engineers to a new organization, which was to be established by early July — that’s now. The companies were also planning to construct a new production line in Chiba, Japan, for volume production. The companies said they expect to achieve high cost efficiency by using Canon’s know-how in coating technology and mass-production. If it’s unclear to you how Canon’s experience in mass-producing cameras and printers helps make it a more efficient producer of AMOLED displays than Samsung SDI, you’re not alone.

Given Canon’s dismal record of bringing new display technologies to market — ferroelectric LCDs and SEDs spring immediately to mind — reasonable people could easily have questions about the aggressive schedule the companies have announced. At least partner Hitachi has extensive experience in actually bringing displays to market, but then, so did their previous partner Toshiba.

If this venture is to establish its credibility, it can’t be late in reaching its milestones.