Following months of rumours, Japanese autoparts manufacturer Denso will invest ¥30 billion ($282 million) in automotive display business, JOLED. The company will receive a 15% share in the business in return. Other companies who have made investments in JOLED are Panasonic, Sony, Japan Display, Sumitomo and Screen Holdings. (Denso Looking at JOLED Investment).
Denso showed off this flexible OLED automotive display at this year’s CES conference, although it did not identify the source. JOLED plans to commence mass production of its OLED products in 2019.
Analyst Comment
JOLED is reported to be aiming to achieve a new capital total of ¥100 billion ($950 million). and if it does, Denso will have around 15% of the voting rights of the company according to Jiji Press in Japan.
Denso is a very well established company in the automotive segment and must be quite confident about the potential to qualify OLED for automotive applications, which has been a big barrier for OLED to overcome. IHS has pointed out that the automotive market is getting more competitive and volume growth is slowing, as premium products are now getting plenty of displays, although they may get bigger, so area should grow a little faster. (BR)
