In our excitement at the first shipping of an inkjet-patterned OLED last week (JOLED Starts Commercial Shipments Printable OLEDs), we didn’t spot that a number of companies are working to find the investment needed by JOLED to scale up. The initial plan was that JDI would support the investment, but at the moment it has its own troubles, so JOLED is looking for companies to raise the ¥100 billion ($890 million) needed.
Sumitomo, the chemical company that supplies OLED materials is reported to be ready to join in with Screen Holdings, which makes equipment. Sony and Panasonic, which formed JOLED and have collaborated on OLED for some time, have been asked to consider contributing and some reports suggest that they may each contribute 5% to 10% of the total needed. JOLED has also requested support from Sharp although some commentators fear that a concern over antitrust issues might make this difficult, according to Nikkei, althogh Sharp’s president, Tai Jeng-wu said that the companies should combine to compete with Korean companies.
The company is trying to raise money first in Japan, but will go abroad if it is not successful locally.
