In November of last year, Display Daily covered the appointment of Michael Murray to replace former Kopin CEO, John Fan. Our take was that Kopin was losing money, micro-displays are taking off, and change may have been needed. This announcement highlights some of those changes.
Kopin Corporation, a leading developer and provider of transmissive and reflective active-matrix liquid crystal (LCDs), organic light emitting diode (OLED) and inorganic light emitting diode (LED) microdisplays, announces it has entered in a Technology License Agreement (the Agreement) with Lightning Silicon Technology, Inc. (Lightning Silicon), a California company. Lightning Silicon is a company formed by Dr. John C.C. Fan, Kopin’s Chairman of Board, and former Chief Executive Officer, to develop and supply advanced organic light emitting diode (OLED) microdisplays for the consumer augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) markets.
Kopin
It appears that Kopin is going to be more focused on its military and industrial opportunities and is allowing Lightning Silicon focus on the consumer market which is bound to have a very unique set of challenges.
“Consumer AR and VR products are projected to be a multi-billion-dollar markets,” said Dr. John C.C. Fan, Kopin’s Chairman of the Board of Directors. “Lightning Silicon was founded to focus on further research and development of additional advanced OLED Displays and optics and lower cost manufacturing capabilities which will require additional investment and the establishment of low-cost production partnerships. To this end, Lightning Silicon is forming a close partnership with Lakeside Lightning Semiconductor Co. Ltd. based in Jiangsu, China who recently held a ground-breaking ceremony on a new 12” OLED fab to bring these advanced OLED microdisplays to market at high volume and low cost. The new 12” facility, together with Lakeside’s existing 8” wafer fab, is expected to provide large-volume, low-cost manufacturing capability to support AR and VR market demands,” said Dr. Fan.
Kopin
It’s not easy to predict the outcome of these types of multi-party deals. On paper, it is a good idea and sounds like a smart move. But partnerships are hard, and three-ways are even harder. Sure, everyone is a stakeholder and brings what they can afford, or are able to, bring to the table. And yes, the consumer AR/VR market is substantial depending on how you look at it. In reality, the consumer VR/AR market is also a minefield of inconsistency (just ask Meta). We lauded John Fan in our original coverage of the changeover in leadership at Kopin and will assume that will go a long way in helping to smooth the progress of this arrangement.
