The 2023 SID/DSCC Business Conference at DisplayWeek, sponsored by Applied Materials, GE, OTI Lumionics, Smartkem and Top Engineering, will feature 43 presentations from 35 different companies, representing a great value. The keynote talks, taking place on May 24th at the LA Convention Center, feature three industry executives with unique insight regarding the future of the $119B display industry. The keynotes include:
- Max McDaniel, VP and CMO, Applied Materials
- Ian Jenks, Chairman and CEO, Smartkem
- Ross Young, Co-Founder and CEO, DSCC
Max McDaniel, VP and CMO, Applied Materials
Large-area OLED Wave Is Here – Beginning with OLED for IT Displays
Max McDaniel’s talk will reveal that the display industry is once again at an inflection point in the evolution of display technologies. Through the history of the display industry, there has been a repeating pattern of display technology substitution, new and better display technologies replace the incumbents. In mobile, OLED is winning the battle versus LCDs and all new fab investments are OLED. Now the focus is on enabling more advanced OLED technologies (like foldable) even as flexible OLED replaces rigid OLED and high-end LCD. In large area displays like IT and TV, OLED is also emerging to challenge LCD’s dominance, as LCD makers try to defend their market position with extending technologies like mini-LED backlights. Ultimately, he expects OLED to overtake LCD in large area displays (first in IT, then in TV), as well as in mobile, in what he calls the “OLED Wave”. This inflection will play out over the next decade or more, until even more advanced displays like micro-LED reach sufficient maturity.Whichever technologies ultimately win adoption, Applied Materials will be a key enabler in partnership with their customers throughout the world. Advanced displays need advanced backplane processes, with more layers and more challenging specifications. Their integrated materials solutions (IMS) are optimized for LTPS, MOx, LTPO, in-cell/on-cell touch, and more. They work with customers and partners to help bring new and superior displays to the market faster, with higher yield and lower cost.
Max McDaniel is VP and CMO of Applied Materials Display and Flexible Technology Group. He has held engineering, marketing and financial management roles in high-tech equipment companies for over 25 years. Mr. McDaniel has been at Applied Materials since 2003. Prior to joining Applied Materials, he served over twelve years at Watkins-Johnson, a Semiconductor and LCD equipment manufacturer, where he worked in R&D, engineering, and marketing roles.
Ian Jenks, Chairman and CEO, Smartkem
New Semiconductor Platform for Displays
This presentation will look at the display industry through the lens of a company that has developed a new semiconductor platform. It will look at lessons that can be drawn from the silicon industry to accelerate the adoption by the market. This presentation will look at how SmartKem’s TRUFLEX® organic semiconductor inks that are used to make organic thin-film transistors (OTFTs) are being used in the existing display applications. Alongside SmartKem’s other potential end markets, this presentation will focus on how its proprietary chemistry has allowed for the creation of the world’s first monolithic Micro LED display using its organic thin-film transistors. Ian will focus on how SmartKem’s low temperature solution coating of OTFTs, directly onto arrays of RGB Micro LEDs, is being used to develop a new generation of low-cost Micro LED displays at large scale.
Ian Jenks is Chairman and CEO of SmartKem, a company seeking to reshape the world of electronics with a revolutionary semiconductor platform that will enable next generation displays, sensors and logic. Prior to this, Ian has served as CEO of companies operating in both the United States and Europe and has more than 30 years of board-level experience in the industrial technology industry. He was formerly President of Uniphase, Inc. and during his tenure, the market cap grew from $300M to $16B. He was Chairman of Oplink Communications, Inc., which he took public on the NASDAQ, as well as a strategic advisor of WaveOptics, which develops components for AR displays and was recently acquired by SNAP for more than $500M. He also spent seven years as a partner of Crescendo Ventures LLP, which had approximately $1B AUM. Ian has been a director of Techstep ASA, a provider of managed mobile services in the Nordics, Paysafe PLC., an international provider of payment processing services, and Brady PLC., a provider of commodity trading software. Ian received a B.Sc. in Aeronautical Engineering from Bristol University.
Ross Young, Co-Founder and CEO, DSCC
Display Market and Technology Outlook
This talk will examine how COVID impacted the display industry and how and when the display industry will return to growth. While many of the display industry’s largest markets are mature, there are a few examples of high growth segments. In addition, in more mature markets, there are opportunities for better performing displays to take share from entry level displays to help grow the market. Using DSCC’s latest market and technology data and insights, this presentation will provide a state of the industry, examining the outlook for display units and revenues by application, technology, supply/demand, equipment spending and more. Which technology will win the OLED vs. MiniLED battle? How will each technology evolve? How fast will MicroLEDs and Micro OLEDs grow? Are there opportunities for other display technologies to gain share? These and other questions will be answered in his talk.
Ross Young is Co-Founder and CEO of DSCC. Previously, he started, ran and sold DisplaySearch which he started with less than $500 in capital and grew to over $10M in revenues before selling the company to The NPD Group. He has also worked throughout the display supply chain including at a TV brand, panel supplier, multiple equipment suppliers and a materials supplier. He has also served on five company boards. Prior to entering the display industry in 1994, he worked at multiple semiconductor equipment suppliers. Ross has also been quoted in all major business and technology publications and has appeared on multiple TV programs as a display industry expert. He has also keynoted multiple major display related conferences worldwide. Shortly after completing graduate school at UCSD and Japan’s Tohoku University in International Management, Ross authored a book on the semiconductor industry called Silicon Sumo: US-Japan Competition and Industrial Policy in the Semiconductor Equipment Industry published by the University of Texas.
