Organic material shipments, used to produce OLED displays, rose 12% YoY in 2015, reaching 26,000 kg, says IHS. Thanks to the rapid climb of white OLED (WOLED) TV display shipments, IHS forecasts that shipments of these material will reach 100,000 kgs in 2018. Revenues also rose 12% last year, reaching $465 million. By 2018, that is expected to grow to $1.8 billion.
Kihyun Kim, senior analyst for chemical material research at IHS, said, “The market for small and medium OLED displays is stable, and OLED TV shipments are increasing, which is supporting OLED light-emitting materials market growth.” He also indicated that WOLED material shipments are predicted to increase, due to rising adoption. “WOLED materials are expected to outstrip fine-metal-mask red-green-blue (FMM RGB) materials in 2017 for the first time”, Kim said in closing.
In 2015, the OLED materials market was dominated by organic materials used in FMM RGB technology – mostly used to produce smartphone displays – with an 82% share. WOLED materials, which are mainly used for TVs, will have a 51% shipment share of the OLED materials market in 2017, and 55% in 2018.
Revenue from WOLED materials made up 31% of the market in 2015. IHS expects this to rise to 55% in in 2016. Revenue growth is faster than shipment growth due to the higher cost of WOLED materials compared to FMM RGB. WOLED materials have not yet achieved economies of scale.
