Tianma - Page 8

A couple of days ago we reported that China has established a new OLED industry alliance. It turns out that the alliance was actually established back in June 2011, and today we bring you some more information.

The alliance is officially called the China OLED Industry Alliance and it was formed with an aim to help grow the Chinese OLED industry. The alliance is headed by the Chinese Government and includes19 member companies, including Rainbow corporation, Irico, Visionox, Tianma, TCL, BOE Display , First-O-Lite, OLightek,Sichuan CCO, Aglaia Tech, Jilin Optical and Electronic materials and others.

Update: it turns out that this alliance was actually established back in June 2011, and it includes 19 members.

Several China-based display makers, including Visionox and Changhong have formed an OLED industry alliance in order to stay competitive with Korean, Taiwanese and Japanese OLED makers. It is reported that the Chinese makers think that OLED is the next-gen display technology and will become the standard for mobile devices in the future.

Visionox AMOLED production line

Visionox is already working on AMOLED displays. Back in August 2011 Visionox officially launched their AMOLED project, which includes a 4.5-Gen production line which will start production in 2013. In November 2011 Visionox said they have successfully developed a 7.6" 800x480 AMOLED panel. Visionox is also developing and producing OLED lighting panels.

Tianma was showing two AMOLED prototypes at SID: a 3.2" (320x480) and a 12.1" (1280x800). Those are direct-emission (side-by-side) panels built on an LTPS substrate, and they were looking rather good. These seem to be the same panels demonstrated in FPD china earlier this year.

The panels were produced at Tianma's pilot 4.5-Gen AMOLED fab in Shanghai. It was reported in 2010 that the pilot line's cost was $72 million (the Chinese government helped with $40 million in funding) and it is able to produce around 1,000 glass substrates in a month.

Last week we reported that Tianma is showing a 12" AMOLED prototype at FPD China 2012. It turns out that the company unveiled two panels (3.2" and 12") and they kindly sent us a couple of slides showing details about these panels.

The 12" panel features 1280x800 resolution, 400 cd/m2 brightness and a contrast that exceeds 10,000:1. It is aimed towards TV and tablet applications.

Update: Tianma sent us some technical details about their new panels unveiled at the exhibition.

We just found this video showing a 12" AMOLED display by Tianma from the FPD China 2012 exhibition:

Unfortunately we don't have any more information on this prototype yet. We do know that Tianma is gearing up towards a Gen-4.5 AMOLED fab, and is also reportedly collaborating with Taiwan's Wintek on AMOLED development.

There's an interesting article at CENS discussing Wintek's partnership with Shanghai Tianma (which was reported back in June 2011). According to the new article Wintek already began construction of the upcoming 4-Gen LTPS OLED plant in Southern Taiwan Science Park (STSP). The company says that the new plant is scheduled to begin production in 2014.

Wintek are collaborating on OLED technology with Tianma. This new report suggests that the Wintek will ship AMOLED panels in 2014 - both self-produced and those made by Tianma.

According to a new DisplayBank report, Wintek will join-forces with Shanghai Tianma on AMOLED touch panels. Both companies are planning to build AMOLED fabs, with Tianma's fab already under way in Fujian, China (it's a 5.5-Gen LTPS AMOLED fab that is scheduled to go online in 2012 and produce 30,000 substrates a month). Wintek plans to build a 5.5-Gen plant of its own in Taiwan. Wintek's OLEDs will use their Advanced Technology Touch (ATT) technology. Mass production at Wintek's plant will begin in 2013.

It's not clear what sort of collaboration these two companies are planning - but perhaps the idea is for Tianma to provide the AMOLED production technology and know-how and Wintek will provide the touch technology (ATT) and expertise.

Chinese consulting firm CCID released its 2010-2011 survey on China's OLED industry. In 2010, Chinese companies shipped 1.35 million OLED displays, up 38.2% over last year. OLED makers in China include Visionox, Shanwei Truly, Sichuan CCO and Irico. Both Shanghai Tianme and Irico are in the process of building 4.5-Gen AMOLED fabs, planning to start mass production in 2011. BOE Display and Sichuan CCO are also engaged with AMOLED R&D.

The Chinese government continues its support for the OLED industry, including special funds from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) and tax policies on new display manufacturers imported materials. But there are still several problems in China's OLED industry - key equipment still needs to be imported (from Japan, Korea and the EU) and China needs raw materials. AMOLED development faces great difficulty due to outdated equipment and inadequate management.

Shanghai Tianma has decided to build a pilot AMOLED production line (4.5-Gen) in a $72 million investment (the company will apply for a $40 million government funding). The pilot line will be placed within Tianma's existing 4.5-Gen LCD production line, and will output around 1000 glass substrates monthly. This will probably be China's second AMOLED pilot line, as Visionox's one is already online today.