ChinaStar Starts Construction of Gen 6 Flexible OLED Fab
June 19, 2017
 
Last November we reported that ChinaStar was planning a Gen 6 OLED line in Wuhan China.  According to the Chinese press, the company, which could have as much as a has a 2.7% share of worldwide OLED production capacity has started construction on the $5.1b project, with a completion date of 2Q 2019.  The fab is scheduled to open its LTPS LCD production in 2Q 2019, but OLED production will begin later in the year.  The fab is expected to have a total capacity of 45,000 sheets/month, built out in two phases with 15K/month for LCDs and 15K/month for OLEDs that will be expanded by another 15K/month in 2020.   ChinaStar’s OLED lines will produce flexible OLED displays. The company is also researching the production of OLED displays through ink-jet printing, but that would be for TV panels not small/medium displays.  The company and the more than 1,000 guests that showed for the ceremony were quite optimistic about the prospects for the fab and the business it will draw to the location. The company indicated that they expect the fab to be able to produce 1.16m m2 of OLED capacity when the full project is completed, which calculates to 45,000 sheets of capacity, but ChinaStar is unlikely to reach that capacity level until 2022 or 2023.  ChinaStar is majority owned by TCL, and Samsung Display has a 9.7% stake. As we reported previously, ChinaStar is also planning a Gen 11 fab, which is expected to have capacity for both ultra large LCD and OLED panels, but that fab is still in the planning stage, and represents a very significant project for ChinaStar, both from a physical standpoint (Gen 11) and a financial one.
 
Figure 1:  Construction at ChinaStar’s Gen 10+ Fab in Wuhan China

Source: ofWeek

Vertical Divider