Category Archives: FPDs and TFTs

Global shipments of large thin-film transistor (TFT) liquid crystal display (LCD) panels rose again in 2018 despite concerns of over-supply in the market. In particular, area shipments increased by 10.6 percent to 197.9 million square meters compared to the previous year, driven by TV and monitor panels, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

Fierce price competition in large 65- and 75-inch display panels was ignited as Chinese panel maker BOE started the mass production of the panels in 2018 at its B9 10.5-generation facility. “With BOE operating the 10.5-generation line, panel makers have become more aggressive on pricing since early 2018 to digest their capacity,” said Robin Wu, principal analyst at IHS Markit. “Large panels are still more profitable than smaller ones.”

Rising demand for gaming-PC and professional-purpose monitors boosted shipments of high-end, large panels. “Some panel makers have allocated more monitor panels to the fab, replacing existing TV panels, to make up for poor performance of that business,” Wu said.

Demand for other applications, which include public, automotive and industrial displays, recorded the highest growth rates of 17.5 percent by area and 28.6 percent by unit. “Panel makers view these applications as a new cash cow that can compensate for the sharp price erosion in main panels for TVs, monitors and notebook PCs,” Wu said.

LG Display led the area shipments of large display panels, with a 21 percent share in 2018, followed by BOE (17 percent) and Samsung Display (16 percent). BOE boasted the largest unit-shipment share of 23 percent, followed by LG Display (20 percent) and Innolux (17 percent), according to the Large Area Display Market Tracker by IHS Markit.

Large TFT LCD panel shipment growth is expected to continue in 2019. The preliminary forecast for unit shipments of three major products indicates that panel makers will continue to focus on the monitor and notebook PC panel businesses, increasing shipments by 5.3 percent and 6.6 percent, respectively, over the year, while shipments of TV panels are forecast to grow just 2.6 percent.

In 2019, three new 10.5-generation fabs – ChinaStar’s T6, BOE’s second fab and Foxconn/Sharp’s Guangzhou line – are expected to start mass production. All of them are assigned to manufacture TV panels, further boosting TV panel supply. “As the TV panel business is predicted to remain tough, panel makers, who enjoyed relatively better outcomes with monitor and notebook PC panels in 2018, will likely focus on the IT panel businesses,” Wu said.

The Large Area Display Market Tracker by IHS Markit provides information about the entire range of large display panels shipped worldwide and regionally, including monthly and quarterly revenues and shipments by display area, application, size and aspect ratio for each supplier.

Researchers from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, have discovered a simple new tweak that could double the efficiency of organic electronics. OLED-displays, plastic-based solar cells and bioelectronics are just some of the technologies that could benefit from their new discovery, which deals with “double-doped” polymers.

Double doping could improve the light-harvesting efficiency of flexible organic solar cells (left), the switching speed of electronic paper (center) and the power density of piezoelectric textiles (right). Disclaimer: The image may only be used with referral to Epishine, as supplier of the flexible solar cell. For instance: ‘The solar cell was supplied by Epishine AB.’ Credit: Johan Bodell/Chalmers University of Technology

The majority of our everyday electronics are based on inorganic semiconductors, such as silicon. Crucial to their function is a process called doping, which involves weaving impurities into the semiconductor to enhance its electrical conductivity. It is this that allows various components in solar cells and LED screens to work.

For organic – that is, carbon-based – semiconductors, this doping process is similarly of extreme importance. Since the discovery of electrically conducting plastics and polymers, a field for which a Nobel Prize was awarded in 2000, research and development of organic electronics has accelerated quickly. OLED-displays are one example which are already on the market, for example in the latest generation of smartphones. Other applications have not yet been fully realised, due in part to the fact that organic semiconductors have so far not been efficient enough.

Doping in organic semiconductors operates through what is known as a redox reaction. This means that a dopant molecule receives an electron from the semiconductor, increasing the electrical conductivity of the semiconductor. The more dopant molecules that the semiconductor can react with, the higher the conductivity – at least up to a certain limit, after which the conductivity decreases. Currently, the efficiency limit of doped organic semiconductors has been determined by the fact that the dopant molecules have only been able to exchange one electron each.

But now, in an article in the scientific journal Nature Materials, Professor Christian Müller and his group, together with colleagues from seven other universities demonstrate that it is possible to move two electrons to every dopant molecule.

“Through this ‘double doping’ process, the semiconductor can therefore become twice as effective,” says David Kiefer, PhD student in the group and first author of the article.

According to Christian Müller, this innovation is not built on some great technical achievement. Instead, it is simply a case of seeing what others have not seen.

“The whole research field has been totally focused on studying materials which only allow one redox reaction per molecule. We chose to look at a different type of polymer, with lower ionisation energy. We saw that this material allowed the transfer of two electrons to the dopant molecule. It is actually very simple,” says Christian Müller, Professor of Polymer Science at Chalmers University of Technology.

The discovery could allow further improvements to technologies which today are not competitive enough to make it to market. One problem is that polymers simply do not conduct current well enough, and so making the doping techniques more effective has long been a focus for achieving better polymer-based electronics. Now, this doubling of the conductivity of polymers, while using only the same amount of dopant material, over the same surface area as before, could represent the tipping point needed to allow several emerging technologies to be commercialised.

“With OLED displays, the development has come far enough that they are already on the market. But for other technologies to succeed and make it to market something extra is needed. With organic solar cells, for example, or electronic circuits built of organic material, we need the ability to dope certain components to the same extent as silicon-based electronics. Our approach is a step in the right direction,” says Christian Müller.

The discovery offers fundamental knowledge and could help thousands of researchers to achieve advances in flexible electronics, bioelectronics and thermoelectricity. Christian Müller’s research group themselves are researching several different applied areas, with polymer technology at the centre. Among other things, his group is looking into the development of electrically conducting textiles and organic solar cells.

Intentionally “squashing” colloidal quantum dots during chemical synthesis creates dots capable of stable, “blink-free” light emission that is fully comparable with the light produced by dots made with more complex processes. The squashed dots emit spectrally narrow light with a highly stable intensity and a non-fluctuating emission energy. New research at Los Alamos National Laboratory suggests that the strained colloidal quantum dots represent a viable alternative to presently employed nanoscale light sources, and they deserve exploration as single-particle, nanoscale light sources for optical “quantum” circuits, ultrasensitive sensors, and medical diagnostics.

“In addition to exhibiting greatly improved performance over traditional produced quantum dots, these new strained dots could offer unprecedented flexibility in manipulating their emission color, in combination with the unusually narrow, ‘subthermal’ linewidth,” said Victor Klimov, lead Los Alamos researcher on the project. “The squashed dots also show compatibility with virtually any substrate or embedding medium as well as various chemical and biological environments.”

The new colloidal processing techniques allow for preparation of virtually ideal quantum-dot emitters with nearly 100 percent emission quantum yields shown for a wide range of visible, infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths. These advances have been exploited in a variety of light-emission technologies, resulting in successful commercialization of quantum-dot displays and TV sets.

The next frontier is exploration of colloidal quantum dots as single-particle, nanoscale light sources. Such future “single-dot” technologies would require particles with highly stable, nonfluctuating spectral characteristics. Recently, there has been considerable progress in eliminating random variations in emission intensity by protecting a small emitting core with an especially thick outer layer. However, these thick-shell structures still exhibit strong fluctuations in emission spectra.

In a new publication in the journal Nature Materials, Los Alamos researchers demonstrated that spectral fluctuations in single-dot emission can be nearly completely suppressed by applying a new method of “strain engineering.” The key in this approach is to combine in a core/shell motif two semiconductors with directionally asymmetric lattice mismatch, which results in anisotropic compression of the emitting core.

This modifies the structures of electronic states of a quantum dot and thereby its light emitting properties. One implication of these changes is the realization of the regime of local charge neutrality of the emitting “exciton” state, which greatly reduces its coupling to lattice vibrations and fluctuating electrostatic environment, key to suppressing fluctuations in the emitted spectrum. An additional benefit of the modified electronic structures is dramatic narrowing of the emission linewidth, which becomes smaller than the room-temperature thermal energy.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today introduced its latest innovations in modular MicroLED display technology during its annual First Look CES event at the Aria Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. The revolutionary new MicroLED technology designs featured at the event included: a new 75” display, a 219” The Wall as well as other various groundbreaking sizes, shapes and configurations for a next-generation modular MicroLED display – a 2019 CES Best of Innovation Award winner.

“For decades, Samsung has led the way in next-generation display innovation,” said Jonghee Han, President of Visual Display Business at Samsung Electronics. “Our MicroLED technology is at the forefront of the next screen revolution with intelligent, customizable displays that excel in every performance category. Samsung MicroLED has no boundaries, only endless possibilities.”

Featuring self-emissive technology and modular capabilities, Samsung’s MicroLED displays deliver unparalleled picture quality, versatility and design. These transformative TV displays are made up of individual modules of self-emissive MicroLEDs, featuring millions of inorganic red, green and blue microscopic LED chips that emit their own light to produce brilliant colors on screen – delivering unmatched picture quality that surpasses any display technology currently available on the market.

At last year’s CES, Samsung introduced MicroLED by unveiling The Wall, the critically acclaimed, award-winning 146” MicroLED display. Due to the technical advancements in the ultra-fine pitch semiconductor packaging process that narrow the gap between the microscopic LED chips, Samsung has been able to create a stunning 4K MicroLED display in a smaller, more home-friendly 75” form factor.

Thanks to the modular nature of MicroLED, this technology offers flexibility in screen size that allows users to customize it to fit any room or space. By adding MicroLED modules, users can expand their display to any size they desire. The modular functionality of MicroLED will allow users in the future to create the ultimate display even at irregular 9×3, 1×7 or 5×1 screen sizes that suits their spatial, aesthetic and functional needs.

Samsung’s MicroLED technology also optimizes the content no matter the size and shape of the screen. Even when adding more modules, Samsung MicroLED displays can scale to increase the resolution — all while keeping the pixel density constant. Additionally, MicroLED can support everything from the standard 16:9 content, to 21:9 widescreen films, to unconventional aspect ratios like 32:9, or even 1:1 – without having to make any compromises in its picture quality.

Finally, because MicroLED displays are bezel-free, there are no borders between modules – even when you add more. The result is a seamless, stunning infinity pool effect that allows the display to elegantly blend into any living environment. The possibilities for eye-catching designs are enhanced by new Ambient Mode features.

For more detail on Samsung’s 2019 QLED 8K and MicroLED lines, please visit booth #15006 in the Central Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center during CES 2019 (January 8-11, 2019).

Although overall TV shipments in the third quarter of 2018 were flat compared to the previous year, the average TV unit-shipment screen size increased more than any previous quarter in more than a year. While strong seasonality from promotions for the World Cup raised TV unit sales more than 7 percent in the first half of the year, Western Europe, Latin America, and Middle East and Africa all experienced double-digit TV shipment year-over-year declines in the third quarter, according to IHS Markit(Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions.

Global shipments of 60-inch and larger TV screen sizes increased more than 40 percent, year over year in the third quarter, with even stronger growth in North America and emerging markets, as prices fell to new lows for 65-inch and 75-inch sizes. This growth rate is more than 10 percent higher than in recent quarters.

“Each year during the holiday shopping season, brands and retailers try to push ever larger screen sizes to keep revenues growing and encourage adoption of value-added features like 4K and smart TV,” said Paul Gagnon, research and analysis executive director, IHS Markit. “This year, there’s higher interest in 65-inch 4K TVs for many of the key promotional deals, leading to less focus on smaller screen sizes under 50 inches.”

Growth in larger size TVs leads to a rising share of 4K resolutions since larger sizes have already largely completed the transition from 1080p to 4K. In fact, the share of 4K TV shipments in the third quarter reached a record high of nearly 44 percent. Due to sustained premiums and larger average size, 4K TVs made up more than 71 percent of all TV revenues during the quarter. 8K TV shipments are still very small, with just one brand currently shipping a very small number of units in Japan and China. IHS Markit expects additional brands to start shipping 8K TVs by the end of 2018.

Prices of 65-inch 4K LCD TVs fell to an average of $1,110 in North America during the third quarter, from $1,256 in the previous quarter. In China, the average price of 65-inch TVs was even lower – just $928, after already falling below $1,000 in the second quarter. Xiaomi and other brands have aggressively pushed prices lower as competition intensifies in China. In other regions, prices were considerably higher for 65-inch 4K TVs, due to less intense retail competition and a smaller addressable market.

OLED TV shipments were down slightly in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter, with the anticipated promotional focus shifting to LCD for the holiday season. LCD TV shipments increased by 14 percent, quarter over quarter. Quantum dot LCD TV shipments rose to 663,000 units in the third quarter, with an average size exceeding 60-inches. The average size of OLED TVs increased to more than 59 inches for the first time, as the 65-inch shipments share grew to a new high of more than 38 percent.

After hitting 7.3 percent growth in 2018, global demand for flat panel displays (FPDs) in terms of area is forecast to expand 6.4 percent to 228 million square meters in 2019. It is the first slowdown in year-on-year growth in four years, according to IHS Markit(Nasdaq: INFO).

Although the FPD demand will continue to grow, mainly driven by migration to larger displays for major applications, such as TVs, desktop monitors, mobile PCs and smartphones, the pace is expected to slow through 2021.

“The uncertainty from rising global trade tension may pose a threat to panel demand,” said Ricky Park, director at IHS Markit.  “Huge investment in panel factories in China is also expected to continue to cause oversupply next year.”

According to the world economy and global markets report by IHS Markit, world real gross domestic product (GDP) growth is forecast to grow 3.0 percent in 2019, following 3.2 percent in 2018 and 3.3 percent in 2017. The 2019 world real GDP growth was revised down from a 3.4 percent forecast in April 2018 as trade disputes between the United States and China worsened. This will partially contribute to slower growth in end-market demand and the lower demand for FPDs next year.

Oversupply is also expected to have an impact as China Star initiates mass production of FPDs from its 10.5thgeneration fabrication plant (fab) – the world’s second largest – in Shenzhen, China, in the first quarter of 2019. HKC will also contribute to an increase in the production capacity by mass producing panels at its new 8.6thgeneration fab in the second quarter 2019. As a result, the production capacity of thin-film transistor panels is expected to increase by 11 percent in 2019 compared to 2018, and the supply will surpass demand at a greater magnitude than 2018.

“As the market forecast for both demand and supply does not look favorable, panel suppliers and set makers are trying to develop more advanced products and technologies, such as 8K resolution for TVs, quantum-dot organic light-emitting diode (QD OLED) TVs and foldable displays for smartphones and tablet PCs, to bolster consumer demand,” Park said.

The excitement about microLEDs has grown exponentially since Apple acquired technology startup Luxvue in 2014. All major display makers have now invested in the technology and other semiconductor or hardware companies such as Intel, Facebook Oculus or Google have joined the pool. Amidst this flurry of news and activity, a new term emerged in early 2017: miniLED. But more than size, the technology and manufacturing infrastructure requirements and the applications clearly differentiate microLEDs and miniLEDs.

Under this dynamic ecosystem, the market research and strategy consulting company, Yole Développement (Yole), releases a dedicated technology & market analysis focused on miniLEDs for display applications. Entitled, MiniLED for Display Applications: LCD & Digital Signage, this report provides a detailed analysis of miniLED technologies in two major display applications: high performance LCDs and narrow pixel pitch LED direct view display digital signage. Yole’s analysts present a comprehensive understanding of miniLED display technologies and describe their competitive landscapes and supply chains.

MiniLED vs. MicroLED: are they the same technologies? Are the applications identical? Contrary to MicroLEDs, miniLEDs can easily be manufactured in existing fabs, even though they might require new equipment to enable cost-effective assembly. So who is doing what? What are the market drivers? Does a dedicated supply chain already exist? MiniLEDs advantages are two-fold in terms of applications: they bring new strength to LCD players in the battle against OLED, and they enable increased LED adoption for digital signage, announce Yole’s analysts. Discover today a snapshot of the miniLED industry, with insights into technology, current status and prospects, roadblocks and key players.

For smartphone applications, miniLEDs are facing a strong incumbent in OLEDs, as their cost to performance ratio has already gained the technology a strong position in high-end/flagship segments. OLED is expected to further increase its share and become dominant as the number of suppliers and global capacity increase dramatically over the next five years and cost continues to drop.

MiniLEDs, however, have a card to play in various small to mid-size high added-value display segments, where OLEDs have been less efficient at overcoming its weaknesses such as cost, lack of availability and longevity issues such as burn-in or image retention. For example in high-end monitors for gaming applications, miniLEDs could bring excellent contrast, high brightness and thin form factors at lower cost than OLEDs.

“The automotive segment is especially compelling, first because of its strong growth potential in terms of volume and revenue, and also because miniLEDs can deliver on every aspect auto-makers are aspiring to: very high contrast and brightness, lifetime, conformability to curved surfaces and ruggedness,” comments Eric Virey, PhD, Senior Market & Technology Analyst at Yole.

Regarding the last point on ruggedness, miniLED-based LCDs offer significant benefits over OLEDs since they only use proven technologies, LED backlights and liquid crystal cells, not much different from already established LCDs. Automakers therefore don’t have to make a leap of faith and hope the new technology will meet the demanding lifetime, environmental and operating temperature specifications they require.

On the TV side, miniLEDs could help LCDs bridge the gap and regain market share against OLEDs on the highly profitable high-end segments. “This opportunity is all the more enticing to panel and display makers that have not invested in OLED technologies and see the potential to extend the lifetime and profitability of their LCD fabs and technologies,” explains Zine Bouhamri, PhD, Technology & Market Analyst at Yole.

For direct view LED displays, miniLEDs used in conjunction with Chip On Board (COB) architecture could enable higher penetration of narrow pixel pitch LED displays in multiple applications, hence increasing the serviceable market. Die size will evolve continuously toward smaller dimensions, possibly down to 30-50µm in order to reduce cost. Adoption in cinema is still highly uncertain but even modest adoption rates would generate very significant upsides.

The flat panel display (FPD) equipment market is expected to start to decline after an unprecedented build-up in 2017 as panel makers take a more cautious approach as they wait for demand to catch up to rapidly ramping capacity. The FPD equipment market is forecast to fall from $20.2 billion in 2017 to $14.0 billion in 2020, declining at a compound annual rate of 11.6 percent, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO).

“The expansion of the FPD equipment market that started in 2016 has been driven by the high equipment intensity of new flexible active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) display factories and the scale of Gen 10.5/11 LCD factories,” said Chase Li, senior analyst at IHS Markit. “This expansion has been further fueled by Chinese local governments, which have supported panel makers with various mechanisms such as financing, land grants, reduced taxes, infrastructure and direct subsidies.”

Such broad government support of Chinese FPD fabs for all types of display technologies and factory sizes is starting to distort the supply/demand balance as the new capacity begins to ramp. In the case of flexible AMOLED factories targeting smartphones, many multiple billion-dollar investments and even expansion phases have been moving forward before panel makers have proven their ability to produce high quality panels at high yields and competitive costs. The glut level of thin-film transistor (TFT) AMOLED panels for mobile applications is forecast to exceed 40 percent of the demand in terms of area in 2019. This implies that, on average, factories for mobile applications are likely to be underutilized.

This situation has caused both panel makers and China’s local governments to evaluate more critically new flexible AMOLED factory plans. Even South Korean panel makers have pulled back from their previous plans to expand Gen 6 flexible AMOLED capacity continuously due to slower-than-expected panel demand growth. Reduced spending on AMOLED fabs for mobile applications accounts for most of the decline in equipment spending in 2018 and 2019.

Even so, Chinese local governments continue to fund selected projects despite the tightening of credit, particularly for Gen 10.5/11 LCD factories. These projects are predicted to keep equipment spending relatively firm through 2020. However, it threatens to push the large display supply/demand glut level to a record annual high of 18 percent in 2020, unless panel makers reduce excessive LCD TV panel capacity by converting some of it to OLED TV panel production and shutter less productive legacy factories.

High-end OLED TVs are one segment that is still expected to face tight panel supply for the next few years. Although, demand is low compared to standard LCD TVs, OLED TVs are a growing niche, whose panel demand is forecast to rise from 2.9 million units in 2018 to 6.7 million units in 2020. Being the only panel maker to have commercialized OLED TV panels to-date, LG Display is shipping all the panels it fabricates and running its current factories at full utilization.

According to the AMOLED and LCD Supply Demand & Equipment Tracker by IHS Markit, equipment spending in 2019 will be significantly supported by the conversion of legacy LCD fabs to advanced AMOLED factories. JOLED, Samsung Display and others are utilizing previously purchased TFT tools, while adding OLED frontplane, color conversion, cell and module equipment, hoping that they will keep them ahead of rivals and enable them to ride the growth of the AMOLED TV market.

“The FPD equipment market has always been highly volatile depending on market and technology changes. Some slow-down is not surprising following years of record high equipment spending,” Li said. “How all the equipment being installed will affect the future opportunity is a question that equipment makers are now struggling to answer. Based on IHS Markit analysis, the correction will continue beyond 2020. Even so, hope for expanding the new technology investments in AMOLED and quantum-dot (QD) OLED TVs as well as foldable displays, combined with industry restructuring and increased demand as prices fall offers the hope of another positive cycle coming.”

Spurred on by growing demand for innovative user experience in smartphones, shipments of foldable active-matrix organic light-emitting diode (AMOLED) panels are expected to reach 50 million units by 2025 for the first time since their launch in 2018, according to IHS Markit (Nasdaq: INFO), a world leader in critical information, analytics and solutions.

The foldable AMOLED panels are expected to account for 6 percent of total AMOLED panel shipments (825 million), or 11 percent of total flexible AMOLED panel shipments (476 million) by 2025.

“As the conventional smartphone market has become saturated, smartphone brands have tried to come up with an innovative form factor for a smartphone,” said Jerry Kang, senior principal analyst of display research at IHS Markit. “A foldable AMOLED panel is considered to be the most attractive and distinguishable form factor at this moment.”

In October 2018, China’s Royole Corporation unveiled the world’s first foldable-screen smartphone with a 7.8-inch AMOLED panel. A few other brands are also expected to launch foldable-screen smartphones in 2019.

“Smartphone brands are cautious about launching foldable smartphones because the phones should be durable enough for repeated folding and thin and light enough even when supporting a larger display and battery,” Kang said. “Unit shipments of foldable AMOLED panels may not grow as fast for the first few years, but area per unit will be expected to be larger than that of conventional displays. Panel makers are forecast to see an increase in fab utilization.”

Due to lower demand for conventional flexible AMOLED panels, suppliers are hoping that smartphone brands release foldable devices as early as possible. With more optimism, some are even considering investing in another fab solely for foldable AMOLED panels.

“Panel suppliers should consider how much demand will increase for the foldable application before investing in additional fabs, because the supply of flexible AMOLED panels is forecast to exceed demand even as we move into 2019,” Kang said.

According to the AMOLED & Flexible Display Intelligence Service by IHS Markit, the supply capacity of flexible AMOLED panels will account for more than half of total AMOLED capacity in the fourth quarter of 2019.

MagnaChip Semiconductor Corporation (“MagnaChip”) (NYSE: MX), a designer and manufacturer of analog and mixed-signal semiconductor platform solutions, today announced that volume production of a new Display Driver IC (DDIC) for automotive panel displays has begun.

MagnaChip is planning to expand its business to various automotive display applications in the market, starting with the design-win of new product at a leading Japanese panel maker of automotive CSD (Center Stack Display) panels. The application of this LCD-based display driver product will be further extended to a wide range of automotive applications such as instrument cluster, GPS navigation and car entertainment displays in the future. Over time, it is widely anticipated that OLED display drivers also will be adopted for use in automotive applications.

The new automotive DDIC, S8311, has a maximum of 1440 channel outputs and an mLVDS (Mini Low-Voltage Differential Signaling) interface and supports all types of TFT-LCD such as a-Si (Amorphous silicon), LTPS (Low Temperature Poly Silicon) and IGZO (Indium Gallium Zinc Oxide) for various automotive applications. MagnaChip fabricates the product in-house using the 150nm process, which is a cost-effective method the company has successfully used for many different products in recent years.

According to market research firm IHS, automotive display shipments keep growing with three primary automotive display systems: instrument cluster, center stack and heads-up display system. Based on current trends, IHS forecasts that global shipments of automotive display panels will rise to 165Mpcs in 2018 and increase to 200Mpcs in 2022.

“As the global automotive display market continues to expand, demand for high quality display driver products is expected to grow,” said YJ Kim, CEO of MagnaChip. “With our know-how and long track record of success in the Display market, we will continue to cooperate with major automotive display panel makers to extend our automotive DDIC business from a-Si TFT-LCD to LTPS, IGZO TFT-LCD and further to OLED panel-type displays.”