Idemitsu Kosan (Idemitsu) and Toray Industries (Toray) have announced they have entered into an agreement for technical cooperation relating to OLED materials, which both parties expect to be an area of future growth.
According to the announcement Idemitsu and Toray will mutually utilise the OLED materials, technology and expertise that they possess, and cooperate in the development of new materials and material evaluation.
Furthermore, both parties aim to cooperate and effectively use the assets they possess, including evaluation facilities and production facilities, to improve the performance and durability of OLED displays, as well as to reduce the costs of materials that they provide.
With this agreement for technical cooperation, both companies hope to contribute to the development and evolution of the OLED display industry through the development and commercialisation of even more outstanding OLED materials.
Idemitsu is engaged in the development, manufacturing and sales of cutting-edge luminescent materials and carrier transporting materials, such as its hole transport materials.These materials have been used in a large number of OLED displays.
In addition to developing OLED materials Idemitsu is also actively developing technologies for the combinations of these materials in order to demonstrate their optimal performance in OLED displays.
Toray's OLED materials business involves the research, technological development, manufacturing and sales of materials, such as its electron transport materials that are based on its proprietary molecular design technology.
Toray is also engaged in the business of developing, making and selling insulating materials that help ensure the quality and increase the durability of OLED displays, as well as new materials to enable the commercialisation of flexible displays.
With the current investment by South Korean and Chinese display manufacturers, it is forecast that by 2020 the market will be three times its present size. This expansion is driven by the growth in demand for OLED displays for smartphones and TVs. The expansion of the OLED display market has led to an accompanying increase in demand for OLED materials such as those provided by Idemitsu and Toray.