Taiwan's Enterprises Urged to Form AMOLED Alliance

Taipei, Aug. 31, 2011 (CENS)--To bolster the development of an integrated supply chain for smartphones, Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs has called for local enterprises to form an AMOLED (active matrix organic light emitting diode) R&D alliance.

Demand for AMOLED panels, increasingly applied to higher-end smartphones, has been growing rapidly, with global shipment in a single quarter already exceeding 10 million units. However, only a few Taiwanese enterprises can enjoy a share of the market pie, as the segment is almost dominated by Korea's Samsung Electronics at present.

In light of the wide application range of AMOLED panels, which have also been used in tablet PCs and TVs, Samsung, after kicking off mass production of such panels at its 5.5-generation plant, is poised to construct an 8.5-generation plant to further boost the capacity, in a bid to further strengthen the leading status against its Taiwanese counterparts in the segment, most of whom still turn out the panels at their 3.5-generation plants.

To assist local manufacturers in tapping the lucrative market, Taiwan's MOEA hence has intended to push forward formation of an AMOLED R&D alliance to boost the island's profile and capabilities in the industry.

Inspired by officials of Industrial Development Bureau (IDB), AU Optronics Corp. (AUO), the first manufacturer capable of mass producing AMOLED panels on the island, has volunteered for the plan, and actively solicited such smartphone and PC integrators as HTC Corp., Acer Inc. and Asustek Computer Inc. to form the alliance.

Once succeeding in convincing local enterprises to work together on cloud computing development, IDB officials noted that the government hopes to duplicate the success experience in the formation of the AMOLED alliance among local panel makers and system integrators.

In addition to offering necessary financial incentives, they added, IDB will also urge local R&D bodies to help alliance members improve their yield rates in AMOLED panel production and explore customers after the alliance is formed.