AUO to Ship Cellphone-use AMOLEDs in 2011

Taipei, July 9, 2010 (CENS)--Toshiba Matsushita Display Technology Co., Ltd. (TMD) of Japan recently announced its full transfer of its shares in the Singaporean subsidiary AFPD Pte., Ltd. to AU Optronics Corp. (AUO), a major thin film transistor-liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) panel manufacturer in Taiwan.

AFPD is a joint venture between Toshiba Corp. and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. to make low temperature poly-silicon (LTPS) TFT-LCDs, which can be substrates for active matrix organic light-emit diode (AMOLED) panels. AUO will begin shipment of AMOLEDs to big international cellphone makers as Samsung and Nokia in 2011.

Currently, AFPD produces some 45,000 high-level LTPS TFT-LCD substrates sized 730mm x 920mm. Each AMOLED panel needs a LTPS TFT-LCD as driver, industry sources said, so with the capacity support from AFPD, AUO's AMOLED shipments are expected to further expand.

AUO's chief technology officer F.C. Luo claimed that his company will utilizes a 3.5th-generaiton (3.5G) facility to start mass production of AMOLED panels by the end of the year.

Currently, the world's only mass producer of AMOLED cellphone panels is Samsung Electronics of South Korea, which is facing serious supply shortage due to excessive demand.

Most major cellphone brands adopt AMOLED handset displays, including Samsung, Nokia, HTC etc. Due to Samsung's supply shortage of AMOLED panels, HTC turned to Sony of Japan to outsource high-level TFT-LCD panels to replace AMOLEDs, industry sources said.