OLED history

2008

• October - UDC shows flexible OLEDs that are less than 50 micrometer thin
• October - LG are 'cautious' about OLEDs, do not see big investments in the near future
• October - GE says they hope to start selling OLED lighting products in 2010. OSRAM says their own products will be available in 2011/12
• October - China's first OLED production line goes online
• October - CMEL's 7.6" AMOLED panels are now available for purchase
• October - Samsung shows 14" and 31" AMOLED prototypes, might be released in early 2010. Also shows a 40" HD AMOLED and shows interesting flexible and transparent OLEDs.
• September - AMOLED shipments fall, but PMOLED now account for 60% of new MP3 players
• September - Philips offers OLED lighting kits, plans to start selling products in 2009
• September - Kodak announces a wireless digital photo frame with a 7.6" AMOLED (made by CMEL)
• August - TMDisplay develops 2.2" OLED with world's longest lifetime and best efficiency
• August - Utah researchers: OLEDs will not be as efficient as previously thought
• August - Several new devices are announced with AMOLEDs: Nokia N85, iRiver SPINN, Cowon S9 curve, iRiver Unit2 (4.3") and others
• July - DisplayBank estimates 7.1M AMOLED units produced in first half of 2008
• July - TMDisplay to invest 140M$ on production lines for 2.5" AMOLED, sets target output of 1.5M a month
• July - Samsung Electronics and Samsung SDI to join forces on OLEDs, make new "Samsung Mobile Displays" unit
• July - LGDisplay to invest 100M$ in new production lines for "smaller then 10 inch" displays
• July - Japanese government and companies team up to develop OLED tech
• June - Hitachi and Canon to make small/medium OLED panels for digital cameras
• June - Major investment in OLED production is announced by Samsung (530$) and LG Display
• June - The OLLA project delivers its final milestone, a followup project (oled100.eu) is announced
• June - UDC shows white OLED with over 100 lm/W
• June - LG Display officially open OLED division and production line
• June - AUO are reportedly back into OLED research (since January 2008)
• June - CMEL gets 21M$ for a new AMOLED production line
• May - Toshiba postpones large OLED TVs, to ship small/medium panels late in 2008
• May - Samsung shows 12.1" OLED for laptops, plans to release OLEDs ranging from 2" to 31" (15 different sizes)
• May - LGDisplay shows 15" XGA OLED TV
• May - Sony goes ahead with 200M$ investment, will release 27" OLED TV within 12 months
• April - OSRAM shows world's first OLED lamp
• April - Sony showcases thin OLED panels
• March - Kodak and LG display sign AMOLED cross-licensing agreement
• March - Samsung SDI’s AMOLEDs Reach Mass Production
• March - GE Demonstrates World's First "Roll-to-Roll" Manufactured OLEDs
• March - OLED Lighting Technology from OSRAM Achieves New Levels of Efficiency and Lifetime
• February - Sony to spend 200M$ on OLED production tech
• January - Sony sold first batch (1,300 units) of XEL-1 in one day, starts to sell the TV in US as well
• January - Lot's of new AMOLED products announced (Samsung camera, iRiver A/V player, several mobile phones in Japan)
• January - CMEL producing 150,000 panels a months, gets orders for 7.6" panels from kodak
• January - Panasonic says no OLED TV till 2012-2014

2007

• December - Toshiba shelves plans to sell OLED TVs in 2009/10
• December - Samsung says will have 31" AMOLED TV prototype in CES, Commercial 40" TVs in 2010, and 14" panels in 2008
• November - Novaled reaches 100,000h lifetime for a highly efficient white OLED
• November - The world's first OLED TV, the Sony XEL-1 (11") starts to sell in Japan for 1,800$
• October - Sony announces the XEL-1, the first ever OLED TV (11")
• October - Samsung SDI and LG expand AMOLED production lines, fulfill orders
• October - CMEL begin shipment of ~2" AMOLED panels, showcases 4.3" and 7.6" panels
• October - Seiko Epson expanded OLED lifetime, to start making OLED panels (8" to 21")
• October - Samsung SDI shows OLED roadmap and claims 21" monitors in 2009, 42" HD TVs by 2010 and OLED lighting 'soon'
• August - Sumitomo plans OLED TVs by 2009
• July - LG Electronics moves into AMOLED mass production
• July - CMEL sampling 2.4" AMOLED panels
• July - Sumitomo acquires CDT for 285M$
• May - Mitsubishi to enter OLED market
• May - Novaled Achieving Groundbreaking Lifetimes For fluorescent PIN OLEDs
• May - Sony shows Flexible OLEDs
• May - Samsung SDI to make OLED TVs in 2009
• April - Sony to sell 11" OLED TVs in 2007
• April - TMDisplay to sell 21" OLED TVs in 2009
• April - Toshiba plans to launch 30" OLED TVs in 2009 (Update: in December 2007 Toshiba shelved those plans)
• March - KDDI starts selling a phone with a 2.4" AMOLED display.
• March - Konica Minolta and GE to jointly develop OLED light products.
• February - Sony begins production of AMOLED panels.
• January - Sony showcases 27" and 11" OLED TVs at CES. Says might start production at 2008.

2006

• October - CMEL & CMO develop 25" AMOLED TV panel
• October - Samsung showcases 17" AMOLED
• September - first 'Nokia' phone with an OLED display.
• September - CDT sees rapid progress in Blue and Red lifetime
• August - AUO relocates OLED engineers, focuses on LCD.
• June - India's Samtel to produce OLED displays.
• May - Pioneer Launches Mass Production at White OLED Plant.
• April - Kodak Licenses OLED Technology to Univision Technology
• March - Univision to invest $40M in OLED line expansion.
• March - Epson and CDT shows world's first print head using an OLED light source.
• January - BenQ announces a camera and a phone with large (2.0") OLED screens.
• January - Kodak Broadens its Participation in OLED Technology, ends OLED joint venture with Sanyo.

2005

• December - Pioneer withdraws from AM-OLED market.
• November - CDT Prints a 14" P-OLED display.
• November - China's first OLED production line set up.
• October - Samsung SDI's Organic LED Display Shipments Top 30 Million units.
• September - Toppoly develops a 7" AMOLED display.
• August - LG Electronics Launches Full-Scale OLED Operations.
• July - Samsung SDI to invest over 850M$ in AMOLED production.
• June - UDC announces fundamental breakthrough in blue PHOLEDs - New sky blue achieves over 15,000 hours of lifetime.
• May - Kodak Licenses OLED Technology to Fuji Electric Holdings.
• May - CDT Achieves 100,000 Hour Blue Polymer Lifetime.
• May - Samsung Electronics Develops World's First 40-inch a-Si-based OLED.
• April - Samsung Licenses OLED Patents from Universal Display.
• March - Sony introduces Flash based MP3 players with OLED display.
• March - Canon says to start making OLED displays next year.
• February - MP3-player demand boosts sales of Taiwan OLED makers.
• February - LG.Philips LCD launches AM OLED Business.
• January - Samsung Electronics develops 21-inch OLED for TVs, claims world's largest.
• January - Samsung SDI To double the OLED output.
• January - OLED Technology Poised to Become Core Business for Daewoo Electronics.

2004

• December - CDT IPOs, lists on NASDAQ.
• November - OLED displays with 50,000h operating lifespan from URT.
• November - Seiko Epson will commercialize OLED TVs by 2007.
• October - LG.Philips develops 20-inch OLED display.
• September - Sony Starts Mass Production of Organic EL Displays, and released first a new clie PDA with a 3.8in 480 x 320 OLED screen.
• July - OLED-Info is on-line, the web's first OLED community site.
• June - Toppan to volume produce large-size OLED panels.
• May - Seiko Epson unveils first 40" colour OLED display.
• May - Universal Display Corporation Announces Record-Breaking Power Efficiencies for its Phosphorescent White OLED Technology.
• May - Taiwan's AU Begins Mass Production of Organic EL Panels.
• May - Universal Display Corporation Unveils Ground breaking Flexible OLED Prototype on Metallic Substrate.
• April - Teco Optronics to invest NT$300 million to build new PM OLED plant.
• April - RiT Display ships mobile phone OLED sub-displays to Samsung, says paper.
• April - Seiko Epson Reveals 12.5-Inch Organic EL Panel for Large TVs.
• April - RiT Display shipping OLED panels to Motorola.
• March - GE Global Research Breaks Two World Records For OLEDs As A Lighting Device. Demo Lighting Panel is Biggest and Most Efficient Ever Created.
• March - NEC drops its OLED business .
• March - Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp. (CMO) has announced a fully functional prototype of a 20-inch full-color OLED display - the largest Amorpheous Si TFT.
• February - Philips 639 mobile phone applies PolyLED technology in unique 'Magic Mirror' display.
• January - Opto Tech to invest NT$4.5 billion in four new OLED lines in 2004.