Would it be possible to accelerate commercialization of QLED by Samsung Electronics’ acquisition of ‘QD Vision’?

According to the industry source dated Nov. 21, it was confirmed that Samsung Electronics was selected as a preferred bidder participating in the acquisition battle for ‘QD Vision’. The amount of acquisition proposed by Samsung Electronics is U$70million, and the industry expects that the final takeover will be agreed no later than the next week.

Quantum dot is the materials whose implementing color is different according to the size, and Samsung Electronics is introducing SUHD TV to the premium TV market, which improves the color reproduction rate by applying quantum dot sheet to LCD BLU for the first time in the world, and Chinese companies are actively launching the products.

‘QD Vision’ established by the researchers from MIT, is a specialized enterprise with high technology in the field of cadmium-based quantum dot and it is introducing non-cadmium-based material, too, lately. The industry considers that the acquisition of ‘QD vision’ by Samsung Electronics is the cornerstone to accelerate the commercialization of QLED along with the expansion of the quantum-dot TV market.

Although QLED is highly anticipated to be available to realize the panel with high purity as it is less impacted by oxygen and moisture than OLED and as it has a narrow half width, very low efficiency and life time compared to OLED materials are mentioned as the problem, under its initial stage of development. Furthermore, cadmium used in the core of quantum dot is highly toxic carcinogen, so Cd-free materials are being developed by ‘QD Vision’, ‘Nanoco’, ‘Nanosquare’, etc., however, its performance is lower than Cd-base materials. Therefore, the industry expects that it will take at least 5 years for QLED to be applied to mass production.

In the meantime, related with this issue, in the ‘Market penetration possibility analysis and seminar for QLED and Solution Process OLED’ hosted by UB Research in last October, Professor Chang-hee Lee of Seoul National University mentioned that, “If large-scale investment and manpower would be input, it is likely to find the product in earlier time than expected, and there is a possibility that the entry barrier can be lowered due to its similar structure to OLED”

It is highly attended that whether the acquisition of ‘QD vision’ by Samsung Electronics can accelerate the commercialization of QLED by becoming the starting point of large-scale investment, and what effect would be influenced to the display industry.

삼성전자의 QD vision 인수, QLED 상용화를 앞당길 수 있을까

21일 업계에 따르면 삼성전자는 최근 QD vision 인수전에 참여하여 우선협상 대상자로 선정 된 것으로 확인 됐다. 삼성전자가 제안한 인수금액은 7000만 달러로, 업계는 늦어도 다음 주 정도에 최종 인수에 합의 할 것으로 보고있다.

Quantum dot은 크기에 따라 구현하는 색이 다른 물질로, 삼성전자는 세계 최초로 LCD BLUquantum dot sheet를 적용하여 색재현율을 향상시킨 SUHD TV를 프리미엄 TV 시장에 선보이고 있으며, 중국업체들도 적극적으로 제품 출시를 하고 있다.

MIT 출신 연구자들이 설립한 QD vision은 카드뮴계 quantum dot 분야에서 기술력이 높은 전문 기업으로 최근에는 비카드뮴 소재도 선보이고 있다. 업계에서는 삼성전자의 QD vision 인수가 quantum dot TV 시장의 확대와 함께, QLED 상용화를 앞당기기 위한 초석으로 보고있다.

QLEDOLED에 비해 산소와 수분의 영향이 적고, 반치폭이 좁아 고색순도의 패널 구현이 가능할 것으로 기대를 모으고 있지만, 개발 초기단계로 OLED 재료와 비교하여 매우 낮은 효율과 수명이 문제점으로 언급되고 있다. 또한 quantum dot 중심체에 쓰이는 카드뮴은 유독성이 강한 발암물질로, QD visionNanoco, Nanosquare 등에서 Cd-free 물질을 개발 중이나 카드뮴 소재에 비해 성능이 낮다. 따라서 업계에서는 QLED가 양산에 적용되기까지는 최소 5년 이상 걸릴 것으로 예상하고 있다.

한편, 이와 관련해 서울대 이창희 교수는 지난 10월 유비산업리서치가 주관한 ‘QLED solution Process OLED 시장 진입 가능성 분석 및 세미나에서 대규모의 투자와 인력이 투입된다면 예상보다 이른 시기에 제품을 볼 수 있을 것으로 보이며, OLED와 구조가 비슷하여 진입 장벽이 낮아 질 가능성이 있다라고 언급했다.

삼성전자의 QD vision 인수가 대규모 투자의 시발점이 되어 QLED 상용화를 앞당길 수 있을지, 그리고 디스플레이 산업에 어떠한 영향을 미칠지 귀추가 주목되고 있다.

Possibility for market entry of Solution process OLED and QLED with new technology of large surface.

Currently in the market of premium TV, OLED TV and QD- LCD industries are highly competitive.

QD vision with Nanosis and SID 2016 and IFA 2016 also emphasized quality of TV with QD material included comparing quality of OLED TV. Against this, LG Display joined the completion by emphasizing quality of OLED TV as an ideal display for HDR with comparison between QD-LCD and OLED in IFA 2016 with from SID 2016,

In current large surfaced TV market, LCD TV is taking overwhelmingly large share in distributed market while OLED TV gradually is growing large share in premium market.

In looking into strategies of each industry, large surfaced OLED is developing solution process OLED in order to achieve broader market share with from premium model to distributed model. To overcome weakness compared to OLED, LCD TV industry progressively use QD material with the final goal of development of QLED technology

As a competition in premium TV market gradually extends to entire area of TV market, present condition and possibility of market entry with solution process OLED and QLED is one of major interest.

For this matter, there is seminar host by Ubi Industrial Research with the theme of “analysis in possibility of market entry with QLED and Solution process OLED” in Medium sized business center, Yeouido, October 14th and will be discussing present market industry of large surfaced TV and panel and also will be dealing with present condition and issue of QLED and Solution process OLED, and future possibility of market entry.

Choong-Hoon Lee, president of Ubi Industrial Research, will suggest future direction of OLED industry with analysis of present condition and possibility of market entry in OLED and QLED.

Sung-Jin Jung, head of department of Du Pont, will be discussing the timing of market entry of solution process OLED with the demonstration of soluble OLED material, the essential part of solution process OLED, including present trend and up to date developmental technique

Professor Chang-Hee Lee and senior researcher Ji-won Bang from Korean Institute of Ceramic Engineering and Technology(KICET) will be discussing about advantage and developmental issue of Quantum dot material and direction of future development.

The seminar attracts attention in terms of providing an opportunity to share and discuss regarding issue through media and exhibition with technological and market perspectives of Ubi Industrial Research and share opinions and future possibility.

For registration and any inquiry, please contact to Hana Oh (hanaoh@ubiresearch.co.kr, 02 577 4940) from Ubi Industrial Research.

[OLED summit 2016]OLED TV vs. QLED TV, OLED TV black expression overpower

In OLED Summit 2016 being held in San Diego, USA, LG Display compared similar level of highest model 65-inch LG UHD OLED TV and 65-inch Curved QD-LCD TV, which it attracted many participants’ attention.

The specification of comparing models are as follow.

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It presented in a way to compare various picture qualities of OLED TV and QD-LCD TV through various films and patterns such as normal TV program and movies.

LG Display personnel said, “OLED TV absolutely expresses black better than QD-LCD TV if OLED TV and QD-LCD TV set the mode that expresses white color 6500K which is the standard of UHD Alliance. Basically, the brightness of QD LCD TV is higher than OLED TV, but because the basis is LCD, it feels more distortion because of more white tone compared to the color of OLED TV. Also, OLED TV can almost express without distortion even in viewing angle, but the color is distorted in QD-LCD”, emphasizing better quality of OLED TV than QD-LCD TV.

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< Comparisons of 65inch OLED TV(Left) and 65inch curved QD-LCD TV’s Black Expressiveness >

 

Comparing the two pictures similar to images of space show below at the exhibition, OLED TV shows individual stars accurately while QD-LCD TV presents the stars vaguely just to indicate them. In the aspects of viewing angle, OLED TV nearly didn’t have any left-right color changes but its changes were found in QD-LCD TV.

Previous SID2016’s Nanosis and QD vision, Samsung and Hisense emphasized that QD-LCD is better than OLED TV in IFA 2016, but in this OLED Summit 2016, LG Display showed that OLED TV is much more outstanding compared to QD-LCD TV.

Like this, the position between QD-LCD TV and OLED TV is becoming more competitive, and the industry has the interest in which type of TV will gain more of customer’s trust.

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