Osram Drops OLED Displays for OLED Based Lighting Solutions
Osram GmbH will cease production of OLED-based displays and close the related fab in Penang, Malaysia. In the future, the company will focus on lighting solutions, also based on OLED technology.
The Siemens subsidiary will exit the production of based passive matrix LED displays by the OLED-end of the year. Instead, it will concentrate its OLED activities on developing market-ready lighting solutions. "After all, we are a lighting company", explained an Osram spokesperson. "Our market expectations for OLED displays have not materialized."
Under the 'Pictiva' brand name, Osram manufactures passive matrix displays since 2003 and sells them into a broad range of applications including communication systems, industrial and mobile communications devices. However, demand has lagged far behind Osram's expectations. The experience gathered in the display sector will not be lost. "This experience will speed up considerably the development of lighting products and production methods", explained Osram CEO Ruediger Mueller.
The company will transfer 270 employees to other activities within Osram Semiconductors including the company's new LED chip fab in Penang. Also the US-based marketing and design activities are affected; the company said it is about to search new jobs for the U.S. team.
Two weeks ago, Osram has broken ground for a new LED fab, in Penang which will create about 800 jobs. In addition, the company announced to increase its backend capacity in that region by 50 percent. For the new facilities, Osram has invested a double-digit million euros sum.
The new fab is scheduled to ramp up production in the first quarter of 2009. According to the spokesperson, the Penang production will not go at the expense of the company's production in Regensburg, Germany. In contrast, the company plans to increase its production here as well.
