Kopin Enters Into Partnership Agreements to Meet the Coming Demand for OLED Micro-Displays for Virtual Reality & Augmented Re...
April 05 2017 - 4:15PM
Business Wire
- Agreement with Yunnan OLiGHTEK
Opto-electronics for OLED deposition to meet near-term production
needs
- Agreement with BOE Group and Yunnan
OLiGHTEK Opto-electronics to establish a state of the art,
high-volume facility for manufacturing OLED micro-displays
Kopin Corporation (Nasdaq: KOPN), a leading developer of
micro-displays and innovative wearable computing technologies and
solutions, today announced two agreements with two leading global
OLED companies as part of its unique fab-less OLED manufacturing
strategy for its silicon-based Lightning™ OLED displays introduced
at CES in January 2017. Kopin sees continued market indicators of
high demand of OLED micro-displays for both augmented reality (AR)
and virtual reality (VR) in the coming years and these new
agreements represent important steps in preparing to meet both the
near-term and long-term demands.
Kopin signed an agreement with Yunnan OLiGHTEK Opto-electronics
Technology Co. Ltd. (OLiGHTEK), a leader in high performance OLED
micro-displays on silicon. The parties will jointly purchase an
advanced production OLED deposition line to be installed within
OLiGHTEK’s facility in order to augment OLiGHTEK’s existing
capabilities. This OLED deposition line is expected to be ready for
volume production by the end of 2017, enabling Kopin to meet the
near-term customer demand for its consumer OLED micro-displays.
Under the terms of the agreement, Kopin will be entitled to 50% of
the new line output.
Kopin has also entered into a separate agreement with BOE
Technology Group Co. Ltd. (BOE) and OLiGHTEK. The agreement will
establish a high-volume, state of the art facility to manufacture
OLED micro-displays to support the growing AR and VR markets. The
new facility, which would be the world’s largest OLED-on-silicon
manufacturing center, will be managed by BOE and is expected to be
built in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China. BOE is a world leader in
the manufacture of liquid crystal and OLED on glass displays for
televisions, tablets and smartphones.
“We have received extremely positive response to our Lightning
OLED displays which have superb image quality, small size, fast
frame-rate and low power consumption,” said Dr. John C.C. Fan,
Kopin’s President and CEO. “We have a fab-less manufacturing model
both for the back-end silicon wafer processing and the front-end
OLED deposition for our Lightning OLED displays. This is a first in
the OLED micro-display industry, and today’s announcements
represent important elements of our fab-less model. Our partnership
with OLiGHTEK will enable us to begin volume production of our
Lightning OLED displays in late 2017. The agreement between BOE,
OLiGHTEK and Kopin will provide industry leading capacity and
quality of OLED micro-displays for the growing AR and VR markets
when the facility is completed.”
Neither of these new agreements involves licensing of any Kopin
technologies.
About BOE
BOE (Shenzhen Stock Exchange Stock Code: BOE A (000725), BOE B
(200725)) is a supplier of internet of things technologies,
products and services with revenues of approximately $7.3 billion
for fiscal year 2015. BOE’s three core businesses are Display
Device, Smart System and Healthcare Service. BOE’s products are
widely used in a broad spectrum of applications such as mobile
phone, tablet, notebook, monitor, TV, vehicle display, digital
information display, healthcare, finance, and wearable devices. For
more information, please visit BOE’s website
at www.boe.com.
About Olightek
Founded in 2008, Yunnan OLiGHTEK Opto-Electronic Technology Co.
Ltd. (OLiGHTEK) dedicated themselves to developing high definition
AMOLED (Active Matrix-Organic Light Emitting Diode) technology and
microdisplays. With headquarter and manufacturing in Kunming,
Yunnan, OLiGHTEK is the first company in China to design and
manufacture the cutting-edge full digital AMOLED microdisplays and
entered the market in 2009. So far, more than 10 key OLED patents
have been granted officially for OLiGHTEK’s speciality and
innovation. OLiGHTEK is also the biggest manufacturer of full
digital AMOLED microdisplays in China with annual production
of more than 450,000 panels. OLiGHTEK’s high quality products for
near-to-eye applications are shipped to many customers worldwide.
For more information, please visit OLiGHTEK’s’s website
at www.olightek.com.
About Kopin
Kopin Corporation is a leading developer and provider of
innovative wearable technologies and solutions for integration into
head-worn computing and display systems to military, industrial and
consumer customers. Kopin’s technology portfolio includes
ultra-small LED and OLED displays, optics, speech enhancement
technology, system and hands-free control software, low-power
ASICs, and ergonomically designed smart headset reference systems.
Kopin is the world’s leader in microdisplays. Over the years, Kopin
has shipped over 30 million LCD microdisplays for consumer
applications. Kopin’s proprietary components and technology are
protected by more than 300 global patents and patents pending. For
more information, please visit Kopin’s website
at www.kopin.com.
Kopin and Lightning OLED are trademarks of Kopin
Corporation.
Forward-Looking Statements
Statements in this press release may be considered
“forward-looking” statements under the “Safe Harbor” provisions of
the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These
include, without limitation, statements relating to our statement
that we see continued market indicators of high demand of OLED
micro-displays for both augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality
(VR) in the coming years; that these new agreements represent
important steps in preparing to meet both the near-term and
long-term demands; our expectation that the OLED deposition line
which we are jointly purchasing with OLiGHTEK will be ready for
volume production by the end of 2017, enabling Kopin to meet the
near-term customer demand for its consumer OLED micro-displays; our
expectation that the agreement between Kopin, BOE and OLiGHTEK will
establish a state of the art, high-volume facility to manufacture
consumer-focused OLED micro-displays; our belief that the AR and VR
markets are growing; our expectation that the new facility will be
built on a 20 acres parcel of land in Kunming, Yunnan Province,
China;our belief that the facility will be the world’s largest OLED
on Si manufacturing center; our expectation that the facility will
be completed within two years; our expectation that our partnership
with OLiGHTEK will enable us to begin volume production of our
Lightning OLED in late 2017; and our belief that the agreement
between BOE, OLiGHTEK and Kopin will provide industry leading
capacity and quality for the growing augmented and virtual reality
markets when the facility is completed. These statements involve a
number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking
statements. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not
limited to, the following:the AR and VR markets may not grow; there
may not be demand for our products; the OLED deposition equipment
may not be able to produce product by the end of 2017 or ever; we
may not be able to provide significant quantities of our consumer
OLED displays; the state of the art high volume facility may not be
completed within the time frame we expect; there may be issues with
obtaining permits, materials and other issues which may prevent the
building of the facility; we may not be able to obtain the 20 acres
parcel of land in Kunming Yunnan Province China and therefore have
to find an alternative site which may cause delays in building the
facility; the wearable market may not grow fast; it may take longer
than the Company estimates to develop products; the Company’s
products may not be accepted by the market place; there may be
issues that prevent the adoption or further development of the
Company’s wearable computing technologies; manufacturing,
marketing or other issues may prevent either the adoption or
acceptance of products; the Company might be adversely affected by
competitive products and pricing; new product initiatives and other
research and development efforts may be unsuccessful; the Company
could experience the loss of significant customers; costs to
produce the Company’s products might increase significantly, or
yields could decline; the Company’s customers might be unable
to ramp production volumes of their products, manufacturing delays,
technical issues, economic conditions or external factors may
prevent the Company from achieving its goals; and other risk
factors and cautionary statements listed in the Company’s periodic
reports and registration statements filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission, including the Annual Report on Form 10-K
for the 12 months ended December 31, 2016, and the Company’s
subsequent filings with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. You should not place undue reliance on any
forward-looking statements, which are based only on information
currently available to the Company and only as of the date on which
they are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update any
of these forward-looking statements to reflect events or
circumstances occurring after the date of this release.
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version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170405006138/en/
For Product Information:Kopin CorportionPaul Baker,
508-870-5959VP Business Developmentpbaker@kopin.comFor Investor
RelationsKopin CorporationRichard
Sneider, 508-870-5959Treasurer and Chief Financial
Officerrsneider@kopin.comorMarket Street PartnersJoann
Horne, 415-445-3233JHorne@marketstreetpartners.com
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