Kyocera Acquires Optrex

Tokyo, Japan; April 2, 2012. Kyocera Corporation has acquired LCD manufacturer Optrex Corporation to form Kyocera Display Corporation.

Kyocera offers a wide range of active-matrix TFT LCD panels in sizes from 3.5 to 12.1 inches diagonal and resolutions from QVGA to SVGA. Optrex, founded in 1976, has been focused on small and medium size LCDs in the automotive and industrial market sectors, offering a range of active matrix TFT and monochrome graphic and character LCDs.

The company's acquisition of Optrex America in Plymouth, MI, USA (now Kyocera Display America, Inc.), as well its acquisition of Optrex Europe in Babenhausen, Germany (now Kyocera Display Europe GmbH), will enable click here to read the rest of the article.

LCD Panel Market Shows Resilience after Japanese Earthquake

El Segundo, CA; March 21, 2012. According to IHS iSuppli Display Materials & Systems at information and analytics provider IHS, although some facilities operated by liquid-crystal display (LCD) panel and component suppliers were impacted by the Japanese earthquake of 2011, it's apparent one year later that the overall effect of the catastrophe on the market was minor, due to the country's limited presence in the display business as well as a serendipitous overhang of inventory.

"A decline in a major country's market share and a buildup in excess inventory normally are regarded as unfavorable developments for a technology market," said Sweta Dash, director of LCD research at IHS. "However, in the LCD market of 2011, Japan's limited presence in the global supply chain—combined with excess stockpiles in the channel—helped soften the blow of the manufacturing disruptions caused by the disaster."

Only 5 percent of large-sized LCD panel manufacturing capacity and just 18 percent of small- and medium-sized LCD manufacturing capacity werelocated in Japan in click here to read the rest of the article.

SID Debuts Innovation Zone for Cutting-Edge Display Technologies

At Display Week 2012, the Society for Information Display is providing a new forum for live demonstrations of emerging information display technologies and related areas. This new exhibit platform is called the "Innovation Zone" (I-Zone) and will appear in the main Exhibit Hall, under the sponsorship of E Ink Holdings, on June 5-6 in the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center in Boston, Massachusetts.

"Display Week has always been the best place for companies to exhibit their display products," says Jerzy Kanicki, Chairman of SID's I-Zone Committee. "The missing piece has been a platform concentrated in one area for small companies, labs, institutes, and other research entities with limited funding to exhibit the very newest display technology." The I-Zone will allow researchers to demonstrate their prototypes or other hardware demo units for two days free of charge at the premier display exhibition in North America. This new platform will also enable click here to read the rest of the article.