Chi Mei El Corp (CMEL, 奇晶光電), the organic light emitting diode (OLED) manufacturing arm of Chi Mei Optoelectronics Corp (奇美電子), said yesterday it aims to start supplying displays for a top-five mobile phone manufacturer by the end of the year.
CMEL is in talks with several potential customers, including Samsung Electronics Co and Nokia Ojy, said Douglas Park, a vice president of CMEL.
"We hope to land at least one of them by the end of this year," Park said.
To cope with rising demand, Park said CMEL planned to spend NT$800 million (US$24.2 million) to more than double its monthly output to 1.2 million units by the first quarter of 2008, from it current 500,000 units.
In February, CMEL ramped up production of active matrix OLED displays for mobile phones, digital cameras and global positioning systems.
The company also makes less- advanced passive matrix OLED panels, which are now used in the display of the remote control of Apple Computer Inc's digital music player iPod.
With a gradual capacity expansion, CMEL hopes to become profitable next year after eight years of operation, president Peter Chen (陳哲祥) said.
OLED displays compete with liquid-crystal-displays (LCD) in small and medium-sized applications such as displays on mobile phones, digital music players and consoles for the automobile industry. OLED displays consume 50 percent less power and are 50 percent thinner than their LCD equivalents.
Shipments of OLED displays grew 71 percent year-on-year to 19.1 million units on a price drop, according to market researcher DisplaySearch's latest report OLED Displays Break Out of Slump. Revenues also rose 56 percent annually to US$121 million, it said.
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