Merck opens OLED Technology Center China in Shanghai

 

Merck (Darmstadt, Germany), a leading science and technology company, recently opened its new OLED Technology Center China in the Pilot Free Trade Zone, Shanghai. The new centre will provide local customers with customised solutions to enable innovative OLED application development.

“To strengthen our commitment to the display industry in China, we are proud to open our OLED Technology Center in Shanghai which complements the existing Merck OLED application labs in other Asian countries,” said Michael Heckmeier, head of the Display Solutions business unit of Merck. “The new centre supports our mission of working closely alongside our customers as a trusted, local partner to drive innovation and shorten their time to market.”

The OLED Technology Center in China offers a range of state-of-the-art equipment and cleanroom facilities to enable OLED device fabrication and characterisation. This location will serve as a collaboration space for customers and Merck as they work together to generate the ideal solutions for OLED display products. This investment reflects Merck’s customer-centric approach of developing highly pure, reliable, and efficient OLED materials for innovative products in line with market requirements and in support of customer innovations.

“China has become the largest market for smartphones and consumer electronics, which shows significant potential for flat panels. As the global market and technology leader in display solutions, Merck is gearing up to become a front-runner among global players in OLED materials,” emphasised Allan Gabor, managing director of the Performance Materials business of Merck in China.  “We are committed to the close cooperation with our partners in China to even better understand their products and needs, optimise device performance with harmonised materials, and drive innovation right here in our local OLED Technology Center which is supported by Merck’s global network.”

According to a report in Economy & Nation Weekly magazine in China, nine sixth-generation flexible AMOLED display screen production lines in China have been constructed or are currently being constructed. The total investment amounting to RMB 157.5 billion ranks first in the world. It is estimated by IHS Markit that by 2020, China’s OLED display production capacity will account for 28% of the global market, making China the second-largest supplier of OLED displays in the world.

The OLED Technology Center China is located at the Merck Performance Materials China Hub in Shanghai, where Merck has made continuous investments, for example in the Liquid Crystal Center China in 2013, the Display Materials R&D Center in 2016 and Surface Solutions Technology Application Network China in 2017.

Caption: OLED production at Merck in Darmstadt (photo: Tobi Bohn / Berlin; Merck)