Joled stops production of printed OLED panels and requests a deferment of payment

Joled, the Japanese company known for manufacturing printed OLED panels for monitors in particular, has filed for bankruptcy protection and is withdrawing from the production and sale of printed OLED panels. The development branch seems to be taken over.

Joled reports that the bankruptcy protection application has been accepted by a Tokyo court, suspending payment of debts and appointing a special overseer. The company apologizes for any concerns this process may cause customers and says it remains fully committed to reviving the business.

The latter will probably only take place in a limited form. A lot of money is needed to continue the Product Business branch, which includes the manufacturing and sales department. The company says there is no process in place to improve profitability quickly and too drastically and it is difficult to continue this part. Joled is thus withdrawing from the market for OLED panels.

There are plans to continue and further develop the Technology Development Business part of Joled. This will be done with the support of screen supplier Japan Display. In fact, this development arm of Joled will be owned by Japan Display. Here would according to Nikkei about 100 employees. Presumably they are part of the agreement with Japan Display. Partly due to the divestment of the production and sales division, two factories in Japan will be closed and some 280 employees will lose their jobs.

Joled is a partnership of, among others, the former OLED divisions of Sony and Panasonic. The company has been working on OLED panels based on a rgb printing technique which should make the production of OLED panels cheaper. A few years ago, Asus and Eizo released monitors with a 21.6″ OLED panel from Joled; these screens had a price of about five thousand euros at introduction. LG later came up with a 31.5″ OLED monitor based on a Joled panel . These monitors are likely to disappear and it is unclear what will happen to TCL’s plans to develop OLED TVs based on printed panels, for which TCL has Joled as a partner.

Joled started mass production of printed OLED panels from 10″ to 32″ for monitors in 2021, but that probably did not help enough to keep prices down. Joled has mainly focused on high-end products for professional users and states that achieving stable production involved more costs than expected. Chip shortages, a reduced demand for high-quality screens and fierce price competition also played a role, says Joled. This competition is likely to come from the likes of LG Display and Samsung Display; last year and in 2023, OLED monitors appeared on the market for the first time in considerable numbers for consumers with panels from these companies.