UDC financially engineers a subsidiary, OVJP, to fill the display jet printing void left after Kateeva's implosion

July 31, 2020 | Case Study

TV OLED panels require many improvements to remain financially viable. Inkjet printing (IJP) promised to the industry the delivery of a lower-cost process while also enabling large-format displays on optionally flexible substrates. A variety of contenders worked on developing high-capex equipment, as the market opportunity easily measures at several billion dollars. For companies like TEL, such R&D was promising; for mature startups like Kateeva, which supplies OLED encapsulation equipment, the growth in this direction was about survival. Kateeva, which at later stages was highly leveraged by Chinese investors, laid off most of its R&D talent as Samsung chose its subsidiary, Semes, to develop IJP equipment and cater to massive supply needs.