SFA developing tech for next-gen displays 

South Korean display equipment manufacturer SFA was developing technologies for the production for next-generation display panels, the company CEO said.

SFA was actively developing transfer, bonding, inspection and repair technologies as competition between MiniLED, quantum dot organic light emitting diode (QD-OLED), quantum dot nanorod diode (QNED) and MicroLED are intensifying, CEO Kim Young-min said at the company’s conference call for its 2020 earnings.

The company will win more orders for equipment used in flexible displays as well as large turnkey projects in clean logistics, Kim said.

SFA will also react to its customers’ expansion of their mobile display panel lines and research in TV production lines.

Spending in the display industry will be volatile this year like 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kim said. But demand for OLED increasing in monitor and PC was positive for SFA, the CEO said.

SFA will also successfully wrap up an overhead transport (OHT) project it is working on for a semiconductor company to lay the foundation to expand orders from main fabs of customers. It will apply edge computing and other smart technologies on its kit to strengthen their competence and win more customers in foundry and wafer production, the CEO said.

For the battery sector, SFA will focus on high value, high technology core equipment, Kim said. It will expand projects it is working on with South Korean battery manufacturers going forward and react to demand rise from the increased spending of material, automobile and overseas battery manufacturers, he said.

Last year, SFA recorded 1.55 trillion won in sales and 167.3 billion won in operating income. The sales were level to that of 2019 despite the pandemic, Kim said. Operating income fell 22% from 2019, which was caused by intense competition in the Chinese display industry and weak won to dollar exchange rate, the CEO said. However, operating margin rate remained at 10.8%, he stressed.