APS Holdings to put in 60 billion won in OLED FMM business 

APS Holdings is planning to use most of the funds it secured recently through share offering and sales in its OLED fine metal mask (FMM) business, TheElec has learned.

The company had secured around 60 billion won in fresh funds in the past two months.

Last month, it issued convertible bonds for 18.6 billion won; sold shares in Nextin for 20.6 billion won; and announced last week that it plans to offer its shares for 20 billion won.

FMM is used to deposit red, green and blue organic materials on the panel during OLED panel production.

APS Materials, the subsidiary of APS Holdings, is working to develop FMM for OLED and MicroOLED panels. It is part of separate national projects for both technologies.

APS Holdings split off from its display and fab equipment-making subsidiary AP Systems in 2017.

Since 2018 it has recorded three straight years of losses, hence the recent share sales for funds.

Japan’s Dai Nippon Printing and Toppan currently dominate the OLED FMM market.

The South Korean company faces an uphill battle. APS Holdings needs to offer its FMM at a competitive price to compete with these companies. Meanwhile, MicroOLED is barely commercialized yet.

However, APS Holdings is collaborating with Apple in MicroOLED FMM.

Meanwhile, other tech giants such as Amazon, Google and Microsoft are also investing in MicroOLED development.

US firm eMagin is also working on MicroOLED FMM with Apple.