Samsung Display acquires RGB OLEDoS firm eMagin for $218 million

OLED firm eMagin said on Wednesday that it will merge with Samsung Display for US$218 million.

Samsung Display will acquire eMagin’s stock for US$2.08 per share, which reflects a 10% premium to eMagin’s closing share price on Tuesday of US$1.89.

The South Korean display panel maker will secure RGB OLED on silicon (OLEDoS) technology for expanded reality devices through the merger.

This fits well with Samsung Display’s plan to develop RGB OLEDoS in the long term to supply to key customer Apple.

There are currently two types of OLEDoS: one that uses white OLED and color filter and RGB OLEDoS where the red, green and blue pixels are deposited closely together.

White OLED emits light through the white pixels and expresses colors through the color filter.

For RGB OLEDoS, the challenge is to deposit the subpixels densely together, which is very difficult.

The US-based eMagin previously stated that its RGB OLEDoS was superior in efficiency and lifespan to W-OLED and color filter.

It called its technology direct patterning technology, or dPd, because it doesn’t use a color filter. The company also said it has its own silicon backplane technology.

Samsung Display had considered acquiring eMagin since last year, sources said, though it had concerns as the US company is listed on Nasdaq.

The South Korean display panel maker is planning to develop both W-OLED and color filter method as well as RGB OLEDoS.

It will be supplying the former to parent company Samsung Electronics and the latter to Apple.