Quantum Dots - Intro
The TV market, in its normal mode, is a replacement market, with such replacement product based primarily on reducing the user’s cost. Last year however, COVID-19 created a new paradigm and shifted consumer interest from replacing older TVs with the lowest cost possible TV to more premium TVs, given their increased viewing time at home. This caused brands to find that their supply of premium TVs, both OLED and Quantum dot, was rapidly reduced early in the year, normally a period of low demand, leading brands to increase their interest in both technologies. Given that OLED capacity was limited to one supplier, LG Display, quantum dot enhanced TVs became the technology of choice.
There are a number of manufacturers of quantum dots but the quantum dot equivalent of Universal Display (OLED), the holder of much of the material and device IP for OLED materials, is a private company, Nanosys (pvt). Their IP is licensed to a variety of middle men, essentially companies that either create the quantum dot material and package it into films or similar products, or license and buy the materials directly for Nanosys. Nanosys produces its quantum dots in its production line in California, which can support 50m units (55” equivalent)/year and have begun production at a new line in Japan that when fully built out will support an additional 75m units, but the device IP, which covers a number of possible device modes, is the key to understanding the potential income stream for Nanosys.
If we look at quantum dot usage in consumer devices, the primary application is the abovementioned QD film that is used to enhance the quality of the backlight in LCD TVs. Almost all TV brands are offering QD enhanced TVs, with the number of Nanosys QD SKUs increasing by almost 40% last year, but the real push behind quantum dots in the display space goes far beyond what is a relatively simple (relatively) enhancement film. To better understand the potential for quantum dots going forward we will look a bit more closely at the technology and its potential applications, especially in comparison to other display modalities. Stay tuned.
There are a number of manufacturers of quantum dots but the quantum dot equivalent of Universal Display (OLED), the holder of much of the material and device IP for OLED materials, is a private company, Nanosys (pvt). Their IP is licensed to a variety of middle men, essentially companies that either create the quantum dot material and package it into films or similar products, or license and buy the materials directly for Nanosys. Nanosys produces its quantum dots in its production line in California, which can support 50m units (55” equivalent)/year and have begun production at a new line in Japan that when fully built out will support an additional 75m units, but the device IP, which covers a number of possible device modes, is the key to understanding the potential income stream for Nanosys.
If we look at quantum dot usage in consumer devices, the primary application is the abovementioned QD film that is used to enhance the quality of the backlight in LCD TVs. Almost all TV brands are offering QD enhanced TVs, with the number of Nanosys QD SKUs increasing by almost 40% last year, but the real push behind quantum dots in the display space goes far beyond what is a relatively simple (relatively) enhancement film. To better understand the potential for quantum dots going forward we will look a bit more closely at the technology and its potential applications, especially in comparison to other display modalities. Stay tuned.
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