At CES, we had the opportunity to sit down and chat with the
CEO of Taiwan super-conglomerate Ritek, Gordon Yeh. Ritek’s data
branch, Ridata, is currently one
of the largest optical media providers in the world, and the company’s
extensive background in chemical manufacturing set the stage for its
entry into the OLED market a year ago. Gordon Yeh is also a Chairman of
the
Recordable DVD Council, the Taiwan Recording-Media Industry Association
(TRIA) and
the Taiwan DVD Forum.
Everyone had already pitched CES 2006 as a total format war
between HD-DVD and Blu-ray, but Yeh stressed to us the patience of Ritek before
declaring one format a winner. Yeh
claims, “The switch to recordable HD media is just beginning. Readily available dual layer devices won’t be
available [until] the first quarter of 2008.” Yeh
also stressed that the trend cycles for optical media has a four year cycle
where in between the availability of new optical format and the availability of
the next.
When asked what is holding up the proliferation of HD media
into the channel, Yeh responded “Nothing stops us from producing media from a
manufacturing process. We can do both on our dual layer and single layer lines
easily. However, there are no recordable
devices yet.” Ritek’s Vice CEO, Liang
Su, also added that it does not matter which format “wins” the format wars;
Ridata readily manufacturers both and can adjust capacity in either direction.
Yeh did not have enough positive things to say about
OLED. Ritek does not lead the OLED
industry in bleeding technology – a title generally reserved for Dupont
and
Kodak – but Ritek often finds itself first to market at a lower cost
than its Japanese rivals, Mitsubishi Chemical. Yeh
has big plans for OLED, particularly in the industry of lighting and
home. Right now all of Ritdisplay’s revenue comes from small OLED
displays for cars, mp3 players and phones, but Yeh “expects
to see the first production OLED notebook display this year.”
There are also large scale plans to for
Ritdisplay to incorporate OLED into flexible lighting and wall
covering.
“We can already do 10,000 to 40,000 lit hours on most
devices, which was the largest obstacle holding OLED back,” added Yeh. As production for OLED ramps, expect to see
larger and larger devices. LCD is
traditionally limited to the size of the glass substrate; Samsung and
LG.Philips LCD need special planes just to carry certain substrates from one
facility to another. OLED, on the other
hand, can simply be rolled up for transportation. If Gordon Yeh has his way, we’re going to see
wall sized OLED panels in every home.